Busy Hands and Loving Hearts
8
I was on the porch reading over the manuscript I'd been working on when David joined me after dinner. "Guess you know what they found up at the church." he said sitting down. "I know Joe feels it would be throwing good money after bad to try and repair the annex; between the foundation being unstable and the termite damage and the fire itself but that shouldn't be too big a problem. Bulldose it and clear the land." "Unity can have the building Ms Corbin's store was in if they'd like and you can move upstairs above it or stay on here. You're here more then you're in town these days anyway and if you all continue to use our Community Center - which I hope you will - you can use the basement at Unity for the Sunday School when the repairs are finished." "As for the church itself the actual fire damage isn't bad; mostly the roof and some water and smoke damage but you are still going to have problems in the not too distant future with the foundations." "If it were me I think I'd speak to The Lord and my congregation about doing just the necessary repairs for now if they choose to remain there and in the mean while pray about maybe moving Unity down here to Sanctuary permanently." "The Mother has already welcomed you and made a home here for your people and The Father." "Besides between the work and the extra services during the Gathering you'll be holding services here every week until October anyway. Oh and by the way, I'm told the next tremor will cost you a parking lot." I said going back inside. ***** "Who's cooking what at this time of night?' I asked pouring a cup of coffee and joining everyone at the table. "We're making cookies Ms Jo - for the meeting and Daddy says if I'm good I can stay downstairs because Megan and Joy are going to be here." "Yes and from the looks of your pantry we all need to make a trip into town to the grocery, Ashara and I will need to start cooking anyway when Penny and the others get here and you need flour and sugar and well just about everything" "I guess it's time for you 2 to start earning your keep then Lizzie. Make a list of everything we need for the house please and whatever you'll want and get with Paula and come up with a list for the Community kitchen for all the staples and non-perishables she will need to prepare at least 2 meals a day for say 600+ people for a month and then triple it. Also talk to White Eagle and decide what they want for the General store - things like chips and sodas and...." "CANDY!' yelled Suzie. "Yes and candy." I answered hugging her. "Then make another list for meats and perishables: and Ashara, I also need you and White Eagle to decide what else you want to put in the store; anything from school supplies and coloring books to ???? and we need this ASAP - tomorrow evening would be good." "In the meanwhile run into Oakgrove and pick up as much as you can of whatever you decide we need tomorrow morning. Get a debit card from Starr in the morning" "Once the boss always the boss; and I was under the mistaken impression you had turned control of Sanctuary over to the entire Council," David teased. "Now you know better and unless you have any further objections, I'm going to my office. Goodnight everyone." ***** I'd worked until after midnight and had slept in so by the time I came out of my bedroom everyone had eaten and was already busy somewhere. I looked at my watch and walked into the office. "Morning Starr. Aren't you and David supposed to be leaving for the bank in a few minutes?" "He's out talking to Joe and then we're going, from what I hear about your little impromptu meeting last night it's going to be a busy day" "I guess so. Stop on the ridge on your way back will you? I'm going up there and have a talk with Paul and the Goddess." "Eat something first, okey." she said. The girls were on the porch playing when I went out so I stopped for a few minutes. "Go find your Daddy and Granpas and ask them to meet me up on the ridge in about an hour and tell them to ask Mike to come too." I said giving them all a kiss as I left. "Oh and you can come too if you want." I added, getting in the truck. ***** I had just come back from Blue Lake when the men pulled up, the girl's took off for the Fairy village while I proceeded to tell the men the reason they were there. "David jokingly accused me of taking over again last night but he knows as I hope you all do that every decision I make is dictated and approved by a Higher Power. "The Lady says The Holy Ones are pleased with this sacred spot but that it's not finished so we are to appoint a committee to contine the work as it will soon become too much for The Keepers to handle alone. We'll make it official tonight but as of now you 3 are being asked to take on the responsibilities of 'Sanctuary's Sacred Gardens'." ***** John this is your gift to The God and Goddess so you will still be in charge, Mike you are our Master craftsman and your skills are greatly needed and Ed we're going to need a light source other then just candles. Kyle you are our builder and our liason for supplies so all of you must play a part. To start you need to clear some more land - here is what my guides say we need; and now that Starr and David are here we can discuss the rest." I said as the jeep pulled up." "We should have known you were up to something when Andy caught up with us at the bank and said to tell you he would see you later but whatever you and your Lady decided was fine with him." "This is what we're up to." I said taking a sheet of paper out of my brief case and handing it to him. It read: Sanctuary Sacred Gardens A Haven of prayer & rest. ### Built in memory of Paul 'Moon' Jorganson and dedicated to All The Gods and Goddesses (there are many paths you can choose to follow; ALL offer Sanctuary) "Okey; what does your Lady have in mind? " David asked handing the sheet of paper over to John. We spent another hour or so talking and going over the notes and sketches I had made the night before then Starr and I took the girls and the jeep down to work on the rest of our day, leaving the briefcase and the men there to finish up. ***** "Sarah said she would put everything through and have it ready by Monday so here are the checks to sign and this is what I've come up with on the credit voucher idea, I thought we could make them so any council member can authorize them unless they're needed for actual cash disbursement like help with an Electric bill or car repairs or something then it would have to come through one of us. Joe says his crew is knocking off about 2:00 so the men can get back and cash their checks. Oh and he wants to know if you've called Sarah or someone to make sure our people won't have any trouble cashing their checks here's his figures." "No, I didn't think about it. Call Sarah and also call Andy and ask him if he can get in touch with some of the businesses that cash checks just in case and spread the word anyone who has trouble can get with us and we'll fix the problem. What else?" ***** "Lizzie said she didn't want you going all 'Wicked Witch' on them so they got busy on your lists first thing this morning. She said this should be enough to get us started and they'll be back around 2:00 in case you want to go over it before the meeting." "Alright call Bob up at Meyers and see what days he orders supplies and make arrangements to have him order whatever he can for us on a regular basis - make him understand we're paying shelf price: no special discounts we're not trying to make money just make it a little easier by buying bulk - someone can drop a check by tomorrow. Then call Albertson's over in Dover and tell them we'll have an order ready for them Monday and we'll pick it up at the store when it comes in." "Also put that extrodinary brain of yours to work and give me a list of committees you think we're going to need to form soon. Mike, Kyle, and John are The Sacred Grounds Commitee and they don't know it yet but Lizzie and Paula are going to be in charge of everything to do with food acquizitions and meal planning; including parties and the Gathering. Ashara and White Eagle will handle the General Store and all resales and merchandising. We can start setting up the committees tonight and work out the details later." "You can go ahead and pay Antoinette and get her out of here if she's finished her regular work. Ask her if she can work Monday through Saturday 11:00 to 4:00 starting Monday if you're satisfied with her work or tell her thank you and we won't need her any longer." "Oh and Starr, there's one more thing; hire a secretary for yourself and Sanctuary. You've been promoted to Office Manager and Personal Assistant; that's a big enough job ." I said as she left my office and shut the door behind her. ***** "Lizzie's here." Starr said sticking her head in my door. "Great grab whatever you need and come on in. Lizzie what have you got? Has everyone else left yet?" "Actually they're having a 'private' pow-wow over in the Community Center," Lizzie said as she set down. "Here's the list we have so far of staples and canned stuff and here's the one for produce, meats and things that need to be frozen or kept refrigerated. I have a copy of everything so we won't be ordering duplicates. Also here's an inventory of food items we have in stock now." "This includes what we bought today. We've already stocked your shelves and put our things in the camper. Here's the receipts and the card. That's a lot of food Sweetie and a lot of money and that's not even counting the things for the General store - you'll get that tonight at the meeting. "Paula said she'll be here another hour oh so in case you have any questions. She's with the men and the rest of the women out in the Com." ***** "Does this list include special items for the festival celebrations during the Gathering and gluten free or diabetic needs cooking? I asked as we looked it over. "And are these the actual amounts you think we'll need or have you already tripled it?" Starr said. The 3 of us worked on the list for about 30 more minutes and then Lizzie asked if she could borrow the truck so she and Ashara could run into town saying they'd wouldn't be here for dinner but would be back in plenty of time for the meeting. "Take the jeep it's a lot more comfortable and I"m not going anywhere," Starr said. "Call and see if Bob's still at the store and find out how much of this stuff he can get for us then call over to Albertson's and place an order for the rest - just the staples and non perisables and breads and pastries for now. Use my card since I don't imagine you have your own yet; then see what we can come up with for dinner, sandwiches and salad sounds good or whatever's over in the refrigerators - that way you can snoop and find out what's going on. Then relax for a while. I'm going to take a bath and do a ritual. Go ahead and give out the checks before everyone leaves." ***** "I guess there's just going to be 4 of us for dinner, The Graingers and Long Feathers have all gone into town to cash their checks and open bank accounts. It seems they're dining at McDonalds tonight." "David gave Kyle some money to bring back some Big Macs and fries but I brought some things over from the kitchen anyway. Personally I lost my taste for Micky D a long time ago. Everyone will be back around 6:30." Starr said when I joined her on the front porch. "Where's Mike and David" "Mike's out talking to the pigs trying to put them at ease about their new home and David, always the procrastinator, is in your office working on his sermon. I swear we need to set that boy up with his own office space and put a lock on the outside so we can lock him in until he finishes his homework. Want some coffee or tea?" ***** Lizzie and Ashara pulled up a little after 6:00. "We were planning on driving to Dover but when David told us how far it was we decided to wait and just did some shopping in Oakgrove instead, we brought donuts for the meeting. Mike can you take these while we get the rest of the stuff?" "Let me help." David said coming out of the house. "Thank you Baby. Did you get finished?" "Yes Ma'am, It's all in there." Where do you want this stuff?" "I keep forgetting how much I hate to shop with Ashara, she wants to stop in every store and never buys anything." Lizzie said plopping down on the porch swing and kicking her shoes off. "My beautiful partner on the other hand wants to buy everything she sees." Ashara added as she came out of the house carrying 2 glasses of tea and bent down to whisper in her ear. "The others are on their way, they decided to bring their food home and we ran into the Sheriff too. He said he'd be here as soon as he swung by to pick up Beth. If you'll excuse us Lizzie and I are going to go get into something comfortable before they get here." Ashara said sitting her glass down and pulling Lizzie up out of the swing. ***** We were all sitting on the porch finishing up our McDonalds or sandwiches and whatever from the kitchen when I noticed several cars coming down the road, "Oops, I forgot we're having an open meeting tonight," Andy grinned. ***** "Okey, that catches everything up for anyone who wasn't here last week." Andy said, "Now who wants to start with new business?" "Guess that would be me." Starr said looking down at her notes. "I'm not going to bore anyone by going over the details on everything; if you're interested you can get with 1 of the executive council members later but since so many of you from Oakgrove especially our members from Unity and even as far as Dover have been so supportive we've decided it was only fitting you should be represented here, so there will be 3 new positions opening up on the board as of next week." "1 additional person from Unity, Oakgrove and Dover will be chosen. Give someone on the board your choice and we will narrow it down to 2 or 3 choices from each group. You can vote next week." "Next, we have deemed it necessary to ask for help and are forming committees to take over in certain areas. "As of now we have a Commitee for the care of the Sacred Garden up on the ridge, this will also include the old cemetary property. John Long Feather will be chairing this with Mike and Kyle as co-chairmen. Anyone who wants to volunteer in this area can talk to one of them - and people - if you haven't been up there lately you really need to go see it." "Next Lizzie and Paula are co-chairing the Community Center and Kitchen; if it has anything to do with food it's their department ladies so you all know who to talk to." "And last but not least - since this is where most of you will be spending your volunteer credits - Ashara and White Eagle are handling the General store but they have asked to speak for themselves so if you want to know anything they'll be glad to answer your questions after the meeting." she said opening the floor to someone else. ***** After everything on the agenda was finished Andy asked one last time for any more business and then said: "Ms Jo do you want to add anything?" I shook my head. "That's it then,we're done. Don't forget there's an open meeting after the service on Sunday and I Promise we'll keep it short. Let's go eat." David said closing the meeting. ***** There was a note on the kitchen table when I came out to start the coffee the next morning: Jo; We've kidnapped Starr and David and have run off to the big city since he was a good boy and finished his sermon for tomorrow - besides he is authorized to spend Sanctuary's money and we need him; we've stolen your card and intend to go shopping. You'll find out all about it tomorrow or at the next board meeting. Kyle and Ed have gone over to Bennetville to the Salvage Yard and taken John and the boys with him, Suzie's up on the ridge with Megan and Joy. We should be back around dinner. Breakfast is on the stove. P.S. We have the list for the General Store. P.S.S. Take the day off. L&A ***** I walked out to the barn where Mike was just finishing up with the animals. "Morning Ms Jo. Kind of quiet this morning, what with no one here ain't it?" "That it is Mike," I answered petting Sunflower. Back in the house I checked the messages and decided to sit on the porch and write in my journal for a while before maybe taking a nap.
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