Page 11 of Collin: Episodes 10-12
By the time Collin and Mr. Reevesworth arrived at the house with a waffle breakfast steaming hot inside of take-out boxes, a lawn service crew was waiting at the curb. Mr. Reevesworth nodded Collin toward them and took the boxes for himself.
Alice burst out of the front door. “You bring life!”
“Food?” Mr. Reevesworth asked.
“Coffee!” Alice hollered, leaping from the top step.
Collin moved toward the lawn crew. A Latino guy in his fifties and two younger men, one with a distinctly Irish look and another who was probably the older man’s son, met him halfway. “I Diego.” The older man held out his hand. “This my son Arturo, my other son Patricio.”
“Or you can call me Patrick.” Patricio held out his hand. “Papá forgets.”
“Forget nothing.” Diego huffed. He launched into a long line of Spanish that had both of his sons chuckling.
Arturo turned to Collin. “That’s all the English Dad has. If you want something, tell me or Pat. What do you need?”
“I’m guessing Patricio is adopted.” Collin grinned as the redhead slung an arm over his dad’s shoulders.
Arturo grinned. “Our mother has a thing for strays. And Dad has a thing for her.”
Collin waved Arturo into the yard and walked around the side of the house. “I’m sorry my Spanish sucks. Never stuck in school.”
“Well, neither did my French. But I’m learning Hmong for my girlfriend.” Arturo rubbed his face, looking at the overgrown backyard. “So, this is a lot.”
“Tell me about it.” Collin grimaced. “I was going to do it, but someone threw chemicals in my eyes a few days ago, and my boss won’t hear of it till I’m cleared.”
“Boss, huh? I saw you on the news.”
Collin blushed and rolled his eyes. “Great.”
“Don’t worry. Mom might be Catholic, but she already adopted our sister’s girlfriend. And Dad made her name Spanish too. So now she’s stuck.” Arturo waggled his eyebrows.
“Do you all adopt older people too? Like someone my mom’s age?” Collin let light humor bleed into the edge of his voice.
Arturo chuckled.
Collin pointed out what needed doing and left Arturo to it. He went into the house via the backdoor and found Alice and Mr. Reevesworth in the kitchen. Alice had her face buried in the largest coffee cup, and Mr. Reevesworth appeared to have just portioned out the maple syrup and butter containers.
Alice lowered the coffee long enough to say, “Mom’s in her room meditating. She says to eat without her.” Then she put her nose back inside the cup.
Collin laughed and gave her a side hug, then dropped down at the table. “Let’s eat while it’s warm then.”
Three hours later, the front and back yards looked amazing. Patrick offered to run over to the hardware store and buy lumber to fix the front step. Collin knew a good thing when he heard it and handed the redhead cash. He also called Damian and asked for a background check. It was in his email’s inbox two hours later. By then, he and Alice had finished cleaning most of the house and even hauled the recycling away to the drop-off. It had piled up to waist height in the storage area.
When Diego and his sons were done, Collin met all three at the street. “How much to come over regularly?”
Arturo looked at his father and translated. They had a little back-and-forth, and Arturo gave Collin a number. “We’ll come twice a month. If you want maintenance done, that will be extra when it happens, like the step.”
“I’ll pay you for the next two months right now. And if my mom makes a fuss, tell her I worry about her and that she has a big job. Also, she speaks Spanish.”
Patrick grinned and repeated what Collin said to his dad. Diego huffed. He wagged his finger at Collin and said something.
“Dad says good sons do it themselves. But he gives you an exception since your job is far away.”
“My mom is lonely. But she loves this house.” Collin nodded at it. “Please take good care of it. My dad disappeared while we lived here.”
“She wait for him?” Diego asked.
Collin shook his head. “She knows he’d come back if he could.”
