Carolyn: LOL...You know the parents will find out some day...and some day being the key word here. I'm still finding out about stuff my kids did and they're in their 50's.
A preview of the boys calendar will appear, honest...
Natalie36: I hope they're impressed, no matter what happens they have nothing to say about it, right. Although it has been my experience that some parents just don't know when to back off...
Michele: See, I 'tole you to be my beta'
I never thought about the post office, although, they can always lie and say they are doing mailings for Limelight Inc. Moms and Dads don't know who that is, right?
Chapter: 26
Monday 6/24/02
Monday rolled around and all four girls were at Michael’s right at 8:00 a.m.
and ready to work. Tess immediately checked the web site and sorted through the paying customers and the one’s just checking things out and immediately started working on her deposit. Liz took over and started separating the in country from out of country and Maria took up her chore of finding the postage for the out of country addresses. Isabelle started printing postage for the in country orders on both postage printers since they all had to be $2.15 and all four worked diligently for a full four hours without a break.
Tess had to deposit more money to the post office account and then placed an order for 15,000 calendars. They were going to pick up 5000 today and then five thousand would be delivered on Wednesday and another 5000 on Friday, the remainder would be delivered on Monday; Tess figured that she would most likely have more ordered before the final 5000 would be delivered and that they would definitely stop taking orders on August 1st. That was approximately five more weeks. If they kept shipping 15,000 per week that should give them enough money for any rent they had to pay over and above the board fees at school. Tess and Isabelle would be getting the best break if Alex didn’t insist on having his own bedroom. Why? Was all Isabelle could come up with?
Liz excused herself when they decided to take a lunch break and none of the girls gave it a second thought…what they didn’t know was that Liz had made an appointment with an OB/GYN the week before and was going in for her first female exam and a prescription for birth control pills. If she and Max were going to be living together it was time for her to start thinking about a more intimate relationship with him. She couldn’t expect him to be seeing her every night and every morning in a cohabitation situation and remain celibate; she wasn’t so sure she wanted to remain in a situation like that either. It was time for her to start thinking along the lines of a more adult relationship with her boyfriend; ‘Lord knows he’s been more than patient about that’ she thought …She had investigated pharmacies across the U.S. and discovered that she could use Wal-Mart in Boston without needing a new prescription so she used the local Wal-Mart to fill the prescription. The timing should be perfect.
And so the week-end came and all eight of our teens hopped into Tess’ SUV on Friday afternoon after having shipped their 5000 calendars and Tess deposited four of them at the airport and then went on her way to Las Cruces with the remaining three to go house/apartment hunting.
Max and Michael were both shocked when the girls had suggested it and Kyle and Alex sort of expected it, although they were surprised that they were headed out so soon. All four of the girls were armed with addresses and when they reached their destinations both Max and Michael were prepared to rent cars with a GPS and they were ready to go.
Maria and Michael went to a Best Western located on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge; it served a continental breakfast from 7:00 to 10:00 daily and there were restaurants right across the street. They spent the biggest part of Saturday morning checking out the various areas, since New York is divided into so many little bergs, and then they drove across the bridge to New Jersey. It was there that they discovered they could get twice the value for their money so on Sunday morning, early, they hit five apartment complexes and found one with exactly what they needed.
The place was fairly small but the bedroom was separate, it had a laundry facility and a very small kitchen but a nice sized living room. It was just the ticket and only one block from the subway. They signed a lease and they paid all the fees and rents due and went home almost broke between the two of them but they had a place to live and Maria wasn’t the least bit worried about it because she knew the calendars were going to come through for them and when they got settled they could each get a part time job somewhere. It was going to work out just fine for them.
*
Tess and Isabelle each had a list of vacancies to take a look at as well as Maria and Michael and surprisingly enough it was Kyle who had the most questions about the places like availability to public transportation, etc. etc. He was just one big bundle of questions that the rest thought were totally inane since they had three vehicles between the four of them and he was one of the ones with a car. Alex just shook his head. He couldn’t believe that they all wanted to live together but the more they talked about it the more on board he was and then he started asking questions like hell wouldn’t have it. Pretty soon Isabelle and Tess just let them go and they stood back and watched.
When all was said and done they did rent a three bedroom apartment, 2 bathrooms, living room, eat in kitchen, all major appliances with laundry facilities in the basement. It was actually within walking distance to the school and it had parking on the lower level for three vehicles. Each unit had parking spaces for an added fee and so they paid the extra money so it worked out just fine for them; their cars would be off the street. They were happy as clams. They spent Sunday touring the school and scoping out all the fun spots in the area.
-
*
Liz and Max arrived in Boston late in the evening on Friday and stayed at the Airport Inn right across from their airline. Max went and picked up the rental car while Liz headed across from the airport to check in. They had both finished with their assigned duties about the same time and Liz met Max out front and they drove through the gated area together and found their room with no trouble at all. As soon as they entered their room Liz grabbed her duffle bag from Max and headed to the bathroom to change her clothes; Max grinned to himself. She was really trying to be brave, no doubt about it.
Max set his duffle bag on the table in the corner and picked up the remote to find something on the TV and then all the programs available came up on the screen in the form of a menu…Max started to scroll down to select something and there it was, pay per view porn. He damn near choked when he saw that and scrolled past it as fast as he could before Liz came out of the bathroom,
‘damn, that’s all she needs to see, she’d have her own room quicker than you could say porn out loud.’ He thought to himself…and then he started to chuckle…’maybe not, you just never knew about Liz, look at this calendar business’ and then he laughed even harder.
About that time Liz came out of the bathroom dressed in her pajama bottoms and her pink tank top with her fuzzy slippers on her feet; her face was scrubbed clean and her hair pulled high on her head, she was ready for bed.
“What’s so funny Max?”
“Oh nothing really, and then everything, who would have ever thought that three weeks ago we’d be here in Boston sharing a hotel room and getting ready to rent a place to live in this coming year.”
“Yeah, about that Max, how do you feel about buying a place? You know John at the bank called Tess and wanted to know if we were interested in investing some of this money in a tax shelter or something. Now, I’m not that versed on accounting or the like but I have heard my mom and dad discuss investments and tax shelters and even though I never really paid that much attention I do know that dad feels that he would rather pay the taxes due on his money now than to wait until a later date and the tax rate goes up and the money you earned today at a tax rate of 25% will probably be taxed at 30% or more by the time you take it out of the investment.
“He said that the tax rate will never go down no matter how good things are running so why don’t we just buy something? We’re probably going to be here for at least six years and possibly eight…you never know. We would have had that many years to build up equity and if the market is good we can sell and buy something else when we’re ready to settle down permanently.”
Max sat there slack jawed as he listened to his girlfriend suggest that they become property owners at the age of eighteen.
“Liz, what makes you think someone will be willing to sell something to a couple of high school graduates?”
“Well, it never hurts to ask Max. I have a printout of a couple of places; I was thinking about a nice condominium that comes with appliances. That way we wouldn’t have to worry about furniture, maybe a bed and a couple of desks, a TV and maybe the money that we save on dorms and eating out we can get some kind of furniture at a later date.
“We really don’t need a lot as long as the place is nice and it has a really good resale value. I was thinking we really don’t need a house, although it might work out, but we don’t need lawns and stuff like that. A condominium is more like an apartment only it would be ours.” Liz was on a roll and Max was fascinated.
Max got up off the chair he was sitting in and joined Liz on the bed and pulled her close.
“If you think that’s something we can swing then yes, we’ll look at condominiums and I agree, I don’t want to be mowing grass either.” Max kissed the top of her head and got up and grabbed his duffle bag…
“Now, I’m going to go brush my teeth and get ready for bed too so you find something you might like to watch and I’ll be out in a few.”
Liz smiled up at Max as he left the bedroom and then she dug her printout out of her bag so she could show it to Max when he came out of the bathroom. She was so excited she didn’t know where to put herself.
The two of them sat together in their bed looking at places, prices, areas closest to school in relation to other places and areas as far as pricing went, it depended on how near in or how far out. The farther out they traveled the more for your money.
They sat and weighed all the pros and cons and about two in the morning Liz was on her last leg. Max took the papers she had brought with her, put them into a nice stack and laid them on the table. He turned the light off over their bed and crawled in.
He leaned in and kissed his girlfriend long and tender and then lay down, pulled her in close and proceeded to go to sleep. Liz had made her mind up right then and there that the life she had planned for them in an apartment or their own place would definitely be different than this…if she waited that long.
The doctor explained things to her very clearly on Monday and she figured just about the time they were ready to leave Roswell would be just about the right time to break the news to Max. They would do this thing right. And she smiled as she snuggled up and went to sleep. This was their first experience alone in a bedroom together without worrying about sleeping in or getting caught in bed, and for all night too; she was really looking forward to many more nights like this as she snuggled in close and went to sleep.
*
The next day they drove around to a couple of the more expensive addresses closer to the school and then headed out farther to check those places out and to scope out the driving time. They stopped at the second place Liz had printed out; it was right off the freeway, gated and very homey looking. Liz fell in love with the surroundings, it had tree lined streets and most of the places faced a park with a duck pond and the pricing was very affordable. A two bedroom was going for $135,000 with 2 bathrooms and a fireplace and then the three bedroom was going for $150,000.00 and it included appliances, a laundry facility off the kitchen two full baths, living and dining rooms and a fireplace. Liz couldn’t believe what she was reading.
Max stopped the car and they went into the sales office. The realtor took one look at these two kids and wondered, ‘what the hell is going on here?’ but stood and acknowledged the two of them and when Max held out his hand to the man and introduced himself and Liz the guy had to wonder. They were just kids but they seemed a little mature for just your ordinary kids…
“How can I help you Max?”
“Well, we’re starting school here in Boston in Sept. and we decided that it might be a better idea to purchase something rather than rent or board so we would like to see what you have. I think Liz likes the idea of a three bedroom place over the two bedrooms. It would be the better investment for us. We’ll probably be here for at least six years and maybe more depending on where our graduate studies take us, but right now we’re leaning toward Boston.”
The realtor, Steve Jenkins, shook his head…he hoped that it looked as though he was agreeing with Max but in fact it was because he was in shock.
Then Liz spoke up…
“Why are these places so cheap? What’s the deal?”
“We don’t think they’re cheap Liz. What do you mean?”
“The other places we checked out were way over these prices, there was one place that was almost a million and these places are going for less than two hundred thousand…what’s wrong with them?”
Steve looked at the young woman with renewed respect, he didn’t think he was going to be able to pull any wool over her eyes; she was the type that would do her homework before buying anything.
“Well Liz, we had some problems with the inspection on a lot of the units and people got word of it and pulled out on us. We’re actually trying to recoup what we have invested in these units so they are practically going at cost.”
“Okay, what have you done to take care of these “problems”? And what kind of “problems” are we talking about?” Liz wanted to know.
“Well, a lot of it was plumbing recalls which have been fixed and of course sewage went along with the plumbing. The list went on.”
“How far “on” and what about this sewage you’re talking about. What kind of sewer system do you have?”
“We’re on a septic system.”
“I see. All of these units share the same septic system?”
“Yes.”
“Well, okay then. Come on Max, thank you for your time Steve but I think we’ll pass. I knew this was too good to be true.”
Max shook Steve’s hand, took Liz’s arm and smiled. ‘Oh this is going to be so much fun’ he thought.
They got in the car and Liz took a look over at Max who was grinning from ear to ear…
“What?”
“Nothing Liz, honest…this is just a lot of fun.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re getting a kick out of it…That duck pond was probably the run off for the cesspool!”
And Max out and out laughed.
“When did you learn about cesspools for God’s sake?”
“Grandma Claudia had a septic system at her house and the damned thing would always get overloaded when we all visited for holidays and the back yard would be a sloshy mess.”
“Oh; so what have you got next?”
“Well if we get back on the freeway and head east we will come to a turn off in about 8 more miles. Is that too far?”
“No, I don’t think so. We can make it work, even if we don’t have classes at the same time, we can use the library for study hall or something.”
“Okay, then let’s try these, they’re right at 450 and 500.”
“Do you think we can afford that?”
“Yes Max, I do. So just take a look, if they aren’t on a sewer system we’ll head back to town and check out some of those.”
“Okay, East it is.” And off he drove…Liz kept thinking, ‘if I take my inheritance from Grandma Claudia we can pay cash and then I’ll just replace some of the money with the Limelight proceeds. This is going to work out just fine; it’s going to be a great investment.’
So, when they got to the next place it was just as pleasing to the eye as the first place and they were on a sewer system, they had a nice park, no pond though, and they were within walking distance to public transportation with direct hook ups to the school.
They both agreed that they liked the four bedroom place the best, they could each have a study and have plenty of room for company if the rest of the gang wanted to come and visit so Liz pulled out her ace in the hole and Max Evans sat in awe.
When the realtor realized there wouldn’t be a mortgage involved the cost of the place dropped fifty thousand dollars and Liz smiled. They not only found a lovely place to live but the money she saved on the purchase price would put some furniture in it as well and she hugged Max.
When it was time to place the names of the owners on the deed Liz was going to add Max’s name as well and Max shook his head ‘no’.
“Definitely not Liz; that is your inheritance from your grandmother and I will not allow you to put my name on that deed. Someday, when we’re ready to be co-owners then and only then will my name be on the deed and I will pay 50% of all monthly expenses for as long as we live here. It’s only fair. When we decide to sell it the original price will be put back into grandma’s fund along with a reasonable amount of interest and then we will talk about things like deeds but not until then. I had no idea you planned on doing this with that money. I could use the money I was going to have to pay for board at school and give you half if you want me too.”
“Nope, Grandma’s money will never earn the interest this place is going to realize. This is a wise decision Max. We have time to take care of this but right now I just want to have someplace to come to in August.”
It was the easiest sale the realtor had ever made and everyone was happy.
And so Max and Liz spent the rest of Saturday in old downtown Boston sight seeing and had dinner at Cheers and then on Sunday they headed on out to the university very early and toured the campus before heading out to the airport. Michael and Maria were flying in to Boston and then changing planes and flying back to Las Cruces with Max and Liz. They had a lot to talk about on the way home and Maria and Liz decided to sit together and Max and Michael took the seat that the other two had been assigned in order for the girls to talk the whole way home. Of course Max and Michael had a lot to talk about too.
*
Lucky old fart!!!
And I agree, they are that good looking!