The Article by Jackie Zufall (large screen ebook reader .txt) 📕

and that he could come to him anytime in the future if he or his mother ever needed anything at all.

Coming back out of her remembrances of the past, Abby voiced out loud what they all were thinking, “Why do you suppose Paul is selling this place, I mean, I know he has no plans to actually live here now, but this place was built by his family, they farmed this land, and raised all their children here. He is the last of the Zimmerman’s you would think he would have at least some good memories of his father here that he would want to try to hang onto”. The other girls nodded their heads in agreement, and then Nicole, the one never shy to voice her opinion spoke up. “Well, I guess we are all just going to have to convince him to stay somehow”, “yep”, she said after another second or two, “that’s what we gotta do”.

Sometime later, the girls descended the attic stairs to prepare lunch, they all were giggling as they looked quite the sight, cobwebs in their hair, faces covered in dust and dirt. They each took turns between the kitchen and bathroom sinks washing up a bit, then worked together to put together a lunch to be made of grilled burgers and hot dogs. While some of them began cutting lettuce and slicing tomatoes etc., the others pulled down bowls for chips and dip, the guys were all sitting around the picnic table having a cold brew, except for Jay and Paul who were arguing over who would get the grill going and throwing pieces of charcoal at one another. As Abby stepped down from the back porch bringing out plates etc. for lunch, she scolded the two as a mother would her unruly children. “Would you two behave and get that lit before I stick you both in time out”, laughing as she said it.

After enjoying such a good meal together, the boys decided that they needed to play a little football to work off the food. In order to have enough players, they recruited the girls to play as well, promising that they would not be tackled, only tagged, the girls finally agreed. They had been playing for a while when suddenly in a tackle in which the guys were “supposedly” after Paul, they made Paul end up taking Abby down, with him landing on top of her, they were all laughing including these two, when suddenly, they became aware of their closeness, they both jumped up and walked away in opposite directions, Jay and Nicole in the meantime were winking and smiling at each other, as they were already in cahoots together to try to reunite the pair, thereby keeping their good friend Paul from selling the house and settling down here in Loganville.


Chapter Nine

Following the game, with the exception of Abby and Paul, everyone went back to what they had been working on before lunch. Abby on the other hand, pulled Paul to the side and told him about the boxes in the attic and all the great old furniture. Leading the way, Abby went up the attic stairs with Paul bringing up the rear.

“Wow”, Paul exclaimed moments later, “ I had forgotten all this was up here, I used to play up here when I was a kid, my dad would yell at me to get out of here cause grandpa Zimmerman would roll over in his grave if I broke anything”. He smiled at this sudden remembered memory of his father teasing him. Pointing to a corner of the room, Abby said, “There’s the boxes I told you about, we thought you would want to go through them yourself”. Walking over to the stack of boxes, Paul perused their contents, then after seeing that they contained not only his clothes, but also his medals etc. from the years in the service and several folders filled with papers. Telling the girls to just leave those things there, he promised to move them around as needed when the girls were ready to clean in that area.

Following Paul back down the stairs, Abby inquired as to what he wanted to do with the three bedrooms. “Well, I haven’t even looked in mom’s room yet, nor mine really, but I will get to them probably this evening.” “As for the other one, it only has a dresser, bed and night stand besides moms sewing table”. “There are several boxes in the closet that I assume are maybe boxes of material, otherwise, that room will be fairly easy to get done quickly”. Continuing on, Paul said, “I thought we would re-paint the walls of course, which I will go into the store tomorrow and pick up that”. Abby broke in, “What about the living room, dining room and kitchen, any ideas on what you want done to those”? “No, not yet,” answered Paul. “I’ll look the whole house over this evening and try to put together a list of ideas for everything to work on.”

Abby returned upstairs to help the other girls, and Paul went outside to help with painting the house. The afternoon passed fairly quickly, and soon everybody headed home promising to come back again tomorrow after church to continue on with the work.

Jay asked Abby to drop Susie off for him, as he wanted to stick around for a bit longer to talk to Paul. They had not had much chance to just talk since the first day Paul had gotten to town, and remembering that Paul had wanted to continue their conversation, Jay stayed behind so they could talk alone.

Paul began telling Jay that he did believe that his mother had waited for his return only to be disappointed. “What makes you think that”? Asked Jay. “Follow me”, replied Paul. Walking over to his bedroom door, he swung the door open and stepped aside for Jay to peer into the room. “Wow”, exclaimed Jay. “Talk about stepping back in time, looks just like I remember it”. “Tell me about it”, replied Paul. They proceeded into the room. Looking around, Jay chuckled, “check out these trophies”, “I don’t even remember what ever happened to mine, I suppose they are still at my parents”. Looking around some more Jay suddenly exclaimed, “Hey come here and look at this, I had forgotten about this”. Looking over Jays shoulder he saw what Jay was referring to, there on the window sill were the words, “ Paul and Jay - Best friends to the end”, Jay continued on, “remember your dad when your mom told him bout that, I sure do”. “We were what, bout nine maybe”? But Paul did not answer; he suddenly went back in time in his memories to vividly recall the conversation.
“Jay, you need to go on home now and don’t come back for one week, and Paul, you go out behind the woodshed and get a switch”, James had told the boys. “You two need to learn to respect others peoples property, Paul, tho’ this may be your home, it is my house and I will not have you destroying it”. Paul remembered how his father had said to him, “this is going to hurt me more than it will you,” then feeling bewildered after the whipping as he looked up at his father, he could not understand why his father had a tear running down his face, after all, it was he, not his father that got whipped. Paul recalled that later that night, his mother brought him some supper to his room and when he asked his mother about it, she had replied. “Well Paul, it pained your father to have to whip you, but there are times when you need to realize the seriousness of what you have done, and so to make you learn and remember, he must punish you more severe than normal”. “And so he was saddened to be whipping you, but knew the incident called for it in order for you to remember”.

Snapping out of the memory by the sound of Jay practically yelling, “Earth to Paul”, Paul said, “Sorry, another trip down memory lane, was recalling that day”. “Yeah”, Jay replied understanding, “your dad was sure fit to be tied”. They looked at each other and smiled over the memory, then both proceeded to move around the room looking things over. Each lost in their own thoughts and memories for a time, Paul finally said, “Let’s get out of here, how bout going to town for a drink, maybe get the gang together later”. “Sounds good to me”, agreed Jay. Jay headed home to clean up after the two agreed that Paul would meet up at Jays once he had cleaned up as well.

Pulling up into the driveway, Paul was greeted immediately by Jay and Susie’s eleven-year-old son, Troy. “Hey Uncle Paul, wanna play some catch with me”? Catching a ball hurled by the boy, Paul thankful for fast reflexes replied, “maybe another time Troy”. He tousled the boys hair a bit as he handed him the ball back. Walking on into the house, he was startled to find Abby sitting at the table. “Well, hello there”, she said to him. “Hello”, he replied, “What are you doing here”? “Well Susie and I made it this far, and were having a cup of coffee when Jay called bout us all going out, so Susie loaned me their shower and a clean outfit, so I’m good to go”. “What about your kids”? he asked. “Well”, she started, “Tony is staying over with Nicole’s son Jason and Lynn is staying there with Angela as well”. “So as luck would have it, my evening is free”. “That’s nice”, Paul said back, suddenly feeling the heat again seeping up from under his collar.

Moments later they were all going out the door, Jay said, “Paul, why don’t you take Abby and go on ahead, we’ll drop off the kids at Don and Nicole’s and be right behind you”. Suddenly apprehensive at the thought of being alone with Abby, Paul agreed. Getting in the car after closing her door for her, he started the engine and both cars backed out, going opposite directions.

Walking into “Red’s Tavern” a short time later, Paul suggested that Abby find a good table for the four of them, preferably close to the pool tables, while he went to get drinks for them. Soon they were seated and sipping their drinks, neither really sure how to begin a conversation at the moment, as they were both feeling a bit nervous being together and in this place. Luckily they weren’t tortured for too long for Jay and Susie were there shortly.

“So”, Susie began some time later as the guys were playing pool, “You sure have been awfully quiet a lot lately, since about the time Paul hit town”, “If I’m not mistaken that is,” she went on. Abby taken aback at Susie’s comment, was quick to defend herself. “I have not, I’m just the same as I always was, why would you say that”? “Come on Abigail Miller-Dubois, just who do you think you are talking too, huh”? Susie replied back. “We’ve been best friends all our lives, I know you just as well as you know me, we’re like twins that have psychic powers, we always practically know what the other is thinking or feeling”. “I bet I could almost tell you what you are thinking right now, watching Paul the way you are”. “I’m not watching Paul; I’m just watching the boys play pool”. “Yeah, your mouth says that, the direction of your eyes says differently”, Susie teased on. Becoming slightly embarrassed and agitated, Abby excused herself with the sudden need to visit the ladies