Employed 12 Part 2

Len introduced me to Mrs. Taksaris (the lady with the Jaguar) Mrs. Taksaris said "l'm Dahlia. And this is my daughter, Reyann". (She had re-claimed the baby when l returned her car.) We talked for a few moments.  She said that Len had told her that l was "good with cars". She wondered if l might take a look at a couple of irritating problems (beyond the brakes) that she was having. Being a single mother with a limited income, she wasn't able to pay me what l might expect for such work, but she would be happy to fix us a nice dinner in exchange for helping her to understand what the car needed. Well, even though l was staying with Dad and Teri, and Teri was then and to this day remains the very best cook l've ever known. So l wasn't in any real need for dinner, but l said that having dinner with her and Reyann would be a real treat. And since both 
Dahlia and l  had weekends off from our jobs, the next day (Saturday) would be
convenient.
As planned, l was at their  home at about noon. Her car didn't really seem to need much, really. l adjusted  idle speed and fuel mixture, checked the car's 
underside, checked pressure of tires and drove it around a bit, mostly to give the brakes another test. They were still fine at that point. Before long we found ourselves at Gobbler's Knob, where we surprised Dad, Teri and Gorden. We had a nice visit. Reyann was a hit with the Gideons and they got on pretty good with Dahlia, too. They invited us to lunch, after which l dropped Dahlia and Reyann at
home. l needed to touch bases with Len over a couple of things that came up at Friday's closing. After we had that behind us, Len said Carl Danner, the Saratoga
Citizen's publisher had stopped there earlier and had asked Len to have me call him. When l did, he said he had a couple of friends who wanted to present me with a business opportunity and if interested, l should join them at Shorty's Bar
in half an hour. On arriving, l was introduced to Carl's friends, Arvin and Huilar.
Carl went on to the rest room (to avoid being a witness?) Arvin did all of the talking. Huilar provided support of a positive nature with hand-claps,"Yessiree 
Bobs", and"You better believe it"s times nine. They offered to cut me in for half
of some "job" they had discovered if l would help them plan and execute it. While my first thought was that someone, maybe my parole officer, maybe even
Len, was testing me, to learn just exactly how straight (or not) l really intended
to be. But l approached it as if it were a real offer; basically, l told them it would be a mistake for them to partner with me, seeing as how my complete history as a criminal was one of total failure, ending in nearly two years prison time. 
They would do well (better, at least) to look elsewhere for a partner. Almost any
dick off the street is a better bet. "And finally, unless a partner has more invested in the job than the others, no one should get a larger percentage of the take than the others". The following Monday, l asked Len if he knew Arvin and 
Huilar. He did. They were regular customers. Since l never saw them again, after
our meeting at Shorty's, l have to figure that they took me at my word. (And
avoided me like the plague.

Saturday Night! Dinner with Dahlia and Reyann. L will never forget that night;
At dinner, Reyann talked my leg off and kept me quite amused. l was still laughing when Dahlia said "OK Reyann it's well past bedtime for you". She put
Reyann to bed and re-joined me on the couch. That night, l guess my behavior
was in line with that of someone who hadn't been really close to a willing woman of attractive mien for way too long. Especially for a hetro male, barely
three years out of his teens.

Neither of us found our life's love that night, but l think we did find each other
tolerable, perhaps (in some ways) even likable. Overall, we got along pretty well
and spent a gang of years together. A few days after our surprise visit with the 
the Gideons, there was a knock at Dahlias door at about eight in the evening. lt
was Dad and Teri. They figured that l might need a change of clothes and some
toiletries, since it was very near two weeks from the last time l spent the night with them. (l don't know why l hadn't taken care of that, earlier. Distracted, l
guess. Since Len provided me with three uniforms though, l had plenty to wear.
lt was a little embarassing; Dahlia and l had not said anything about me moving in with her, but no one had suggested that l go home either. l thanked them for bringing my stuff and promised to bring Dahlia and Reyann for another visit, soon.

Dahlia and l decided to invite her parents and mine to Thanksgiving Dinner at 
Dahlia's apartment. that would communicate, to both families the fact of our
intention to cohabit without the need of formal announcement. that worked out better than either Dahlia or l expected, although there were a few bumpy spots;
at one point, Dahlia's mom, Mary opined that my dad might have been one of the Okies, fleeing the dust bowl who regularly reduced the population of her chicken coup (in the 30s). ln the years that Dahlia, Reyann and l were together,
that Thanksgiving 1961, was the only time our parents were in each-other's
presence.
At tax time 1962, during one of Mary's visits, she joked that Dahlia's tax return
was so large that l might want to marry her for her money. l don't think Dahlia or l had thought about marriage before that, but we thought a lot about it after that and on Feb. 22,that year, we each took the day off, drove to Pacific Grove, where a Justice of the Peace married us, while the Judge's daughter and a
Monterey County DeputySheriff witnessed the event

ln early April, we took a week off to visit my stepdad, Eli my mom, Zella and their three kids, Ross, lrvin and Marie. My main motivation for the trip, besides
spending time with family was to find a new, better-paying job. One that paid 
enough that we would need only one income and Dahlia could become a full-
time mother and home-maker. Once we were all packed and ready to go, and
actually on the road out of town, the brakes that wouldn't reveal their flaw some
weeks earlier, now failed completely. They would still bring the car to a stop, but
they wouldn't then let the car go again. Thankfully, we were only about five blocks away from Len's. l called him. He came right away and fixed the problem,
which l had never encountered before (or since).

Owing to his unique position in the North-Eastern Nevada business community,
Eli knew everything that had happened there, everything that was happening, there, and everything that was planned and about to happen. He would also know the key men in all of the businesses involved. He was happy to tell me 
that his little town,(my characterization, not his) had survived the exit of most of the influence and financial input in recent years due to the immense growth
in a large area around the little town. But when l asked him what , for me  in the boom, he demurred. "But you're doing fine where you are; Dahlia tells me 
that you pretty much run the station now, l'd bet you will run it before long.
Really, Lanny you always were as good a service station attendant as l ever had working for me. Hell, you were my best station employee at twelve years old.
You'll own your own station in a few years, l'd bet on it". Hey, l didn't blame him
for not wanting me in his town. My most recent pass through Elko County not 
only hit his wallet hard, but embarrassed him in the extreme. But l could not let
his negative attitude get in the way of my new family's well being.

My step-brother,lrvin, then twenty years old was Eli's oldest child. From the day
that he was born, l was his biggest fan and he liked me too. When Eli's  council
was to become the best service station attendant at Len's Richfield, l talked to Irvin about filling me in on the companies that might have openings in the state
and who are the people that run the places and know Eli. He was able to give me four company names and also the names  of the top guys in those companies. One was A.R.D. lnc. a mining company then working on an ore body
near the town of Lovelock. l chose it because it's about 200 miles west of That Little Town in Elko County,thinking that taking a job that far from Eli's  home base would less threatening.  l was interviewed by Jim Rowe,A.R.D. partner and mine superintendent of the Lovelock works, and close friend of Eli for about 25
years. Jim hired me without so much as a verification call to Eli or anybody else.
He then told me l would spend the week  in that little town, that we thought  we
had put in our past, because training because training for a new assayer (which
would be my new job) was provided by the company's Chief Assayer, George 
White at ARD's main assay office in the little town. After that week, though, l
would do the assays at the Lovelock mine.

At first, l thought l should look for another job at one of the other prospective 
employers on the list Irvin had given me. But Dahlia and l discussed it and she 
thought we could just avoid Eli and company while we were in town (only a week, after all), She thought that when Eli, some months down the road, got the reports of my exemplary assaying he'd be glad l had taken the job. She was
right; We saw him a few times that week and he had nothing negative to say and on Friday of the training week, Eli came by near noon and took George and l to lunch at Chin's. Leaving, he wished me the best on my new job!