Page 3 of Axel

“I need your help if you’re interested.” It was Kahana who asked him what it was pertaining to. He was handed a flyer that he didn’t look at before the man started talking. “I gotta sell the house at noon. If no more people than this show up, I’m going to be giving all my profits away and not meet the payments on the boy’s care. I didn’t ask you first and should have started with that. Are you interested in the house? Either of you?”

“I am.” He didn’t know where that had come from as hewasn’tinterested in the house. But he did think about it now. It was within walking distance from his parents’ home, close to the downtown area as well as the mall was still only about five miles away. He also liked that there were acres that came with the house that he’d never thought of before. According to the flyer he’d been handed, it wasjust over two hundred.

“Most of the land has been rented out to other farmers. They rotate their planting seasons by family. One sows winter wheat the other corn or potatoes, whatever they need at the time. It’s been working out for them well, except for this sale has them in a tizzy, as you can imagine. They’re afraid that if someone buys the land, they’ll turn it into strip malls or those rental places where you can store your junk. That’s what the people here did. Had them four of those big ones, and that’s what is out on the lawn. Christ, it was a nightmare setting up for this thing. They were hoarders. Every little scrap of something? They would put it into a pile. We only had to do the lower levels as neither one of them could climb the stairs, so that’s a big plus.”

“I will have to talk to my attorney.” Since he was one anyway, he’d just pull the files that he needed and go from there. “It’s only just eight-forty-five now. I’ll get back to you as soon as I have it figured out.”

The first thing he did was call the bank. He was told that the house needed to be completely overhauled before it would be livable. The banker also told him what he’d be paid in rent for the other parcels should he purchase it.

“It’ll be pretty close to what you’d have in a house payment, Axel. Also, there is a store front that goes with the house. It’s just another house converted into a business, but you can rent it out or use it too.” He asked if he could put offices in the building. “Yes. There is plenty of room and believe it or not, plenty of parking as the building comes with the lots on either side of it. “And it’s in the sale today? I don’t want to hope for the houses only to find out that I bought the farm house and nothing else came with it.”

“No, I assure you, Axel. The house that you’re there with, the two hundred acres as well as the building downtown are all included in the sale today. Nothing is being split up.” He asked a couple more questions, finding out that the furnace was new and there wasn’t any kind of air conditioning in the place. “If you have any questions before the auction, I’m going to be there at ten to answer any questions bidders might have. You’ll get a good deal, Axel, even if you never live in the houses. The land alone is worth that much.”

After getting and estimate on what the property and houses would be worth on the market today, he had a headache. But he was going to buy the house so long as he could get a good deal on it. Renovating the house on the lower floors was going to be costly. He’d need a good deal on the house if he wanted to live there.

At ten o’clock, Mr. Bean showed up. He had more paperwork with him than he’d told him about, as well as the mineral rights to the farm. There was also a land map that he was free to look at, as well as the paperwork on the furnace and new roof that had been put on about three years ago. It was metal and would last for a good long time. He went to talk with his parents, knowing that they’d have information on the place that no one else would have.

“The missus, Opal Heathers, she just couldn’t keep up with the house and land after Richard passed on. To be honest with you, I’m not sure how much they did to the place when he’d been alive, either. Mostly, they went back and forth to the nursing home to see their boy. I think he’s about fiftyish now.” Neither of his parents thought that the boy was able to live on his own. Even with his parents, he would have been a handful. “He has down syndrome as well as autism, poor boy.”

“I think one Christmas, the ladies’ club was going to the nursing home to sing carols. However, thenoisethat we were making, his nurse’s words because the young man couldn’t speak was too much for him, and we had to avoid the hall that he was in.” Mr. Bean said it was a right shame that he was born like that. “I know that the Heathers couldn’t have loved him more. But when they were getting up there in years, taking care of him was a bit much. And if I remember right, he was a big man…I guess he is our age now. Late fifties to early sixties.”

Axel wasn’t sure if he should bid on the furniture that was with the house. He didn’t own it yet and he didn’t have anywhere to put things until he did get himself a house. Being determined not to let himself get to worked up about it, he decided that if he didn’t get the house, he’d just put the thingsthat he’d gotten in storage and go that route.

Chapter 2

The house was a work of art. While doing a walk thru on it, keeping track of the work that had to be done on it with her tablet. Her dad, he was the one in charge and Mac was only his foreman on jobs like this one. Today, he was letting her figure out the price that it would cost to renovate the entire down stairs and three of the bedrooms on the second floor into something livable. She just wanted to find the man who owned the house and ask him if he had taken a look around at the wood and tilework that had already been laid.

“I heard tell that Mr. Hathaway, the one that bought this, got a good deal on it. I wonder how much of a deal he got. It’s a big flipping house, don’t you think, Mac?” She told him she didn’t know, but he should be looking at the house itself and not the deal that he had gotten. “Yes, you’re right. It sure would be a waste of good craftsmanship to just pull it all up and change it out with chrome and glass.”

Neither one of them thought very much of modern houses. They’d work on them, even give the people a good deal on it. But they’d rather live in a home like this one than not. She even lived at home because she couldn’t find herself a house that even came close to this one in what she loved.

“I used to come by here when I was about your age, honey. Just to see the old place. I think that’s what made me go into construction was this one. I thought that if I could live in a house like this, I’d be a tinkerer rather than tinkering at other people’s homes.” He stopped so suddenly that she ran into him from behind. “There’s a fireplace there if I don’t miss my bet. See how the wall has about an eight-inch difference. And I’m betting too that those windows there are full length, and somebody just boarded them up from the inside. I’m going to have me a look see. You wait here, and I’ll be back.”

Smiling, Mac put her hand on the wall and knew that Dad would have had it right in saying that it was only eight inch difference. As soon as she heard him whooping it up, she knew that he’d been right. Not only was there a chimney, but the windows were just what he said. While she was waiting for him to return, someone came into the room she was in and asked her what she was doing here.

“I’m with Booth Renos and Construction. We’re here to give an estimate on the house to do the work.” He said that he was sorry that he’d had several run-ins with people wanting to get a look at the house since buying it. “You just assumed that I’m a trespasser even though I have a badge on my shirt as well as the name of the company on my back. That’s not very nice of you, now is it?” She should just keep her mouth shut but she just wasn’t able to do that. Not since she was old enough to speak.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist. You wouldn’t believe the people that come by here hoping to find a dead body around or something. I had people in the kitchen just last night trying their best to get out of here with the big counter in the middle of the room.” She told him that she’d not been there yet. “You’re doing estimates, correct?”

“My father and I are, yes.” He told her again that he was sorry, so all she did was nod at him. The guy was an arrogant ass, and she immediately disliked him. If they got the job, she’d have to work with him, but she knew she didn’t have to like him. “My dad went out to check on the windows in this room. He was sure that they were floor-to-ceiling ones.”

“They are. I’m hoping that you’ll be able to salvage as much as you can with the woodwork that’s in this beauty rather than having to tear it out.” She told him about the fire place. “A fire place? On this wall, you mean? No one else mentioned that to me.”

Her dad joined them as she was pulling out her pocket knife to see what they were going to find. With Mr. Hathaway’s permission, she cut through the wallpaper that was only the top layer to four more sheets of the stuff to find drywall. After cutting a hole in that, she could see that it was a beautifully done tiled-up chimney with a large, at least it looked that way to her, a large fireplace thatlooked like it was built and decorated just for this house.

“I’m betting that under this ugly carpet is tile work in the hearth, too.” He helped her pull the carpet back, and there it was. The most beautiful tiled work of art that she’d seen. Pulling it back further, she wasn’t the least bit surprised to find that the floor was oak with a darker wood, more than likely mahogany design going around the entire room that made her salivate to see it all in its glory. “Christ, this is wonderful. I’m guessing you want it covered up with something less hard and cold, am I right?”

“You’re a prickly little thing, aren’t you? No, I don’t want carpet in any of the rooms. My mom told me that I’d have to get large area rugs for the bedrooms so that you don’t have to step on a cold floor in the winter, but I disagree. Get some slippers if you think you’re going to cover something up simply to keep your feet warmer.

Mac felt a little less angry with the man when he said that. He also wanted to know if there was a way to figure out how all the carpet was to be taken off the stair case. She went to the hallway that had the stairs going up to the upper two levels and leaned down to pull some if it off. It, too, was wood and not only that, it had stair runners on each side that had been in the house since it had been built. She did a little gig around the room when Mr. Hathaway said he wanted the carpet there gone as well.

“You like old things, I take it. I have a dining room and ten chairs that I’m having cleaned up. I don’t know that anyone took a good scrubbing to the thing since they had their last meal on it. Also, don’t even get me started on the beds I got. I was terrified that I wouldn’t get the house and would be stuck with six sets of bedroom furniture and nowhere to put it.” She asked him who was doing the work. “A company called Dixon is supposed to come out tomorrow and have a look at the stuff that’s out in the barn. He was supposed to be here today but bailed on me. He said he forgot about the appointment.”

“You should call Jamie…what is his name, honey?” She told her dad the last name when he asked her. “That’s right. Jamie Girlington. He’ll do you up right and won’t be charging you a good deal more than he gives you an estimate for when he’s finished too. Jamie and his family have been cleaning and restoring old furniture since…well, I don’t remember. It’s been a few decades, and they don’t cut corners either. They’ll do it up right.”

Dad handed Mr. Hathaway one of the cards that he carried around with him all the time. He had a lot of business cards from people in many different kinds of renovations and would only recommend them if they were good people. And Dad would know. Her family had been in construction since before her dad had been born.

Dad and Mr. Hathaway started for the barn when she picked up her tablet again to start on this room. It made it easier to know that it wasn’t going to be carpeted and the floors to be redone. It would be hard work but so worth it all.

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