“Paul’s sister called me,” my buddy said when I answered the phone. “She said she has been trying to get in touch with him and he doesn’t answer his phone. She wanted to know if I had heard from him.”
“What did you say?” I asked.
“She still thinks he’s living out west,” my friend said.
“Did you tell her he was back here?” I asked.
“Well, no. I told her she should call Paul’s brother, but apparently they don’t speak to one another,” he said. “So, I just told her I’d let her know if I heard anything. I don’t like lying to her, but I really don’t want to get involved in a family thing.”
“Did you call the broker?” I asked.
“He wasn’t in. I left a message, but it’s the weekend. I don’t expect to hear from him until Monday.”
“Monday’s a holiday,” I reminded him. “Maybe Tuesday.”
“His sister gave me a phone number to call her if I hear anything,” my friend said. “I think I’m going to call Paul’s brother and tell him that his sister is looking for Paul. I don’t want to get Paul’s brother pissed off, he’s 6-6 and about 250 pounds. You’ve seen him. He’s probably even bigger than he was when you last saw him. He’s a hot head. I really don’t want to get on the wrong side of that guy.”
“He knows where you live,” I said jokingly.
“Ya,” my friend said. “Sometimes I wish I had closer neighbors.”
“Did you call that place again?” I asked.
“Ya, I did, same old BS.” he said. “Paul who? I can’t say, no I can’t tell you if we have spoken to anyone. You know. That damn Frenchman jerking us around again.”
“So I could call up there and ask if you were there and while you might be standing beside me, all they would say is, Who? We can’t say if he’s here or not?”
“I suppose,” was all my buddy said. “I don’t think that crazy Frenchman would even admit to being there himself if I asked him.”
“Do you have any idea where that motel is that his brother is living in?” I asked.
“No, I just know it’s in New Hampshire.”
“Should we drive up to where we think this Frenchman is holding Paul and look around?” I suggested. “I’m free Sunday. We know what town this place is suppose to be in. Maybe we’ll find something.”
“I don’t think that will help,” my buddy said. “If we go up there, even if we find the place, which would be a long shot since we don’t know the name of it, they probably wouldn’t let us in. And Paul might not be there. Maybe he is in a hospital somewhere.”
“How about calling the hospitals in the area?” I asked. “They might be able to tell us if he was or is there?”
“We could do that,” my friend said. “There can’t be too many hospitals in that area. I’ll try that later today. What I don’t get is why his brother doesn’t seemed more concerned. He just seems to think Paul is fine, or that’s how it seems to me.”
“Well, maybe now that Paul’s sister is asking questions, his brother will start caring a little more,” I said.
“She’s going to be some pissed when she finds out he’s back here and that she didn’t know.” he said. “But you know, we may be reading too much into all this. Maybe it’s nothing.”
“When are you going to call his brother?” I asked.
“Probably later today,” he said. “I’m going out to buy a new mattress today. I liked the one you had the last time I was there. I’m getting one of those. Was the one you had the plush?”
“Beats me,” I said.
“Well, I’m going to drive around to as many places as I can this afternoon and try out as many mattresses as possible, ones like you have.”
It’s not my bed. It’s my daughters, whose room he slept in the last time he was here. But, I’ll admit, I have no idea what kind of mattress I sleep on.
“Sounds like fun,” I said. “You do have a very exciting life.”
“I tried one out a couple of days ago and they had to wake me up. It was wonderful,” he laughed.
“You fell asleep in the store?” I asked.
“Ya, well almost,” he thought about it. “Ya I did. I’m going to have a nap today before I go so it doesn’t happen again.”
“What are you doing that’s making you so tired?” I asked. “Polishing your cars or is it all that soaking in your hot tub that’s wearing you out?”
“I don’t polish them. I have people.”
His house is on the ocean and from the hot tub outside he sits and watches the water, while talking on the phone.
“The hot tub does make me tired, but it’s so nice.”
“Why don’t you tell Paul, if we ever find him, that if he buys a hot tub he can put it right next to yours and the two of you can sit there and look out to sea together. Like in one of those Cialis commercials?”
There was a pause. “We don’t know if Paul’s got any money left to buy anything.”
The views and opinions in the Enterprise blogs are those of the author and are not neccessarily shared by Falmouth Publishing.
