TNP 26 "The Great Move"

A Chapter by dw817

Lloyd finally entered in and apparently reality didn't set in until he actually looked around at everything hanging on the wall. "Holy grandma on a swizzle stick !" he cried examining the place.

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THE NANCY PRINCIPLE

My time in working for the government during the Savings & Loan Crisis of 1990 with a beautiful
woman who took care of absolutely everything for me in my employ. And I mean EVERYTHING.

© August 2013 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission

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CHAPTER 26 - THE GREAT MOVE
* * *

This chapter is Rated: EVERYONE

I sat at my computer a bit. I clicked on SORT to organize the users that had called and watched the little progress bar I wrote as it went through everything. I sure thought it was slow. I wrote it using a bubble-sort cause I never did understand those other types of sort methods.

I watched the green bar of character #178 """ creep along the side of the screen. Finally I called back, "Hey, Trish ?"

"Hmm ? What is it, Dave ?"

"Can I get another computer ? This one's really slow." I had hoped I would have some control over the money I was going to receive.

She laughed, "Well of course you can ! You have the finances to do that now. I'll put that on our to-do list. Now please be quiet, sweetie, I need to think about this for a second."

She picked up the phone in the bathroom and looked around. This would indeed be an effort ! She turned several pages of her notepad to retrieve the phone number she wanted.

She tapped it in on the buttons, realizing the phone's keypad had moisture on it, likely from it's location. She wiped her fingers on her skirt, disdainfully.

Finally she connected. A gruff voice answered, "Ace Movers, how can I help ya ?"

"Hello." she replied, and looking where I was sitting she spoke, "BOY have I gotta job for you !"

I smirked listening to the conversation and spoke under my breath, "I don't have that much stuff."

The sorting process finally finished on the computer and I leapt into wickedly reading everyone's private messages seeing the romance between those two loverbirds was definitely in bloom.

I tabbed down to look in the message forum, The War Board and Primrose Erotica, where the most activity was, and saw several new posts in it. There were also requests for new members. I didn't DARE tell anyone what the registration process was as Rose handled that personally herself.

Then I started to read all the new public messages in the queue, delighted that I actually wrote my own BBS from scratch and in QBasic 1.0 too and people were calling it everyday ! My chest puffed up with pride !

Tricia continued her conversation on the phone, "Yes. Yes, that would be fine. I also need two big plastic carry containers as well. They need to be very sturdy. About 4-feet across by 3-feet wide and 3-feet tall. 2 of them, folding closed at the top ? Yes. OK. I'll be looking for you." and she hung up the phone.

"Honey ?" she called back to me.

"Yeah ?" I replied.

"The movers are going to be here within the hour. Would you like some pizza while we wait ?"

"Sure !" I said eagerly and added, "Everything except no onyums and no hollowpenyers and thin crust cause that's what makes it awesome !"

"OK." she smiled and reached for a fat yellow pages sitting under the pipes of the commode, noticing the pages were molding from mildew and moisture. She was seriously considering using the flat end of my toothbrush to turn the pages on it to locate a pizza delivery.

I replied to a few messages from the callers requesting some of my Z-Modem files, especially the GIF Animes. Since I ran everything from a single 3 & 1/2 inch disk drive I pulled down my carry case off a gorged shelf that held about 20 of them and lifted up the acrylic lid to look carefully at the labels, trying to find the one they wanted.

To keep my BBS fresh I changed out from one disk to another every day. I hadda schedule too so people knew what they could request each day of the week with Hentai on Fridays. I sure was looking forward to getting a new computer that could hold all these disks for me at one time !

I put the disk back in and brought up the directory doing a single-disk swap several times to copy files from that one disk to my main disk. Other people might think it was tedious but I was used to it. There was still one disk I needed to make this set complete.

Just then there was a crisp knocking at the door.

"Pizza !" I said, sounding like I was 10-years younger for a moment. But Tricia was already walking past me and smiled indulgently, "I'll bring it, tiger, you stay here."

She went to the front door. It was indeed the pizza man, she gave him a $20 and closed the door - or well tried. Because the wood was warped it wouldn't close completely from above. It was having trouble.

Tricia was losing patience - with everything I think - because suddenly she yelled a kaia, "Hai !" and facing it, professionally karate kicked the door hard at the top where it was warped and the door closed correctly giving an angry squeak of wood in the process.

I looked at her with wide fearful eyes and spoke breathlessly, "Whoa ..."

She greeted me with a pleasant smile, tilting her head playfully to one side, still holding her leg stretched to the top of the door frame as if it was no exertion for her. A quiet moment passed as I followed her bare leg from the ceiling down to her middle and saw that her undies were shockingly revealed as she effortlessly held her leg in that position.

As I stared with wide eyes I heard a sound of soft laughter from her and she jiggled her hips invitingly.

Suddenly I looked down at the floor, trembling and ashamed, and then back to the computer trying to focus on my work, my whole face burning with embarrassment. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her put her leg down slowly and gracefully like a ballerina.

She then smoothed down her skirt so it wasn't ruffled and walked back to me, looking around for a place to put the pizza at as if nothing had happened.

* * *

"Dave, where are we going to set this ?"

I shuddered and dismissed what I saw. Maybe Tricia had a degree in karate too ? "On the table." I said, relieved my voice didn't sqeak with tension the same as the door, and absent-mindedly jambed my thumb behind me pointing to the sink of dirty dishes in the other room.

"What table ?" she said. It was bad enough there was no room on the walls OR the ceiling, surely having run out of every possible free space in the apartment, logic would dictate a clean and empty table be the first thing to go in this hurricane of clutter.

"Ahhm ..." I said a little confused, trying to clear my head of what I saw earlier. "I dunno, make room in theres I guess."

"I see." she said and was thinking of saying something regarding how nice a clean place can really be but thought better of it.

Finally she found a mound, basically that's what it was. Loaded down with some of my newer Teddy Bears, long pages of printout from the computer, dog-eared teen-reader books I kept long after I had read them and half a dozen unwashed plastic cups, plates, and plastic-ware.

She peered closely at it and thought she could make out a glint of table space underneath.

Shrugging she swept her arm across the whole top of it, grunting with effort and scooted the lot of it on the floor, making a terrible clatter. One Teddy Bear started sounding like a music-box.

Curiosity overcoming her, she rummaged through the fallen pile and picked it up as it continued to play. It was wound up by pulling down on the legs as it had a sproingy middle. She did so and listened to the little metallic notes. Some kind of lullaby.

She brought it to me, "Dave ? Who got this for you ?"

"Rose." I said easily.

"Oh !" she said, "I didn't know she knew you since childhood !" and was surprised.

"I've only known her 2-years now." I retorted noncommittally.

"But - " she started. I was 20. So she gave this to me when I was 18 ? She cocked her head to one side and smiled mischievously adding, "Do you like it ? Do you sleep with it at night ?"

I didn't answer but squirmed uncomfortably in my chair. She pulled the legs to start up the gentle musicbox again and placed it against my face.

She spoke quieter with a soothing whisper, "Does this melody give you good dreams ?"

"Uh huh." I said looking at it with interest and infantile comfort peacefully drifted in my eyes. She leered viciously at me with her mouth wide open at what she was seeing in me. When I realized what she was doing I coughed to stop her teasing me, "Hey, gimme a second, will ya ?" and my face flushed red again as I faced the computer screen. Girls could be so annoying I told myself.

She nodded, delighted at finding this particular weakness in me, and looking on the back of it, she found a small switch to stop it from playing.

Still holding it in her arms she placed it directly in a bag she brought for herself, the only thing she had placed in there so far. Then she went back to the empty table and set the pizza down to have a think about things.

I heard the cardboard shift in the box and quick as a flash, I bounced off my chair from the computer and entered the kitchen where I saw she scooted everything off.

"Hey ! - " I started but she interrupted me.

But she was ready for me, "There was no room, Dave ! Honestly ! Are you going to trash out the nice clean room I have for you in my home this way as well ?"

"I dunno." I said unconcernedly as I popped open the pizza box to take out a gooey slice.

"Would you like a plate with that ?" she asked with a sardonic smile, somewhat surprised at my table manners or clearly lack thereof as she watched the cheese drip down a full foot from my hungry grip.

"Yeah I guess, sure. I dunno." I said. She saw a stack of paper plates lying against the side of the sink, some soggy, and pulled out a dry one from the middle and gave it to me.

"Here, honey. Try this."

"Yeah, thanks," I said and tucking the plate under my arm went back to my computer. I set the plate down and holding the slice of pizza in my mouth, used both hands to dump out the entire stack of my 3 & 1/2 inch disks from the carry case directly on top of it so I could try and find the other one I wanted to transfer files from.

Then I shifted the pizza to my left hand and busily typed on the computer with my right. The cheese dripped down to my lap so I raised the slice over my head and looking up at it, started gobbling and snarfing the stringy mess down noisily with hungry abandon.

Tricia watched and shook her head in disbelief. Finally she take a plate herself, pulled out a slice and searched around for a fork and glass.

"Dave ?" she called back, "Do you have any glasses ?"

"No." I said from the living/dining/bedroom.

"No glasses ?" she said raising her voice, getting a little cross. She certainly wasn't going to drink out of the plastic cups that were now strewn on the floor.

* * *

"I don't use glasses." I told her. "I break anything made out of glass."

"Little wonder there." she smirked to herself, and looking in my cabinet she saw indeed that absolutely nothing was made of glass, except for coffee cups. Most of them had Teddy Bears and Snowflakes on them.

"You've got coffee cups ?" she asked. "Those are glass ?"

"Yeah," I said, "But I don't drink out of them. They're just decoration for me or if someone who visits wants to use one. I don't use them myself."

"Oh ? Then where is your - Euuugh !" her face wrinkled up, finding my one and only coffee cup sitting prominently in the sink along with several more children's plastic cups that I used myself along with torn packets of Kool-Aid strewn near the drain permanently recoloring the white basin to a lovely rainbow hue.

My coffee cup was a tall plastic drinker like truckers used and clearly it had NEVER been washed since I first purchased it 4 years ago from a yard sale. Coffee caked the sides of it in brown rivulets and crystallized sugar had permanently glued itself to the bottom making it sparkle like a semi-precious geode on the bottom.

She covered her mouth in repulsion with one hand and grabbed the tip of the handle of it with her other, which she also noticed was stained deeply with coffee and immediately turned on the kitchen faucet looking around desperately for a scrub-brush.

I was up in an instant hearing the water running.

"WHAT are you cleaning ?" I asked accusingly, as if it was a sign of sacrilege to clean anything in my home.

"This - AWFUL - cup !" and she held it up, wrinkling her nose as if it were evidence A for an important police investigation.

"Heyyy ! That's mine !" and I grabbed it from her. She continued to let the water run and looked around for a scrubber, but none was to be found.

She tried to reason with me, "Dave, honey, it's filthy ! It needs to be washed."

"Nooo ! I like it ! Thissaway it adds to the flavor, and ain't it pretty on the bottom ?" I held it up to show her how cool it was that it sparkled in the light.

"Sweetie, you're going to get sick." she began while looking at the floor, seeing an unopened box of plastic forks. "You just can't - " but was interrupted by hearing another loud knocking.

"MOVERS !" a gruff voice replied from outside my door.

"David, honey - " she said looking straight at me and held onto both my shoulders now and paused trying to think of something to say but was unable. Then she gripped my shoulders harder, almost painfully, and started again, "David you - " and once again couldn't continue.

A quiet moment passed as tactful words failed her, then, "MOVERS ! Hey anyone in there !?" the loud voice outside bellowed.

She turned off the water and looked at me like she was going to explode with rage, "Go - computer !" she said unable to even complete a full sentence and turning me around by my shoulders reached around to swat me hard on my butt but I knew better and was already out of her line of incident, running back to the computer out of hands reach.

Watching her give me a look of aggravation I tossed my one and only coffee cup in my hospital bag so it wouldn't get lost or CLEANED in the clutter. That was my cup.

She then opened the door, or well, tried to, because she kicked it hard closed earlier. It was now even harder to open.

She grunted with effort and it finally opened making a loud and angry squeak against the paneling from the top.

"Please come in," she said squinting and reading the nametag on the mover's grimy uniform as he stood outside"Lloyd." He stepped inside giving her a most unsubtle lecherous smile at her after-work outfit and I saw he was a big and burly guy. His mustache was so thick I swear birds would have nesting material for a year from it.

Following after him was a smaller taller guy whose nametag said, "Pritchart."

Lloyd finally entered in and apparently reality didn't set in until he actually looked around at everything hanging on the wall. "Holy grandma on a swizzle stick !" he cried looking at the disaster area, my home.

"Heyyy !" I said angrily. But Tricia had enough of me.

"David !" she said at my rudeness and cuffed me on the top of my head like I was being an unruly child now. "Go do your computer stuff." her voice softened, "Okay, honey ?" Her voice sounded tired. "Please ... Let me handle this. Let's get out of here - TODAY !?"

"Yeah awright." I said glumly, but I watched the movers carefully like a python observing it's prey. I didn't want them to move ANYTHING until I gave them permission first.

He saw I was watching him with unblinking gimlet eyes so he chose his next words carefully, "Right, ma'am. Uhh - where do we start ?"

"Don't break anything !" I said from my chair unable to keep quiet any longer. My eyes gleamed with annoyance, upset anyone would dare disturb the sanctity of my perfectly organized home.

Tricia sighed, "Yes, well, of course, please don't break anything, Lloyd and - uhh - Pritchart ?" she looked at the other name-tag which was smudged with what had to have been motor oil.

Lloyd's partner nodded. Tricia's wrinkled her lips, not sure if she said it correctly, "How do you pronounce that ?"

* * *

"Pritchar - tuh !" he said, emphasizing his T's. That name was familiar, but she wasn't sure from where.

Perhaps a different story ?

Lloyd looked around again. Clearly he wanted to say it looked like everything already WAS broken so there was no chance of him or his companion damaging anything but he held his tongue. He pulled out a fat pad from the inside of his grimy vest along with a pen, emblazoned with a half-scratched away gas station logo on it.

He tapped his worn tongue on the end of it and asked, "What about the walls and uhh - " he looked up and jerked backwards as if something bit him from above.

"Holy smoke-a-roonies !" he cried. Then trying to compose himself added, "Yeah - uhh - and the ceiling too, I - uh - guess ... ?"

Tricia went to me all smooth-like, "Honey. Sweetie. Darling, the movers can't get all this - ahhm - decorative work you did. You'll have to leave it behind, okay ?" and she caressed the top of my head passionately like she was scrubbing soap in it, praying I wouldn't argue with her on this.

But I yelled defiantly pulling out of her grip, "No ! I want ALL of it, or I'm not moving in with you, Tricia !" I looked at her petulantly.

Lloyd interjected, "It'll be extra to do that, ma'am. A LOT extra." He tapped the pen on his pad ready to write down a new estimate for the move. Clearly a whole other decimal place. He smiled at the profit he would make today for my stubbornness.

"Sure." Tricia groaned, shaking her head in disbelief at my wicked stubbornness. "That's fine. Move - I guess - ALL OF IT." and she gave me a weak smile. I beamed her a wide grin squinting my eyes in victory, my cheekbones reaching to touch my eyes.

Lloyd whistled deep and spoke, "Yes ma'am ! Wow ! Okay Pritchart. Back that thing up, let's get started, okay ?"

"NO !" I said again and got off my seat to address him.

"What's - uhh - wrong," Lloyd said pausing to find the right word, "sir ?" as Pritchart was already outside.

"I need to move some - personal things first." I said and couldn't meet his eyes for the moment.

Tricia nodded, relieved we were actually underway now. She sighed comfortably, "I anticipated this. You brought those 2 big plastic containers I asked for, Lloyd ?"

As she was speaking, you could hear Pritchart thumping them on the ground from out of the moving van and brought one inside, banging it against the screen door which suddenly fell off it's hinges, or to be more precise HINGE, to the side in the bushes, clearly having been hanging on one rusty screw since I first moved in and it finally gave out.

"Uhh ... I'm sure sorry abou-tuh that, ma'am." he apologized looking at the bushes wondering if he should try and pick it up and put it back on.

"That's fine, Pritchart. Just leave it." Tricia said in a tired voice, Then she added in a sigh of relief, "We are moving out of here," and she raised her voice angrily, "TODAY !"

"Where do you wan-tuh this, miss ?" he asked still holding onto the first heavy plastic crate.

"I'll take that." I said and as Pritchart brought it inside, I hefted it to a corner. Tricia then walked outside and motioned for the movers to follow her. They did and then she spoke with the pair outside quietly. What about, I wasn't sure.

I started to pick up all my teddy bears and fill it up to the top. There was no more room and oddly enough I managed to fit them all in.

"I need another one." I said, yelling at them still talking outside. Pritchart nodded breaking the huddle and dragged the 2nd one up to the front door. I took it inside as they continued to whisper mysteriously amongst themselves.

As I saw Tricia was looking right at me, I added, "Yeah, that's it. Thanks." and smiled at her for thinking ahead of time what I wanted to do.

She nodded, aware I was talking to her and raised her voice from outside to speak to me inside, "Okay, honey, now hurry up, they need to get started." she said and then they went back into a huddle whispering with the movers again.

I took the container and filled it up with all my computer disks, printouts, and favorite pillows Rose gave me. I looked in the refrigerator and found my favorite 8-year old container of Cheez Whiz and tossed that on the top of everything along with a box of stale crackers I dipped in it occasionally.

About that time they had all re-entered and were waiting for me to finish filling the 2nd one so they could begin. There was still room left over so I looked at the remaining space but realized my fat computer wouldn't fit in here.

"I want my computer too." I demanded, "I need another container." and glared at Lloyd who shrugged unconcernedly.

Tricia looked a little peeved now, "Honey, I only told them to bring two. We have to CARRY these back ourselves !"

"What about my computer ?" I asked.

Tricia bit her lip in thought, "They're not going to disturb it. They'll leave it here if you like so you can get it later, okay ?"

"They'll mess up my BBS !" I scowled, determined my system was coming with us.

* * *

Tricia knew a little bit about computers and could see mine didn't have a hard-drive. She saw the system was also waiting for a call so she pushed eject on the drive, spitting out the single 3 & 1/2 inch disk which held my entire BBS software. Then she hit the power switch.

"Hey !" I said a little angrily. A moment later the phone rang and she went over and yanked out the line too, breaking the cord, so it was silent. No caller could reach my BBS now. I grimaced in anger.

"All you need is this." she said handing me the single diskette. "They can't mess up anything now. You can reconnect everything once you're settled in the new place."

"Yeah, I guess ..." I said pocketing the disk, and looked down at the floor, surprised she knew so much about computers.

She rubbed the back of my neck comfortingly, "Anyways, remember, honey, I said we're going to buy you a new one, a better one than this. Smithers should be here soon. He'll take us to the computer store and you can pick out whatever you want, and we'll take it back to my place so you can play - I mean - work on it."

"Hokay." I said, a little encouraged at that, and went back to where the movers were standing. They were shifting their feet uneasily and waiting to begin the herculean effort of my Great Move !

END OF CHAPTER 26