R.I.P. Mouse Slayer

My last two posts were pre-scheduled weekend before last.  Monday didn’t quite go as expected.

 

Tina called and woke me about 4am Monday saying, “Brian thinks Mr. Ralph just died.”  Tina and I dressed quickly and then we grabbed Dave and Will and rushed to Brian’s.  We were right behind the ambulance but Mr. Ralph had passed a few minutes before we got there.  Dave helped the EMT’s bag him, but they were just going through the motions.  We were there until 9am waiting on the coroner to pronounce him dead and allow the EMT’s to remove the body.  Eventually, Junior, Mr. Ralph’s oldest son, and his two daughters came.  Most of those early hours were spent calling the relatives.  Tina helped with most of that.  I felt utterly useless and spent time folding some clothes and cleaning up what I could and helping Brian dress.  Once Jon (Manjina) got there, I took Dave and Will home and got a shower before I came back.  Junior and his daughters took care of the arrangements that afternoon, and when they came by looking for clothes Tina insisted they take a blue dress shirt because it was Mr. Ralph’s favorite; they debated it a couple of times and I thought Tina was going to throttle them over it.  Obviously, I hadn’t been there all that long, but I talked to Mr. Ralph a good bit.  In the past month or two, he had finally gotten comfortable enough with me to discuss his dislike of Brian’s friend and how worried he was about the possibility of Jon’s daughter coming to live with them.  But, I can’t say that we connected on any emotional level.  Tina, however, has been working here for two years and has gotten to know all the skeletons and knows who to call and how.  She insisted that I go ahead and take my “vacation” and I reluctantly went ahead.

 

Unfortunately, Junior had been deeded the house and 3 acres several years ago when Mr. Ralph and Brian’s mother declared bankruptcy.  Therefore, Brian has no legal stake in the house.  Junior says that Brian can stay as long as he pays the bills, but Junior is not exactly trustworthy.  Brian is half-looking for another place to live just in case, and Paladin suggest we build the west wing into a studio apartment for him (Paladin has been talking about turning that room into an apartment to rent for some time now).  It would make for one easy commute.  Jon has been here for the entire time (hence my lack of blogging…my computer is in his bedroom and he and his gal have been there 24/7), but because of Junior’s animosity, Jon is expected to leave soon.  The date is uncertain, however, and he and Brian seem to be looking at a lot of places for rent.  I think they may be trying to get a place together so that Jon can stay up here. 

 

Honestly, from what I’ve heard from Tina and others, it’s been a mess.  There have been arguments over missing guns and a supposed will which even Mr. Ralph’s brother swears he had seen (Junior and his daughters started rifling through papers and taking things out of cabinets before they had taken Mr. Ralph away).  It’s just downright ugly and it’s all simmering just below the surface…for now.  I think it’s only got two ways to go:  Either, Junior keeps his word and moves him and his daughters in here with Brian (which is supposed to be his plan), or as Jon predicts, Junior will keep Brian around until he’s ready to sell the place or just wants it to himself and Brian will be out on his ear.  Personally, I wish he’d take Paladin up on his offer since then he’d have a guaranteed place to live and because Paladin has already been making overtures about me quitting once we’re married (Paladin hates me living out here 3 days a week instead of being with him in the Deridder house the whole week).    In the space of a day, I went from total job security to being surrounded by palace-style intrigue.

 

It’s really weird coming to work and Mr. Ralph’s water system work truck not being under the carport (that was his little part time job after he retired), and it’s even worse when I come in the door and he’s not sitting in his recliner watching the Today Show.  It’s only been a couple of days since I got back to work, but I just can’t get used to it.  When I come through the door, I keep thinking, “Is he in his bedroom or did he go to the casino?”  Then I remember.  Yesterday, Brian had to do some business in town, and Jon loaded him in Mr. Ralph’s GMC truck.  I had gotten in the back of the king-cab and closed my door while Jon left the driver-side door open about a foot (the driver door has to be open to open the passenger door beside it).  The truck was on a steep downhill grade and there was only a slight breeze blowing.  Brian was on his cellphone when the two of us watched the driver door slowly close.  Creeped us the HELL OUT!  Those doors are pretty danged heavy and there wasn’t enough breeze to close it (a breeze shouldn’t have slowly closed it anyway…it would have slammed it).  Dozens of times we loaded Brian up that way, and Jon would leave the door open like that and Mr. Ralph would reach over and gently shut the door.  I’d seen Mr. Ralph close that door in just that particular gentle way a hundred times.  Call me gullible but I don’t doubt that Mr. Ralph was standing right there.  He probably sat down in his recliner after we left and started watching his favorite show, Days of Our Lives.  At least, that’s how I’d like to think of him.