Trailer for Sale

Move In Day

Mobile Home for Sale, Vintage 1B/1B, sparsely furnished, Needs TLC, $7000 as is

That’s what the advertisement said and that was what she had been looking for. Maybe not the vintage part, but the price was right. Alice had been living with her daughter since she decided to take a break from her relationship with David a couple of months ago. As much as she loved her four grandchildren, she really needed some peace and quiet.

The ad had been true to its few words. As she used a screwdriver to chip away the ice on the “frost-free” freezer, she thought about how “vintage” meant “old”. The refrigerator was original to the 1972 single-wide mobile home. She had purchased it from the park where it was located and it had clearly been vacant for a few months. Thankfully, they had at least kept on the power or the smell would have been unbearable. Florida heat could make a place stink fast.

“Knock, Knock. Anybody home?” Alice heard a sweet voice call from behind her. She turned to see a diminutive woman with striking red hair standing at her screen door. Might as well let the ice in the freezer melt for a minute and meet one of her new neighbors.

“Good morning”, Alice smiled as she walked toward the door.

“Good morning to you dear. Are you my new neighbor? You look way too young to be living in a retirement park.” The woman couldn’t have been more than five feet tall, but she had five inch heels on with her sparkling jeans and fitted t-shirt. She was definitely old enough to be living in a retirement park herself, but if she was single, Alice could envision her being popular with the retired gentlemen.

“Oh, I’m older than I look; not old enough to retire, but getting closer every day. I’m Alice.” Alice opened the screen door to invite the woman through and wiped her wet hand on her pants to offer it. Little Red, as Alice had dubbed the neighbor in her mind, stepped into the screened porch but didn’t take Alice’s hand.

“Well, I suppose they do let younger people buy in to the park sometimes. I’m Sam Patterson, honey. I’ve lived across the street since my husband passed about 15 years ago. My friend, Diego…he works at the park office….he told me a woman was moving into crazy Mr. Jack’s place…maybe you don’t know, but Mr. Jack had to be put in a nursing home a few months ago…I don’t know any of his family so I don’t know how he’s doing or even where he went…he didn’t tell anyone, but he had terrible dementia…one wouldn’t know that though because he was pretty nuts before…always sitting out on the porch reading books about space and stars and never participating in any of our community activities…no fun at all. He was a nice looking man…I tried to get to know him, but he wasn’t interesting in the least…scribbling in a little black note book and saying he was waiting for his daughter. Well, I never saw any daughter come to see him, so I guess that was all just him being looney. But anyway, it’s nice to meet you, sweetheart….Alice, you said…well, that’s nice. Are you from Florida originally? No husband? What about kids?” The entire time Little Red had been talking, she strained her neck to the left and right to glance around Alice into the trailer. It was difficult for her since Alice was several inches taller than Red even with those heels.

“I’m actually from Missouri and I moved to Florida to be closer to my grandkids. No husband. It’s just me here. I’m sorry to hear about Mr. Jack. I had no idea who had lived here before. I bought the place through the park and they didn’t say anything about that. It’s a little rough, but I can spruce it up and be just fine here.” Alice already liked Little Red, she was a spunky gal and clearly had all the gossip. Nosey Little Red was going to be entertaining as a neighbor.

“Oh I’m sure you can, dear. Well, it looks like you’re working so I’ll let you get back to it. I’ve got lunch with a friend now so I won’t be home until later, but you’re welcome to stop by for appetizers and a cocktail around 6 tonight if you want. I do that every Thursday evening. No pressure, but you can meet a few other neighbors, if you’re interested. Anyway, I’m off to lunch. I’ll see you later, Alice.” Little Red was already waving back and walking down the short sidewalk to cross the road as she said good-bye. Alice just waved back and let her leave without a reply.

As Alice walked back towards the kitchen she heard dripping water. In the short time she had been standing at the door talking to Little Red, the ice from the freezer had melted enough to start falling onto the floor. She placed towels on the floor and started back to work getting the ice out. She was even able to grab a large corner chunk from the back of the freezer and throw it over to the sink which made it look like she was actually making progress. Once she had the freezer cleaned out she could go the grocery store to put some food in it.

She turned on the water in the sink to wash down all the ice chunks and began to wipe out the freezer with a towel. As the ice disappeared and slid down the drain, a plastic freezer bag that had been frozen in a large chunk remained in the sink. Alice unrolled the bag to see it was full of cash; a lot of it. Her mind immediately said, “not again”. This was the second time she had found a stash of cash and the last time it threw her right into the middle of a murder investigation. Why did this happen to her?

Twenty thousand dollars. Hell no. Twenty thousand dollars. No note, no information. Twenty thousand dollars in random bills. Obviously, it belonged to the person who had lived here before. Damn it. Now what was she supposed to do with this? She didn’t know the man who had owned the trailer. She could go to the park office and turn it in, but screw that. They sold her the trailer “as is”. Technically, the money was hers to keep. Could she in good conscience keep it?

Maybe she did need to have a cocktail with some neighbors and feel out who Mr. Jack was. No promises on returning the money to him, but she could put out some feelers and let her intuition guide her steps. She needed to call her psychic friend, Madeline. Nope. Madeline was at a retreat. No communicado. Okay, Alice was on her own with this one. Shit.

Cocktails and Crazy

“Oh my gosh, you came! I’m so glad you’re here, darling.” Little Red had changed into grey slacks, white fitted blouse, silver belt and silver heels. Guess the lunch outfit wasn’t enough for cocktails. Alice felt a little under-attired in her sundress and sandals until she walked through the door and saw the other guests in shorts and an interesting collage of Hawaiian prints.

“Please come in and meet everyone. What can I get you to drink? I’ve got just about everything.” Little Red was dragging Alice into the room and calling to a woman named Diane to come meet her and introduce her to everyone.

“Vodka and cranberry will do if you’ve got it.”

“Of course, doll. Make yourself comfortable.” Little Red was off to bartend.

Alice spent the next hour meeting a dozen neighbors and learning all of their ailments. Diane and her arthritis. Diane’s husband, Ken, and his bad knees from old football injuries. Betsy and her hypertension. Betsy’s partner, Olivia, and her diabetes. Raymond and his glaucoma, which didn’t stop him from following Little Red around the room with his eyes. The amount of medication consumed by the people in this room probably kept the local pharmacy in business.

As Alice listened and answered a few questions about herself, she casually tried to ask about Mr. Jack. She heard the following responses: Mr. Jack was nuts. Mr. Jack was crazy as a loon. Mr. Jack never left his house. Mr. Jack was always scribbling in a notebook. Mr. Jack never wanted to be friends with anyone. Mr. Jack always talked about how he was waiting for his daughter. No one knew where he had lived before he moved to the retirement park. No one knew if he actually had any family. The only thing any of them knew was that he was apparently interested in astronomy. They based this on the fact that he brought a telescope outside each night and studied “star books”. When they had tried to engage in conversation with the man, he would brush them off by saying he was figuring out when his daughter would come. To these people, that meant he was crazy.

Having spent the last two hours with these people, Alice was beginning to understand Mr. Jack’s reluctance to participate in their cocktail parties. Her body was hurting just having to listen to them talk about where they hurt. She was getting nowhere in her quest for answers about why there was money in Mr. Jack’s freezer.

“Hey Ms. Patterson, it’s been a long day for me. I’m going to head back home. It was so nice of you to have me over. I had a very nice time.” Alice had found Little Red on her back porch shoulder to shoulder with Raymond.

“Please just call me Sam, love. Have you heard enough about everyone’s illnesses? You had to know that was coming in a retirement village.” Little Red’s eyes smiled even when her mouth didn’t. She was truly a beautiful woman and had likely been stunning in her youth.

“All except yours. Do you want to run them by me before I go?”

“I don’t have any and I wouldn’t share them if I did. I’m going to live to be one hundred and five and I’m going to be healthy and vibrant every day. I refuse to quit living my life.”

“I like that about you, Little Red.” Alice hadn’t planned on using the moniker she had bestowed, but the vibe was right for it.

“Little Red? I like that. Full disclosure though, I don’t always have red hair. I’m just as likely to make it purple next week. I use kool-aid packets to color it. Did you know that worked? Probably not on your dark hair, but it sure colors the gray in mine. Anyway, I heard you asking about Mr. Jack. Why do you want to know about him?”

“Well, you know I bought the trailer with the furnishings and I’ve found a few things that I think might mean something to him. If I had contact info for him or his family, I’d at least like to check with them about it. I guess I could go to the office tomorrow and ask. Surely they have a number for whoever signed over the trailer to them.”

“Oh, let me help you with that. I’ll go around and see Diego at the office tomorrow. I never mind sniffing his cologne anyway. That will give me an excuse. It would make my day.” Little Red even clapped her hands together in excitement when she made this offer.

“If it would make you happy, that would help a lot. Thanks Little Red. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Alice was liking her more by the minute.

Uncle Jack

Alice worked painting the kitchen cabinets until about two in the morning and then fell into the bed exhausted. She woke up at about eleven and took her coffee onto the porch where she found a note on the door.

This is Mr. Jack’s nephew. Thanks for giving me a reason to smell Diego. – Little Red

There was a name and phone number included and a smiley face after her name. Okay, now she had to figure out what to say to Mr. Jack’s nephew. She had no intention of telling him about the money. Why was she even calling? She could put that money in her own stash and never say a word to anyone. She could have done the same thing with the last bit of cash she had found, but the universe never worked that way for her. Might as well make the damn call.

“Hi, is this Ryan Huffman? My name is Alice McKay and I believe I live in your Uncle Jack’s old trailer.” Alice tried to sound cheerful, but it probably came across as nervousness.

“Yes this is Ryan. How can I help you Ms. McKay?” Ryan wasn’t trying to sound any certain way and his tone screamed confusion.

“Well, I just wanted talk to you for a minute. You probably know that I bought the trailer “as is” and I’ve found a few things that your uncle might have wanted to keep. Would there be any way that I could contact him?”

“Wow, honestly, my uncle has advanced dementia and likely doesn’t even know what he had in the trailer. Truly, anything you have found, you are welcome to keep. I’m sure that contacting him wouldn’t do much good.” Ryan was still confused.

“Would there be anything that you would want? Or anyone else from his family? I just want to make sure no one is going to come asking for anything down the road.” Alice probably sounded like an unbalanced person herself. She fully expected Ryan to ask what she had found and she was prepared to lie and say that it was pictures or something else totally mundane.

“Ms. McKay, even though I was my uncle’s emergency contact, I didn’t know him. I only met him one time when I was a kid. My mom talked to him occasionally before she passed, but there is certainly nothing sentimental about him for me. He had a good career at the space center but he was never married or had any children. He really had no one else in his life. He went into the hospital with pneumonia and the doctor called me about needing to make arrangements for him, I found a care center there in Florida so he could be as close to his home as possible. I take care of the bills and that’s the extent of my involvement. I don’t mean to sound callous, but I feel like I am an executor to a stranger.”

“I actually understand; I have an uncle like that, too. So, he never had any children? The neighbors here say he was always studying astrological charts and said he was waiting for his daughter to come. I assumed he had a daughter.”

“Nope, no daughter. That’s funny though because he once told my mom that he knew there was a woman that would come to him and be like a daughter. He had gone to a psychic who told him to watch for her. Maybe as he got older he confused that with actually having a daughter. I’m not sure, but I guess that’s possible. Then again, here you are calling me about contacting him. Maybe he’s been waiting for you all these years.” Ryan laughed heartily at his joke.

“Right, I don’t know about that, but I think I would like to see him if that’s possible.” Alice knew from her previous adventures that there is always a story behind found money. She had a pretty good track record of figuring them out.

“By all means, you are welcome to go see him. I can text you the address of the place when I get home from work if that’s okay. I don’t have any idea when visiting hours are or anything like that.” Ryan definitely didn’t have any emotional attachment to his Uncle Jack.

“Yeah, that would be good. I’m really sorry for bothering you at work. I appreciate your time.” Ryan also said good bye and Alice hung up the phone. Now she was determined to find out more about Uncle Jack. What a lonely life he had lived.

The Stars Align

Evidently, they don’t just let anyone visit someone in a nursing home, or care center, as this one preferred to be called. Alice called to ask for the visiting hours and the woman reminded her to review the packet that was provided to approved visitors itemizing the visiting hours for each hall. When Alice stated that she was not yet an approved visitor, the woman transferred her to a secretary who informed Alice that she would have to apply to visit a resident. Since she was not family, she would have to submit to a background check and the family would have to respond in writing with their approval, since Mr. Jack could not provide informed consent for himself. Wow, what a pain in the ass. Understandable for the protection of the residents, but still a pain in the ass.

After a slight temper tantrum and a small lie about how she was a former co-worker and would only be in town for a short time, she got through to a case worker. The case worker seemed so excited for Mr. Cisneros (Jack) to have a visitor that Alice told her the truth about buying his old trailer and wanting to meet him. Finally, the case worker said that she would call the nephew to allow a one-time, supervised visit, which was tentatively scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Interestingly, if Alice had pretended to be a pastor, she could have shown up on Sunday evening and gone in any room she chose….alone.

The case worker spoke as she led Alice toward the room where Mr. Jack was waiting.

“He’s actually having a great day. He has days where he is completely lucid and shares amazing stories of the space center with anyone who will listen. Those days are becoming farther and farther apart, but he does have them. I hope that means you will get to enjoy your visit.”

“That’s wonderful. I’m not entirely sure what I expect to gain from this visit, but I felt compelled to come.” Alice had learned about her intuitive gifts a couple of years ago and her friend Madeline had been helping her understand how to use them. The golden rule for intuition was to never ignore it.

“Either way, it’s good for him to have a visitor, whether he knows you or not, he will benefit from the interaction.” The case worker clearly had a heart for her work.

“I understand he doesn’t have any close family. I’ve learned a bit about him from his nephew and from the neighbors in the retirement part where he lived and where I now live. They said he was always scribbling in a little notebook. Does he still do that?”

“Wow, that notebook. He doesn’t scribble in it so much, but he always has it with him. I’m sure it will be in his lap when you see him. Never leaves his room without it. He never lets anyone see what he has written in it; gets incredibly agitated if anyone even touches it. Well, here we are.” The case worker walked through a door and Alice saw Mr. Jack for the first time.

Alice saw a slender man who had once been tall and was still handsome. No wonder Little Red had tried to get to know him. Dressed neatly in slacks and a short sleeve shirt, he was seated at a small table looking right at the door as she walked through. The wrinkles in his face magnified as he broke into a smile at the sight of her.

“I knew you would come.” His voice was raspy, but steady and confident. He didn’t sound at all confused.

“Hello Mr. Cisneros. I’m Alice McKay and I live in your home at the retirement village. I wanted to come visit you and make sure there was absolutely nothing in the house that you wanted to keep. You left a lot there, sir.” Jack stood up to greet her as she spoke and put his hand out to take hers.

“My goodness. I’m so glad to meet you. I’ve waited so long. Whatever you have found in that house is yours. It’s all for you. It was always for you and you will do great things with it.” Alice looked at the case worker to get some clarity, but the woman shook her head, shrugged her shoulders and mouthed the words “I don’t know”.

“Mr. Cisneros, we’ve never met before. I’m not sure I understand.” Alice should have felt sorry for Jack and his lost mind. Instead, she felt very comfortable with him holding her hand.

“You don’t have to understand, dear. It was always supposed to be this way. Here, this is for you as well.” Jack pulled the black notebook from his pocket and placed it in the open hands that he had just released. “Look inside, it was always for you.”

Alice looked down at her hands and carefully opened the notebook. It was completely full of notes about constellations, planetary alignments and astrological charts. In the margin at the top of each page he had written

- She will be called Alice. -

Read more about Alice and her adventures in Five of Pentacles: A Bad Granna Mystery, by Anna Munson. Available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.