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"You don’t taste bad," she whispered, letting her eyes fall closed
"Any special requests?" he asked her
"Everything you do is special," she whispered
"Fair enough," he said "We’ll just do everything…"
When Luke pulled up to the house and cabins in the dark of night, he used a big flashlight to illuminate them The electricity had been shut off last year when old Mr Chapman passed All he could really make out was a house black as pitch and a few cabins with peeling shingles and some boarded-up s A closer inspection had to wait untilriver eso He remembered how much he’d liked this place the first time he’d seen it--the sound of the river, the owls, the wind through the pines oose or quack of a duck Although it was cold, he pulled out extra blankets and planned to sleep with one of the camper’s s open so he could hear the river and the wildlife
At the first light of , he pulled on his jeans and boots and went outside to apink, the air crisp and da over natural waterfalls where, in fall, the sal upstream to spawn On the opposite side of the river were four deer having a drink And--unsurprisingly--the house and cabins looked like hell What a pimple on the face of this beautiful landscape
Exactly what he expected A lot of work ahead, but great potential They could sell it right now for the value of the land, or he could iet aconstructive to do while he plotted his nextjob There were news choppers, medical transport, private industry He took a deep breath But for right now, this little piece of river land was perfect
He went first to inspect the house The porch out front was nice and big, but would have to be reinforced, sanded and stained or painted The door was stuck and he had to force it, splintering so wood around the jamb Of course the place was filthy--not only had it not seen a good cleaning in a long while before Mr Chapman’s death, in the year since, a couple of animals had burrowed in and taken roost He heard the sound of scurrying, saw footprints on the dusty floor, and the countertops suggested a erie The place would be full of mice, raccoons, maybe opossums Hopefully the bear didn’t have a den in here He’d be sleeping in the caood s was left as it was the day Mr Chapotten out of it Dirty clothes littered the floor, there was rotten and petrified food in the kitchen, all the furniture was still in place Nasty, s The appliances also seeerator had never been cleaned out before the electricity was shut off It was completely destroyed by odors that would have to be blasted out
Right inside the front door was a decent-size living roo stone hearth To the i rooing The kitchen was big enough for a table and four chairs or, better still, a butcher-block island
Straight ahead was a short hall--on one side a big bathrooht ahead was a bedroom No walk-in closet here--this was an old-fashioned house The old e, , wooden four-poster Luke didn’t ht since it was solid, heavy, durable ash, it was probably valuable
Heroom There he found a staircase to the second floor He went up cautiously, not sure of the reliability of the steps Plus, it was dark up there If he reood-size bedroo He ran back down the steps He could look up there after the exter rooood neas, it didn’t appear the place had to be gutted and completely remodeled to oing to be expensive and ti but the ash bedrooo away Far away It wasn’t even up to secondhand standards The floors would have to be sanded, the cupboards torn out and replaced, new countertops would have to be installed, the old wallpaper stripped, sills, doors, frames, baseboards sanded and stained, orand pest reiant pain in the butt At least this ork he could do, with the help of an exterminator He’d inspect the roof later