“The paintbrushes too?” Micky asked him where they were. “There are hundreds of them in the basement of the school. Some of them are hard with paint, but the used ones, we can use them for all manner of items. Woven into rugs. Also, to make soft bedding. If you’d not mind.”
“As I said, take what you want.”
After the tree had been removed, it was easier to see that Dad had been right about the garden area. Also, about the building being put to use as one building rather than torn down.
By the time the faeries had started and ended the work she wanted, Harley could see that Micky was beyond excited to get the entire project finished up so she could start on the other projects here.
“I’ve several suggestions for the larger building.” Micky mentioned to Harley that the building where her brother was going to set up practice was up to code and that Mark would be moving into it sooner than he’d thought. “I bet he’s happy too. But the schoolhouse. There are some people wanting to use the rooms as an antique-like mall. I’m not keen on that happening, but there is a bigger and better project that I’d like to talk to you about. A senior center. The rooms would be upgraded to include bathrooms in each of them, and we could rent them out as apartments for the elderly. Men and women that are still mobile but don’t want an entire house to maintain. With the help of the faeries working on them, it would be easy to divide a single room into a living room, bath, bedroom, and kitchen dining area. With the gardens the kids will be setting up, it would be a good place for them to socialize as well.”
“I think that’s a good idea, son.” Thanking his dad, they headed for the building in question now. “Why don’t you have a few of them faeries come in here and change one around to see what it is we’d be working with? Also, before word gets around, you should figure out rent, as well as what kind of rules you’ll need to enforce.”
“I have the rules the government is going to require. I had a nursing home until a few weeks ago. That part will be easy to incorporate into the fixing up of the place. Also, we’ll need a working elevator. I know there isn’t one in the place, but we can have that put in as well.” Pop came into the room with Sunshine this time. “I need to make this room into an apartment of sorts. The room will need to have a full bathroom, with a walk-in tub as well as a shower.”
Micky worked with the faeries as they finished one thing at a time. The walls were put up. Then she had them change the windows out for something prettier that showed out over the property. She told them several times as they worked that the room couldn’t be magical in that it would be bigger than it already was.
The only obstacle was that the faeries hadn’t any idea what call alarms were for, both in the bathroom and bedroom. Dad came to the rescue. “Go over to the hospital and into one of the bathrooms. Look at the string on a bright red wall sticker. You’ll see that once it’s pulled, the nurses will come running to figure out why someone pulled it. Understand?” Sunshine asked if it was like those pretty bells on the counter to get service from someone. “That’s it. Yeah, you got it. You just have to get with Micky here to know who is supposed to come running to help these people when they pull it.”
The police station would be on call, as well as an operator that would be on duty all the time to make decisions on what was needed. Dad also suggested putting a camera at each of the doors so that the people would be able to see who was coming in before they opened the door. When the room was finished, they called for the family to come and check it out. Also, to offer up any suggestions they might have.
Bryant had a couple of suggestions when it came to a computer. Harley had suggested they have cable put into each of the rooms, but Bryant said that would be a nightmare to manage. He did suggest cell service and Internet, but if they wanted cable, they would need to pay for that on their own. It was working out well, he thought.
“I’d take the carpet out of all the rooms. Vacuuming is difficult work, even if you’re a younger person. Area rugs would be nice. Carpet can also be stained badly and have to be replaced a few times while someone is living in here.” So the carpets in the rooms were removed, and several large area rugs were placed. “Can we put some furniture in this one apartment, Micky? Just to see what it might look like with a person living in here? I can get a better sense of it if I can see if finished.”
Furniture did make it look filled out. That was when they figured out that the living room wasn’t able to have a large couch but a loveseat of sorts. Or a couple of recliners. Mom suggested recliners for the same reason as the carpet. They could be replaced easily.
As they weren’t furnishing the places, the model apartment would let the people know what they could use in the place. The kitchen area would be up to the person living there as to whether they needed pans and such or would be using the cafeteria.
“I never thought of that. You’re right. We could use the kitchen and the dining area for the residents living here.” Before they all headed to that area of the building, Micky spoke to the faeries. “All the walls white. All the rooms just like this one without the furniture.”
Harley could tell they were disappointed that they couldn’t make the rooms colorful. Relenting a little on what she’d told them, Micky told the faeries they could brighten up the dining area with some restraint. Harley wondered if a faerie knew what restraint even meant.
The building was finished by the time they were ready to call it a day. The faeries were out looking at other big kitchens in the area to see what was needed to feed the people that would be dining there. Sunshine worked with the others on the dining room, and they were all so impressed that they knew that it was going to be difficult to keep people off the streets from coming to dine.
There were separate tables spread all around. The concrete flooring had been replaced with wood, and the walls had been decorated with hanging baskets of plants, with planters in every corner. The windows had been small and very high off the ground but now were full length, and a garden had been put in the area that had been a playground for the children. In the center of the area, a beautiful fountain had been put in that would have water spouting from the top throughout the warmer months and flowers growing around it.
All in all, it was a good day, he thought. Riding to the airport to leave the country, he was also impressed that Micky had included not just his family to help out, but the faeries had been able to put in some suggestions as well.
~*~
“Grannie, are you sure about this? I mean, you’re giving up a great deal of space to live in what amounts to a one room classroom.” Grannie told her to behave. “I thought I was. I could have said that while it’s nice, it’s certainly not anything you’re used to living in. Not only that, there is no room for you to have anyone serve you. You’re used to the finer things in life, not living in this kind of space with a bunch of strangers.”
“You’re a snob. Which I don’t understand because you won’t take a dime from me and refuse to let me help you out of squander. You are, you know. I just want to point that out to you again.” Dakota kissed her grannie on the cheek and moved into the next room. “I love this room and the colors that I’m going to put in here. The thought of having as much color as I want boggles my mind. They did say I could have it painted before I moved in, didn’t they, darling?”
“They did.” Dakota looked out the window that had a lovely view of the gardens beneath. “I do love that you’ll be close to us again. However, I want you to understand, again, that I’m not going to side with either you or Aunt Lisa. If you get into another fight that has you moving to the other side of the country, I won’t speak to either of you. Nor will you be able to have Loren over. Not that I know where you’d put her in here.”
“I’m getting one of those magic beds that she goes on about all the time. I’m to understand that is all you sleep in. A pull out bed, Dakota, isn’t a place to take a man when you’re in the
mood.” To equally embarrass her grannie, she explained how she knew perfectly well how to take care of her own needs. “My goodness. Do you have one of those battery operated boyfriends that Lisa is going on about? Dakota. How could you?”
“It’s easy, really. I just make sure the batteries are new or have enough life in them to make sure I can get my own batteries charged. You should try it sometimes, Grannie. It might make it so you’re less tense all the time.”
Aunt Lisa came into the room before Grannie could say anything. It was just as well. Aunt Lisa would have surely embarrassed them both. After kissing her great aunt, she asked her what she thought of Grannie’s new digs. The two of them were twins, but only by birthdate would anyone ever know that. They were as different as night was to day.
“I’m moving into the one on the third floor. Did you know for a bit more money, you can have two apartments here? I did that. I even put in so that you could have two as well, Vicky. You might need the room if Dakota ever decides to get married again. And Loren can come and stay with us both this way.” Grannie thanked her sister, but Dakota could tell she was miffed that she’d not thought of it first. She asked her great aunt how it worked. “They take the second apartment and make it into three bedrooms. The first apartment then has a larger living room, as well as a dining area outside the kitchen. I’m going to use one of the bedrooms as my closet. I so love to have all my clothing spread out so I can get to it. What will you do with it, Vicky?”
“Well, since I’ve only just discovered I have the extra room, I’ve not made any plans. I don’t know if you realize this or not, but people do not have plans all the time about what they’re going to do at any given moment. Perhaps I’ll have Dakota come and live with me. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?” Dakota told them both that she wasn’t old enough to live here. The youngest that a person could be was sixty. “Oh yes. But I can have Loren here whenever I wish so long as she’s a good girl. I think they thought of her when the Webster people defined a good girl. She is such a darling.”
It would be a nice place for her and Loren to live in, Dakota thought as they sat in the large dining room. She also thought that no one would ever guess this place used to be a school with children eating in this very room. Sometimes, she’d bet, it would be the only hot meal they would get that day.
She and her daughter did struggle, as her grannie had pointed out. Dakota had been married once, and it had been a wonderful marriage. Michael had been a good man, a better friend, and the best father. But his life had been cut short when he’d gone overseas to fight in a war that had not only ravaged the country there but her own life and that of her daughter.
“I saw your uncle the other day. He was looking much better than I’ve seen him in a while. I had no idea he was out of the nursing home.” She told her aunt what she knew. “I see. Why do you suppose he didn’t come to us when he needed a little help? I suppose he’s more like you than he is your father. Is Loren all right with the two of you barely making ends meet?”
“She is, actually. We are having a bit of a time with it, but we’ll come out ahead someday, I think.” Grannie and Aunt Lisa told her that they could get her ahead now. “I know you can. And I do appreciate you wanting to help us. But I swear to you, we’re all right. I don’t want to have to take from you all the time. I love that you want to, but you’ll need your money for when you get old.”
“Honey, if we get any older, we’re going to be like dried up old apples.” Grannie sat down at the table while they waited on the people in charge of the apartments that her aunt and Grannie were going to be living in. “I’m finished asking, Dakota. You’re my only grandchild. You have my only great-grandchild. I’m not going to allow you to put me off any longer.”
The people came in, but her Grannie wasn’t finished with her just yet. Pulling out her pocketbook, what she forever called her wallet, she pulled out four credit cards and handed them out to her. Dakota didn’t want to take them, but she knew her grannie well enough to know that she’d sit there with them out until she took them. Grannie was all kinds of stubborn.
After Dakota took them from her, Grannie took her arm. “Use them, Dakota. Please. I’ve been carrying those around for months now just to give them to you, and today is the day. I’m going to be coming around more, and I won’t live like I am now when you don’t have two pennies to rub together.” Nodding, she noted that the three people had moved to the other side of the room. “I love you, darling. I will now and forever have you and Loren in my heart and prayers. Please, I need to help you now while I’m alive. I need to do this for the two of you.”
Taking the credit cards that had her name on them, Dakota left her aunt and Grannie to deal with the apartment on their own. Walking to her apartment that she and Loren shared, she was just entering when Loren came home from school. All smiles and hugs, Loren asked if the other two women were settled up yet.
“Yes. They’re both going to be living in the School House. They both are getting two places, so they can have a place for you to spend the night. I’m so happy for them both but also worried that they’ll be fighting again in no time. You know how they can be.” Loren said they were like her. “What is that supposed to mean, young lady? I am not stubborn.”
“Sure you’re not. Is it because you’re not stubborn that we could have been paying the bills when they come due instead of eenie meenie miney moe-ing them on which gets paid each month?” Dakota wanted to cry. She told Loren she was trying to be independent. “Mom, if you got any more independent, we could set up our own country. What is it you’re afraid of? Money? I think it would be nice to have a little once in a while. Don’t you?”
“You do realize that I’m the adult, and you’re the ten year old?” Loren just smiled at her. “I think your grannie has had enough of my being independent as well. Look what she gave me. Or I should say what she made me take from her today. I don’t want to use them. But as you so delicately pointed out, we’re broke.”
“Not broken, Mom, just short.” Loren laughed and went to her room—the only other room in the tiny apartment besides the bathroom. While she was doing her homework, Dakota sat there thinking about how she’d gotten to the place she was in now. It was a great many things, things she was sure—or at least hopeful—that her older relatives didn’t know about.
Dakota wondered what she would have done had Michael not been killed by friendly fire when he pulled out his own gun on a room full of officers after having a mental breakdown. Everyone in the world knew what Michael had done—who he had killed, even. It was why she couldn’t get a well paying job. Her husband, and through him, she and Loren, was considered a traitor to his country.
After dinner was finished and things were cleaned up, Dakota pulled out her bed when Loren declared she was exhausted and got into bed. All evening since she’d been home, Dakota had thought of nothing else but the credit cards. Just to be able to catch up on her rent would have been a wonderful thing. But to use them would make her feel like she was no longer her own woman. No longer able to afford things for her and her little girl.
The knock at the door startled her, and she stood back from it when she asked who it was. Glancing at the clock, she was surprised by the lateness of the hour as well as the light that shone under the door. Asking again who was there, the person on the other side simply laughed. It was a woman.
“My name is Micky Prince. Your grandmother, who I absolutely love, by the way, sent me over here to talk to you. She said I was to tell you that her middle name is the same as your daughter’s and that she’s the most brilliant ten year old ever born. Besides you, she said.” Dakota didn’t say anything. “All right. List two in having you trust me enough to allow me in. Your last electric bill was twenty-seven dollars because you don’t have any lights on unless you’re in the room. Then it’s only long enough to find whatever it is you’re looking for. You dress and undress in the dark. There is onl
y fifty-seven cents in your account until you get another job, which I’m here to offer you. You—”
Dakota opened the door. “I have a dollar and twelve cents in my account, thank you very much.” Micky looked like a model. She had the most beautiful red hair Dakota had ever seen. “What does Grannie want now? I think she’s humiliated me enough, don’t you?”
“She said you were beautiful and prideful. Both to me aren’t things that are bad things. May I come in? Your landlord is on the steps eavesdropping on us.” The thundering down the stairs made Dakota realize she’d been right about Mr. White. “I’m sure you’re aware of this, but this place is a dump. It should have been torn down decades ago.”
“I’m well aware of my situation, Ms. Prince. But you said my grannie sent you here. Tell me what it is and leave. It’s late, and I have things to do tomorrow.” She repeated that she had a job for her. “I’m not going to take a job that my grannie bullied you into making up for me. And don’t tell me she didn’t do it. She’s very good at making people do what she wants when she sees something she thinks she needs doing. I love her very much, but I’m just fine and dandy.”
“I saw you today when she handed you the credit cards. I told her after you left that I thought she was a rude bitch for doing that in front of us. I wasn’t going to allow her to live in the School House, but she made me realize she needed to be close to you to help. Help you what, I found out later. How long have you been living like this, Dakota?” Opening the door wider, she found her daughter on the made up couch. Smiling at the two of them, Loren went to make them both some tea. “She’s as lovely as you are. And I’m betting as stubborn too.”
“I am, thanks.” Loren said that they only had two cups and no sugar, then asked Micky if she drank hot tea without lemon or sugar. “I can make two teas, but they’ll be cloudy because the water filter, if there ever was one, was broken before Mom and I moved in. The landlord is a jerk. He told Mom if she wanted things fixed, she’d have to go out with him. I’m thinking he wants more than that, but then I’m only ten, and my mom thinks I know nothing about sex yet.”
Harley: Prince Of Tigers, Book 5 Page 11
