If You Build It
4
When I'd completed my ritual I went into the kitchen to straighten up while I waited to hear something. Then figuring I'd have a hard time concentrating on anything important anyway and knowing I wasn't going to be able to sleep I worked on getting three batches of bread dough made and ready for the oven instead. While that was rising I made 8 trays of biscuits and put half of them in the freezer before going back to pound the dough. "Jo did I wake you? Starr said on the other end of the line when the phone rang about 9:00. ***** "Do you remember Ed Grainger, I think you might have gone to school with him. He and his son Kyle rented the old Chandler place a couple doors down from the church with his Grand Daughter Suzie. The nearest they can tell there must have been some frayed wiring or something; anyway a fire started and the place went up in flames. Thank The Lord there was no one home but they lost everything." "Those poor people; Kyle lost his wife a couple years back to cancer and then Ed had that stroke and now this. The men are still working but David asked me to call around and see if we could find them a hotel to stay tonight until we can work something out. I know he's planning to call you later but I thought instead of wasting my time I ---" "Of course send them down here, Goddess knows I have plenty of room; I'll fix something to take back and feed everyone if you want. Is there anything else I can do?" "No that's it I think; I'll let you know and Jo --- there's been some damage to the church and annex too" ***** After she hung up I went upstairs to make up the beds in a couple of rooms and lay out some extra towels then went back to the kitchen. I put the 4 pans of biscuits I had left out in the oven and started cooking. By the time she pulled up out front with the Graingers and some women to pick up what I had made to help feed everyone I had enough food ready for maybe 60 people. Before the women left Starr quickly explained what was going on then said, "I'm supposed to tell you David says Thanks and you should go on to bed but If you don't mind leaving a light on he'd appreciate it since they won't let him back into his rooms in the annex until after they've inspected it for damages so he's going to have to impose on you some more if you don't mind. He said just leave a blanket and pillow on the couch and he'll sleep there. If I know you though you'll be up whatever time he gets here." "You know me too well. I'll say a prayer to The Goddess for all of you." I said giving her a hug as she left. ***** We were sitting at the dining room table when David pulled up sometime after 1:00. Having given up on trying to sleep Kyle had joined me around midnight when he'd come down to call the Sheriff's Office; we were working on our second pot of coffee when he got there. He slouched down in a chair and reached for the cup I had left out for him. "Do you want something to eat? I can fix it while you take a shower, it might relax you a little and you can definately use one." I said pushing a tray of cookies in front of him. "We'll see, But can we go out on the porch? It's cool out there and I need to get the stench of smoke out of my lungs." he answered heading down the hall to my bathroom without touching the cookies. ***** While David was in the shower Kyle and I finished up our assessment of his family's current situation and agreed he and his family would stay here until Ms Corbin left to go East and then they could move into her apartment above the store; Sanctuary would provide his family with a voucher to purchase whatever they had to have from the thrift store's inventory until they could afford to replace their things. I was saying we'd work out the details later after everyone had had time to sleep on it when David came back into the room. "I'll take something to eat now, Ms Jo, if the offer's still good. I'm going out front." Kyle said Good Night and went upstairs to get some sleep and I headed to the kitchen. David went out front and sat down. ***** "Was anyone hurt? was my first question when I sat the plate in front of him. We talked while he picked at his food for a few minutes before pushing it away. He looked at me. "Well you said Unity would be holding Sanctuary's first worship service and I guess you're right, again. I just wasn't planning on it being before it was even off the ground." "And now I'm telling you everything is working according to plan even if we can't see it yet; but we can figure it all out tomorrow after Steve and his Dad get here. Go get some sleep you'll need it." "I have a feeling The Lord and Your Lady already have it figured out." He was asleep as soon his head hit the pillow. ***** I was in the kitchen having a cup of coffee and some oatmeal when Kyle came downstairs a few hours later. "I smelled the coffee; have you been up all night? he said pouring a cup. "I slept a few hours but the animals need to be fed and I have people coming this morning, I put David in the library so he could sleep a while longer and I'll cook some breakfast when I've finished in the barn." "Might as well show me what you want done and let me start earning our keep - wouldn't want anyone thinking we're a charity case." Just as we were leaving the house Suzie came down the stairs and asked if she could go too. After I showed them what had to be done and made sure they would be okey I checked on the mare again and went in to start breakfast and call Beth Corbin. ***** "Actually, it's taken care of, Andy gave me a list of some of the men who are coming down this morning to see Mr Kidman about a job and they're loading up their vehicles right now with the clothes and things I already have packed so they can get it on down there and out of my way. The Graingers ought to be able to find whatever they need for now in that and I'll have the rest of the things there by Tuesday. I'm hoping to catch a flight out of Denver next Friday for Baltimore so I was going to call you later this morning anyway Do you want the shelves and fixtures too?." she said when I expained why I was calling so early. When Kyle and Suzie came in I handed her one of my big t-shirts and some scarfs and sent her upstairs to take a shower and dress before breakfast. "Here, you can be a Fairy Princess or a Hippie today, you'll fit right in - I'l help you tie your scarfs like we used to wear them if you want." ***** "Good breakfast is ready, I feel like I haven't eaten in a week," my other house guest said joining us just as we were sitting down to breakfast. "Look Pastor David, I'm a Hippie just like Ms Jo used to be." said Suzie jumping up from the table and dancing around to show off her outfit. "I was going to be a Fairy Princess but I don't have a crown, besides Hippies can wear flip flops and put flowers in their hair and guess what; I got to feed the animals." "Am I pretty?" By the time we were finished eating the men from town were there and already putting the boxes in the old craft shed. ***** Joe Kidman Sr walked into the barn while I was talking to the vet on the cellphone - I motioned him in and went back to explaining to Pete about how the mare was acting. "Alright Pete I'll see Krissy in about 20 minutes and talk to you when you get here; and thanks." I said hanging up. "Sorry Joe, I needed to call the vet, I think the mare's in labor." "I saw where the fire was when we came through town and Pastor Carpenter explained to me about The Graingers before he headed back to check on things. He said you needed to see me first chance I had." "I swear I don't know how you manage everything that's going on around here at one time." "The Goddess keeps me strong." I answered. ***** "I know this is a busy time of year for you and Little Joe and you're probably stretching yourselves and your crews pretty thin in order to get everything done while the weather is holding, but we need to have your people pretty well finished here by the first of August when we start setting up for the Gathering; hopefully the rest of us can finish up whatever's left to do ourselves. That's why I'm glad you agreed it's to everyone's benefit to hire local men for some of the work which will free up your crews for the more complicated jobs; especially now that we have some additional work we need to talk about." ***** "After the Fire Marshall gets finished I'd like you to get with the insurance adjuster and Steve Barker and take on the job of repairing and remodeling the church if it's feasible. This is a separate job and doesn't have a dead line but Sanctuary will pay all the expenses. Also I think you know Ed Hoffman over at the Hardware Store - I know he buys most of his lumber and building supplies from you guys anyway and I'd actually save money if you supply the material directly but if we can I'd like to utilize Ed as the middleman somehow." "It might mean a little more paperwork but that should be it and he and the town can sure use the boost." "Barker & Sons is located in Dover too, so Steve can get with you on all the details whenever you'd like. In fact he and his Dad will be here in an hour or so and probably stay the night if you want to talk to him with David or Andy handy before you leave, and by the way I'm going to ask Kyle to stay on here as kind of their assistant so he'll be in on it too." ***** "I need to run back into Dover but I'll stop by the Sheriff's office on my way out if you'd like since I imagine he and David are both going to be kind of busy today and I'll see you when I get back" he said leaving as Krissy walked in. ***** Ilijah and Steve had just came back from the cabin and were wondering through the house making lists and taking notes while Starr and her ladies were in the kitchen. She'd brought a young woman along who had just been laid off from her housekeeping job at the Casino up the Interstate to speak to me about some housekeeping work. I showed her around and got her started then I shut myself up in the office to make some phone calls. When I finished I went into the kitchen to help and was immediatey ordered out. "Here," Starr said handing me a tall glass of iced tea and reaching for the Brandy. "I told you we don't need any help; besides, you're too Bossy and would just be in the way and you're already doing too much. Now go sit on the porch and relax for a change." I was, still there working on accounts and deliveries, when Suzie came running up. "Ms Jo, Ms Jo. The baby's coming. Hurry." ***** Suzie was estatic when I told her since she had helped the colt get born she could pick out a name all by herself and help take care of him . It would be just like he was hers. "I'm going to name him Sunflower; Dr Pete says that used to be your name, was it Ms Jo? Can I ride him when he gets bigger?" I stayed in the barn with them, admiring the beautiful new gift the Goddess had given us until the Antique Dealer arrived. ***** "Mr Sikes I'd like you to meet Mrs Josephine Blackwell Jorganson, Owner of Blackwell House and Founder of Sanctuary. Jo, this is Adam Sikes, owner of 'Twice Cherished'." We talked for a few moments and I showed the 3 of them a couple of pieces on the first floor that I wanted to keep then saying there were some other pieces that had been reserved for a 'special' friend and Mr Barker would point them out I excused myself pleading other duties to attend. Litte Joe and his men quit work about 5:00 saying they'd be back Monday morning around 8:00. He rode back with the crew leaving the truck for his father who was staying for dinner and a meeting. Mr. Sikes had also left after promising he would be back Saturday morning with the trucks and a crew to get the rest of the things he had bought. Elijah had chosen not to drive home and was staying over leaving Steve to return in the morning with someone to haul his Father's personal treasures back to Dover so they'd be out of there before Mr Sikes' trucks arrived on Saturday. David called and told me to ask Starr to stay for dinner and the meeting and have her call Mike to remind him to join us then I went to take a quick shower and see if Antoinette had made up the extra rooms for Ilijah and David, who would also be staying before sending her home. I also reminded Kyle dinner was going to be late in case he wanted to feed Suzie so he could put her to bed before the meeting started. Andy and David were already on their way down. When Mike got there Starr went into my bedroom and dressed for dinner while David helped put everything on the table Buffet style and Andy offered everyone a drink on the porch where the tables was set up. ***** After dinner we adjurned to my office and began. Elijah handed me 2 checks the first was for $38000 from Mr Sikes for the furniture he'd bought. "That seems like a lot of money,Elijah." "Not really, the China and Silver alone will bring $6000 easy and I saw 2 beds that should bring $2000 apiece. Then there was a wedding gown and some officers uniforms probably from the late 1800s or early 1900s and a set of leather bound first editions, that's another $7000 at least plus the Barbie doll collections and everything else so he got off cheap - REAL cheap; and by the way so did I but I figured I'd impose on our long standing relationship." I handed the checks to Andy to deposit. "That will buy a lot of supplies. Now Joe I'll leave you men to discuss building plans and such while Starr and I clean up but first---" "Kyle, in case you haven't been asked yet we'd like for you to accept the position as David and Andy's assistant. They both have other obligations and need someone to free them up from some of the day to day stuff. Joe tells me you already know carpentry and he can teach you anything else you need to know and we can definately use the help. If you agree your rooms will be finished first. You have the weekend to think about it." ***** "What you all should be thinking about is finding someone to help Ms Jo before we wind up putting her up on that ridge beside Mr Paul." Starr said getting up from her chair. "Hold on Starr; that's where you come in." "Andy and I have also made an executive decision. You're fired as Church Secretary but --- we're hiring you as Full Time Secretary for Sanctuary and Personal Assistant to Ms Jo - with a salary. Mike is the new Groundsman and will be responsible for the live stock." "He's already agreed and since you're unemployed now anyway you've got nothing better to do; Besides, you're the only one of us who can keep Momma Sunflower in line." "Now out, both of you and let the men talk - I can take notes as well as anyone. Oh, and by the way, since you're actually being paid now you'll have to learn to take orders." "In your dreams," I said under my breath. ***** By the time we'd finished clearing up from supper Joe had left and I was exhausted. "You need to go on to bed, the men should be finishing up soon. We'll be here by 6:00 so Mike can take over feeding the animals and get started anyway; so, I'll fix breakfast. You can sleep in for a change. You and I can start about 9:00. Now git." "So much for taking orders," I said over my shoulder as I left. ***** I actually managed to sleep until almost 7:00 the next morning then took a long shower. By the time I walked into the kitchen to get some coffee Steve was sitting at the table with Starr going over Sanctuary's files. Everyone else was already off busy somewhere and Suzie was following Mike around. "Here," I said handing Starr the keys to the jeep and sitting my coffee down. "I won't have my Personal Assistant arriving at work before I'm even out of bed. After all I'm a lady of leisure now." "Which reminds me you'll need the household ledgers too, since they're actually part of Sanctuary now - I don't own any of it. " ***** I took the messages and notes Starr had jotted down and went into my office saying I'd be there the rest of the morning if anyone needed me. I reached for the phone and called Tina's. "Hey Mom. I thought I recognized the number," Danny said at the other end. We chit-chatted about nothing for a few minutes then he told me the reason Tina had called. By the time he hung up with a promise they'd be there in time for the Gathering and he'd have Tina call when she got in from work I was already planning a 'Simple' September wedding in my head and Sanctuary had it's first family.The phone rang almost immediately but before I could get to it Starr had already answered it in the kitchen. "It's Amy; she wants to know if you have time to chat and the phone company is coming Monday to install another line - yell when you get off the phone ." "Thanks" I said picking it up. "Amy Honey, I was just getting ready to call you guys." ***** I'd known Starr all her life. Her parents had attended their first Gathering here at Blackwell in 1971 before she was even born and she'd spent amost every summer of her life here since. When she met and married Mike Adams at school in '88 they'd bought a few acres of Blackwell land up on the ridge and built a summer cabin; about 10 years ago when Mike got hurt on the job they decided to chuck it all and came back to stay. Before that they had been living in St Louis where Starr worked for some Accounting Firm. Mike had worked for a landscaping company and free-lanced making custom furniture so they were both more then suited for the positions they had just stepped into. ***** "You need to take a break, so I thought we could work out here while you eat something to hold you over, most everyone else is going to have lunch out by the barn where Paula had them set up to feed the workers." she said when I came out to grab some tea and tell her I was ready to start. "Everyone decided they'd come on out today and get set up for church Sunday since that antique man and his trucks will be here tomorrow in the way. David said you already know we can't use Unity until the work is done and everything's cleaned up. Besides the files and stuff are out here anyway - I've been going over them." "I had David stop at the book store and pick up some things while he was in town. The office supplies are in the library which I think we should turn into the main office so you can have your office back; especially since after Joe's crew gets finished with the house you won't have the dining room table to work at anymore. While he was there he picked up 2 new desk calendars; 1 for business appointments and 1 for you personally. Here's yours. I've aready filled it in as much as I could from your notes and date book." "Well here's something else for your calender, the boys will be here in time for the Gathering and there's to be a wedding on the Eve of the Feast of Gaia on September 15th. Make a note we'll need 2 living areas; three bedrooms and two bedrooms and space for a clinic and a school ready by say the 3nd weekend in August - they're staying.." By the time the lunch bell rang everybody in town knew about the kids and the upcoming wedding. ***** After lunch I went back to my office to begin separating out my personal papers while Starr and Antoinette adjourned to the library to work on Starr's plans for Sanctuary's new offices. "I put Antoinette to work packing up books and showed her which ones Mr Sikes has marked for himself. I'm having her put them in the Front Parlor until we can decide what to do with them.I told her to have the men put whatever she finished packing in there before they left and they could finish up on Monday after her regular duties, she'll be here at 8:30 if that's okey? There's not much real cleaning she can do anyway until the men get through with the construction and remodeling in the house and she's not the type to just work on her own." ***** That evening after an early dinner David, Kyle and I were sitting at the table talking while Ed and Suzie watched TV in the front room. Andy was going to try and make it down around 7:00 or so. "Kyle have you made a decision yet about what you and your family are going to do?" David asked. "We're staying, Suzie says she won't leave Sunflower and Ed says he's felt more useful in the last few days then he's felt since his heart attack and no offense Pastor but I feel a sense of peace here that I haven't felt anywhere since Ann died. So yes, we're staying." "We're moving up into 2 adjoining rooms on the 3rd floor, Ed and I will take 1 room and we'll divide the second room into Suzie's bedroom and a small living area." "They're going to update the wiring and connect into the solar panals for the house and make sure everything's safe so we can get it ready and put some things up there to occupy Suzie when we're busy down here. He said to let him know if I thought of anything else and he'd have the plans ready for your approval on Monday." ***** "Joe told me he was bringing 2 crews with him Monday and could also use all the help we can round up. They're going to start dismanteling the partition in the living room and get everything ready to install the Solar banks when the Electricians and Plumbers get here on Tuesday and work on the Windmill. He's also going to get with the adjustor and the Fire Marshal to see when they can get started on Unity and I was ordered by Starr to get my serman done and have all my receipts and paperwork ready for her by 9:00 Monday morning." "What about your day Ms Jo?" David asked finishing up. "My day? Well let's see I slept in. I made a couple of trips down to the barn to pamper and pet the animals, then I made some phone calls and found Sanctuary a Docter, a Nurse, a Teacher, and an Ex Police Officer as well as a playmate for Suzie - which reminds me - we need to get them to check out that elevator; Cindy's in a wheelchair and if we can't get it operational or get a stairlift in she and her parents anyway are going to have to be downstairs on the first floor; Bobby Jr can have a bedroom upstairs if he wants. We also need to put a ramp in. Then I met with Starr; who has completely taken over it seems and spent the rest of the day on personal things." ***** "Starr on the other hand cancelled the cleaning crew I'd hired saying we'd get off a lot cheaper and probably get better service hiring women from town. She also called the phone company to install another line and started organizing everything in the office besides finding time to bake. Did you realize we have deliveries or something going on everyday next week - besides Joe and his people being here?" "Niether did I, I guess she's right I was stretching myself too thin." I said showing them Sanctuary's appointment book when they shook their heads . When Andy got there I fixed Suzie some Milk and cookies while Kyle took her out to say goodnight to Sunflower and then she and Ed went upstairs. David quickly caught Andy up and we got started. ***** By 8:30 we were done. Kyle went upstairs and David saying he had a sermon to rewrite went in my office. "What's that girlfriend of yours think about all the hours your spending here?" I asked as I walked Andy to the door. "That, my beautiful Priestess, is why she's still my girlfriend and not my wife and where I'm headed now." he said kissing me on the cheek and getting in his truck.
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