Friends, Family, and Neighbors
The next shift turned out to be a long one. There was nothing really serious just endless call after call of minor nuisance calls, including five trash fires during the night making them late getting off duty. Hank was even later getting his paperwork done for the shift but before he left the station he called home to make sure Marco had arrived. His wife reported that he had just pulled up in front of the house.
When Hank got home he found that Marco had gone out for breakfast before arriving at his house so that his wife wouldn't feel she had to feed him. He was ready to fall over on his bed, sure he'd be asleep before he hit his pillow, but he wasn't surprised to see his guest already at work in the bathroom. Hank wanted to have a talk with the young man and make sure he knew he wasn't the family slave but Hank couldn't even as much as get close to him as his whole family was gathered around the doorway to the bathroom watching Marco's work with awe and more than a little interest.
Hank soon found himself leaning against the wall to keep himself standing as he watched a master at work. He soon felt his children against his feet as they sat down on the floor to continue watching
By lunch time all of the tile was in place. Since Hank had already instructed his wife to make double the amount she usually made, Hank was able to pile Marco's plate high and then brush off a hefty second helping of everything once Marco had cleared his first plate.
When lunch was finished Hank ordered Marco to take a nap and not to do anything more on the bathroom until the next day. It was clear this was not a hardship for Marco when, several hours later, it took Hank a good ten minutes to wake him up for dinner.
By the time Hank was awake the next morning Marco was ready for his help to replace the facilities and hang the shower door. Before the day was over Maggie had paraded most of the neighborhood through to see Marco's handy work and he was offered several other small jobs. Five were easy repair jobs to replace cracked or broken tile and four of them were simple entryway flooring. Marco was able to do all of them that night and all of them paid him in good quality second hand furniture or kitchen appliances, something he needed. One job was a coffee table top; they wanted it to look like a picture they had taken from a motel they had stayed at once. That gave Marco ideas.
When Marco arrived for work on his next shift he was greeted at the door to the locker room by a smiling captain. "Someone from C shift broke three tiles in the shower; I told headquarters I know someone who might be able to repair it for them."
Marco just sighed in resolution and hurried in to see the damage done in the shower, his captain had been joking, there was no damage to be repaired.
-0-
At the end of the shift Marco, Chet and Johnny were quick to leave the station. Chet because he still had things at his house to finish before the major appliances were delivered, Marco because he had a storage unit to empty and close out before his delivery was made. They all assumed Johnny was in a hurry for the same reason.
Marco had just moved the last of the items from the back of his truck and set them in the closed in back porch when the sound of a truck pulling up caught his attention. He was surprised to see his captain getting out of his truck with his two oldest boys since he had told him he would come and pick up his stuff and all the things he had been given that afternoon.
Before Marco made his way out to greet his captain Mike pulled up with his truck filled with furniture and Johnny was right behind him with a mattress and box springs tied to the top of his Rover.
Even though there were three trucks full of stuff it was really just one sofa, an arm chair, a few lamps and small tables, toaster, blender, coffee maker and a much nicer kitchen table than had been in Marco's other apartment. There was also a bed frame to go with the mattress Johnny brought.
With everyone helping, it took the men less than half an hour to unload the trucks. Even with the furniture, the place still looked quite empty. The boys however were quick to kick off their shoes and slide across the newly finished wood floors in their socks.
The neighbors were quick to notice a moving party and came out to meet their new neighbor. One woman brought a casserole, another a loaf of fresh baked bread, but most of them just came to introduce themselves.
Marco was quick to notice that the first four neighbors to come to the house went to Hank first; clearly they thought he was the new resident. When Hank pointed to Marco, one man exclaimed, "Oh, I thought he was just the person making the repairs."
The next two neighbors approached Roy and the two after that approached Mike first. Marco wasn't the least bit surprised that when his friends left he was receiving questioning glances from behind mostly drawn blinds and drapes.
Marco felt strange sleeping in his new bed. As he lay there trying to go to sleep he made a mental note of the things he'd need to buy the next day.
Early the next morning Marco got up and made a fast run to the grocery store to get the staples he would need along with and a good supply of canned goods to fill his cupboards. He had always believed in keeping a few cans of soup around for that meal you were just too tired to fix from scratch. He then stopped at a department store for a set of dishes and pots and pans along with some towels and a change of sheets for his bed.
By noon he was home with everything put a way and nothing that needed to be done. He tried to watch TV for a while but ended up out in the garage tuning up the lawnmower.
Johnny spent the afternoon putting the finishing touches to his house in preparation of turning it over to the new owners. As he vacuumed the newly laid carpeting and washed the windows, his thoughts were on his friend Marco. He was glad that the station crew had all come out to support him but he had also noticed who wasn't there to help with the moving. "Just what's going on between you and your family Marco?"
The first time the phone rang when it wasn't a wrong number, turned out to be Matt. He and his Uncle had a big tile job to bid on and they wondered if he'd help them. It sounded better than hanging around the house watching the neighbors watching him and wondering what they were thinking. Just like at the Stanley's, one job turned into another, and then yet another. Marco didn't mind much; it only turned out to be one day a week and they did all the prep work so that all he had to do was lay the tile. It was easy money and he got a lot of ideas on how to fix up his attic into a little apartment. That wasn't something he needed or even wanted at the moment but it would increase the value of the house if he decided to sell and move on.
Two weeks later Marco had found a place for everything he owned and made a note of furniture he wanted to buy as time and money permitted. He'd had no further contact with any of his neighbors. He was beginning to think he should finish fixing the place up and put it up for sale again as he put up the new garage door.
As he was working one of the boys from next door started to talk to him. "Someone said you were a fireman?"
"Yes, I am." Marco welcomed the friendly conversation.
"Do you drive the fire truck or just work with the hoses?"
"Mostly just work with the hoses," Marco responded and could tell he hadn't raised himself in the boys eyes much with that response.
The conversation came to an end when his mother called from the house telling him to come inside.
That night he finally called his parents and invited them over for dinner and to see his new place but they were clearly offended when he said he really wanted to have a quiet dinner with just them and not all of the relatives, too.
"Mom, I really don't have enough furniture and there isn't enough parking here for everyone; maybe later on when we can have an outside barbeque."
When they'd hung up several possible days had been set aside for the get together but nothing had been set in stone.
On his next shift, the station was called out to a fire at a bread factory. Because flour is very explosive when it's in dust form he had managed to get blown off the dock when such a flash happened while they were getting a man out. Marco managed to wrench his shoulder good in the explosion. Nothing serious, but the doctor felt he needed a couple of days in a sling before it was safe for him to be wrestling a hose again. Hank worried when Marco didn't want to call a family member to come drive him home. He even offered to let Marco just sleep in the dorm the last few hours of the shift so that Johnny could run him home but Marco assured his captain that he hadn't taken anything for the pain and was okay to drive, the doctor just didn't want him pulling hose until his shoulder had some time to heal. Hank reluctantly agreed then asked Marco to call him when he got home.
It was a quarter to six in the morning when Marco pulled onto his street. He was quick to notice the six police cars with their lights flashing and it didn't take him long to figure out that they were at his house.
He parked his truck across the street and walked through the crowd of gathering neighbors.
"The man just moved in less than a month ago. I'm willing to put up with a loud party once in a while as long as it shuts down at a decent hour but this party has gone on all night. I just can't take it anymore," Marco heard his next door neighbor telling the police officer. Marco just moved on to the house getting angrier with each step he took until he was stopped by one of the police officers that was standing outside the house.
"This is my house," Marco was quick to explain when he was stopped from entering. "Can you tell me what's going on here?"
That's when Marco looked through the window and noticed two of his brothers, the two that were still living at home, several of his cousins and others from the neighborhood. His brother who was temporarily separated from his wife had another woman sitting on his lap as the police talked to them.
Once the neighbor confirmed he was the one who lived there and Marco explained he was a fireman and had just gotten off duty, the police knew what they had on their hands and allowed Marco to enter the house. As he stepped in his brothers were quick to start talking to him in Spanish and it was even clearer that they were drunk.
The claim was that they had come by to celebrate his new house but he wasn't there so they let themselves in. After all, he wasn't using the place at the moment.
Marco knew very well that they had seen the days he was going to be home on their mother's fridge and had planned to make use of his house when he wasn't home. As he looked around he was sure there were drugs in use and he questioned how old some of the guests, especially some of the girls, were.
There were over thirty people in his house and the place was a shambles. Tequila bottles, beer bottles and cans were scattered all over the place and food was left half eaten and spilled as a bunch of rowdy drunks had gotten into a wrestling match and knocked over a couple of his lamps and broken them. When he walked through the house to find that someone had broken a window in his back door to let themselves in, Marco was livid.
"It's your call, Mr. Lopez," the police officer spoke at his side. "No one is fit to drive. Do you want us to haul them in or would you rather they stay here and sleep it off? There are grounds for trespassing charges to be filed also."
Up until now Marco hadn't said a word but that was about to change. "Yes," Marco growled under his breath as he noticed two people passed out in his back yard. "I'll press charges and I want them all out of here. Their cars, too."