Page 58 of Miles. Alton & The 9:04
“How many trains do you have?”Fae asked.
“Last count, about five hundred or so, but only three hundred actual sets,” he said.“As I continue with my siblings, my brother Jeremy was the Mayor of Nebraska City, but got a wild hair to run for Governor of the State.He married a woman smarter than him who ran his campaign, and he lost the race for Governor but he is now the U.S.Senator for the State of Nebraska.He's a fancy librarian by trade and owns a construction company which in he made me a partner.”
“You're a partner in his construction company?”Jae asked.
“It helps with getting building permits and getting deals on concrete pours,” he said, winking at Mae, who blushed.“I am also part owner of the Archery Club in Iowa, which is owned by Macalister, who was an Olympian, but had to make the choice of saving his biological father's life by giving up part of his liver or sacrificing his Olympic dream.He opted to save his father, but he is still one of the best bowmen in the country.”
“Wow,” Jae said.“And the other ones?”
“Mateo developed a love for music at an early age, and the band teacher at his high school during summer and spring breaks would have him play with his jazz quartet to make money,” he said.“Mateo went on to Julliard where he finished grad school and taught music at the school before hooking up with Chambers Claypool and going on the road like two mad vagabonds.”
Ella perked up, “Oh wow, do you know the Toadstool song?”She began to sing it, and Thom joined in with her.Midway through the bridge, she realized Thom was the person who was singing the song, especially after he added in the croaking sound which came at the end of the record.
Rae Weston leaned forward.“Wait, a cotton-picking minute!I saw Mateo and Chambers about five years back in a little spot, and they had this scrawny white boy with them singing!”
“Mr.Weston, I am not, nor have I ever been scrawny.I am scrappy,” Thom told him.
“That was you!Well, you don’t say,” Rae Weston said, trying not sound impressed.“Man, you cansang!You really have some singing chops on you!”
Mae took the opportunity to brag for a moment.“Daddy, Thom won a Grammy for Overdressed Toads.”
“You have a Grammy?”Rick inquired.
“Yep, and the royalties aren't too bad either, since I actually wrote the lyrics as well,” Thom said, continuing to move the dial forward.“Our sister, Kimbrae, is the rock for us all.From the moment we earned our fist paychecks, we brought them home and handed them over to her.She gave us an allowance, put ten percent into the household account for meat and taxes and stuff, and the rest went into a bank account.She's an accountant.Over the years, the savings accounts were turned into portfolios, which she manages for each of us with our businesses.”
“Your businesses?”Rick asked.
“Yes, each of us has a business, and we invested in each other's companies and ventures, as well as the construction of homes, and in her case, an amazing office building she got dirt cheap,” he said.“She added cool features to it like a living wall, so if you want fresh basil in your smoothie kind of thing, it’s really cool.”
“She manages your portfolios?”Sherryl asked.
“Yes,” he replied.“My father, although he was serving his sentence, we got to see him twice per month, and he remained active in mine and LeBeau's life.My brother hated the farm and land for that matter which led him to buy 50,000 acres of a bayou in Louisiana.He owns an eco-tourism business where he gives tours in swamp boats through the bayou.”
“What?You are lying,” Rick said.“A swamp boat?”
“Yeah, it’s like a hovercraft with the big fan on the back,” Thom said, looking at Mae.“That's what the call was about yesterday; he was buying another boat for “our” fleet.I say our because I am co-owner of that little bog of Hell that I hate to visit.”
“Uncle Thom, why do you hate to visit it,” Josephine asked.
“Nope,” he said.“You can call me Unc, or Thom, but never put the two together, please.I made an unwritten rule with all my brothers; the kids can either call me Unc or Thom.”
“Okay, Unc, why do you hate it?”Ella asked.
“It is, for the better word, my dear, icky,” Thom said, laughing.“When he first bought it, we all went down to help him work on that house.It was a shack, that's what it was, a shack filled with holes that allowed all types of slithering things inside and once we plugged all the holes and shored it up, we came outside to find an anaconda eating an alligator.”
Mae burst into laughter, “I can't see Aunt Sue and Kimbrae dealing with that!”
“Oh, baby, they left after day two,” he said, laughing.“The first black snake with a white mouth Aunt Sue saw, she said nope and picked up her suitcase.Kimbrae was right behind her.After we saw the anaconda, Mac said the same thing.He was in the truck ready to leave us all.LeBeau says the swamp boat he bought is for me when I come down.He wanted me to have my own.”
“You now have your own swamp boat,” Mae said arching her brows.
“Yeah, yay for me,” Thom replied.“Every July, for LeBeau’s birthday, my parents go down for a visit and I tag along, wanting to be anywhere but there.My brother has a master’s degree in comparative literature but spends his days in boots with no socks and overalls with no shirt like he was inbred with an alligator and Nutria.”
“What's a Nutria?”
“A big swamp rat with orange teeth the color of Cheetos,” Thom said.“In the Winter, which is the off season for swamp boat tourism, Lebeau hunts them and sells the meat to the locals, which has become his side hustle.”
Bae Weston still didn't like the man.“And what about you?You've told me about them, but I don't know nothing about you.I sure as hell don't understand what it was about you that made my daughter leave everything she worked so hard to have to marry you and walk away from her life in Chicago,” Bae said in a huff.
