Page 39 of The Vet from Snowy River
‘You bring your hard hat?’
‘Excuse me?’
Marigold bustled past him up the stairs and pulled a massive bunch of keys from within the folds of fabric floating by her sides. She jiggled a stout, three-inch-long iron key into the rusty lock, gave the door a heave with her shoulder, and braced herself across the doorway.
‘This is a construction zone, Josh. No-one’s allowed inside without permission from the project manager—that’s me—and appropriate safety gear.’
‘I just want to look in the historical archives, Marigold. Youaskedme to meet you here.’
She gave his cheek a pat. ‘Safety first,’ she said, in a pious tone which was at odds with the wink she dropped him. ‘Luckily, I have spares. Here you go.’
She reached in the door, handed him a hard hat, then spent a minute cramming another down over her beehive of strenuously lacquered hair.
‘Why do I get the feeling you’re conning me?’ he said.
She led him inside. ‘Because you’re not stupid. Of course I’m conning you. Kev and I have been wondering how we were going to get this ceiling replaced after the electrician’s done with his rewiring, and then you called.’
‘Bloody hell.’
She grinned. ‘Bloody serendipity, more like. Come on, at least have a look and give me some advice. It’s not every day a brawny young man with carpentry skills asks to be allowed into the community hall’s inner sanctum. Most of our regulars are on the shady side of sixty and I could hardly send them up a ladder with sheets of gyprock, could I now?’
‘You know there’s a mother pig with a ferocious infection waiting for me, Marigold. I may be brawny, but I’m also busy.’
‘That’s what makes you perfect, my love; busy people get things done. Now, what do you think?’
‘Let’s see the archives first. If we’re striking a deal here, at least let me see what I’m getting out of it.’
She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘A man who likes to negotiate. Excellent. Well then, let’s see. What are you looking for, exactly?’
‘Photographs or mentions of the buildings on the Dandaloo Street side of the square. The front of our building was remodelled in the seventies as a storefront and I’m looking to restore it to its original condition. I’m also interested in any content about the old quarry.’
‘Up at Stony Creek?’
‘Yes. I imagine local stone was used, and I’d like to know for sure where it came from.’
‘This is excellent, Josh. We’ve a stack of photographs, and old diaries with sketches, land title records, details of the routes used by horse-and-cart traders before the roads went in. Mind you, we have a lot of information so narrowing it down to the bits you need might take a little digging.’
Yikes. ‘Digging through paperwork, that sounds like fun.’
‘Let’s add that into our deal.’
It was his turn to narrow his eyes at her. ‘Are you offering?’
‘You repair these patches in the ceiling so we can get the community hall opened up again for the good people of Hanrahan—well, and the bad people too, as we are open to all—and I’ll get Kev to go through these old boxes and pull out anything he thinks you might need to see.’
He frowned at her. ‘It’s a deal. On one condition.’
‘Coffee deliveries? You need an assistant? No deadline?’
He considered. ‘All of the above would be welcome, but no. I’m looking at your ceiling. That plasterboard is a bodgy add-on. What say we rip it out and see what condition the original ceiling timbers are in? There may even be pressed metal up there. This cottage is Hanrahan’s history … why don’t we restore it the right way rather than take the cheaper option?’
‘Joshua Cody, present me with your cheek. You, my love, are getting a kiss.’
‘It’s not necessa—’
Too late. Marigold was bestowing him with a kiss and a hug and he spent a moment clawing his way out of the acres of chiffon billowing around him.
‘I’ll have to do the work at nights and weekends,’ he said.
