Chapter 10
Jenny tuned to Claire next who was sitting hunched over her laptop, a computerized fortress that had been somehow been stuffed into a briefcase.
"Will it work." Jenny asked.
"Will what work?" Claire said not looking up.
"The ring on the roof."
"I'm pretty sure it will."
"Good. When can we start with it?" Jenny said looking around the room trying to come up with a new set of priorities.
"We should start as soon as possible. But I will have to do measurements and calculations. We have to do this right. So I'd guess." she looked up for a moment guestimating her way to an answer she could live with. "Two days. After that we can start work on the roof. Dan and Adrian are working on stabilising what is left, that will take them the rest of the day. Stu is busy laying the lifeline to the the city. That leaves you and Edmund on cleaning duty."
Jenny's eyebrow twitched, Claire had somehow assumed command over the situation and was now suddenly telling her what to do? She relaxed her hand that had somehow bunched into fists. She considered crushing Claire under her laptop for a second. She then took a moment to consider her own plan for the situation, the main difference between her plan and that of Claire was that in her plan she was a dashing leaser rallying the troops to work together to save the watermill, with everyone doing pretty much the same things Claire had said. So it was an ego problem then. She eye balled Claire who was absorbed in her work, apparently Jenny and the rest of the world had ceased existing again. As annoying as she had been there had been no malice or smugness in her voice. Jenny had worked with these kind of people before, often they were either from technical fields or the military, where everything was done in the most pragmatic way possible. Pragmatism often forgetting how important the social component could be. In the end Jenny send her ego back into its room, promising it a big juice steak in the evening to balance things out. This was not the mole-hill she was going to die on.
She had turned around to go and look for Edmund when she stopped and turned back to Claire "By the way how much is this going to cost me."
"Hmm?" asked Claire still looking at her screen. "To be perfectly honest, it is really hard to tell this early in the project."
"No, not the project," Jenny said, "I was talking about you. how much are you going to cost me?"
No Claire looked at her, her eyes appearing over the top of the laptop. "Don't worry about it." Claire said, her eyes fixed on Jenny's.
"That's easy for you to say. It's my money and look around," she said with a wide gesture, "not a single money tree in sight."
Claire rolled her eyes at that. "It won't be that much all things considered. There is something really interesting about this place and being able to work here is much more interesting than the usual boring shit I am asked to do. This is a proper challenge. This is what I was actually trained for."
"So, pro bono then." Jenny said baring her teeth with only a hit of dark humour.
Claire snorted. "Sure. The moment my rent pays itself and I have no more need to feed myself. But I'll cut you a deal. Two and a half grand for the entire project. Should you by some miracle stay below that you'll get the difference back."
"Two and a half grand? Are you serious." Jenny asked the corners of her moth moving down into normal position now leaving only teeth and no humour behind.
"Look just first inspection here would cost you around 250 pounds for a normal house with an up to date ground plan. This here is not normal and there is nothing in here that is even remotely up to date. I need to do measurements quite a lot of them, of the rooms of the materials and I have to do some proper detective work to see if the structure is sound. Based on the complexity of the project and the size of the building alone you haver at the very least another thousand right then and there. Add to that my hourly rate that even at a discount would be one hundred pounds..." she let that sink in for a moment. "I'm pretty sure that you will start making money in a weeks time. If you prefer I can of course charge you the usual rates."
The teeth disappeared now too, leaving Jenny with a probing expression. She walked back to Claire and hunched down in front of her, closing her eyes. She ignored the "er..." from Claire and tried to feel the room. The smell of damp and mildew vanished, there was again the feeling of warmth and light summer breeze. She opened her eyes again that had to adjust to the sudden darkness of a late autumn afternoon. "Deal." Jenny said. "Two and a half thousand it is." she got up and left the room. Hearing Claire say "OK. So that happened." behind her.
Jenny found Edmund outside standing next to a large piece of rock that he had hauled of the milling room, with the help of a wheelbarrow that lay beside it looking as defeated as him. Edmund was on his phone a lively gesture with his left hand dying mid air. "Yes I understand. I just need one of the big ones. I have no idea how many cubic feet that is. Big!" the hand flared up into the air again. "Well just tell me the sizes then." He listened intently, moving his lips silently trying to work of the dimensions in his head. "Yeah, maybe not the last one. The one before that? Do you know the measurements of that? Meters or feet, 'ts all the same to me. Yeah. I'll wait." he turned towards Jenny with his long black coat and his slouched shoulders he looked like the worlds most disappointed raven. He held his hand over the speaker "I'm trying to get a skip for all the rubbish." Jenny wondered for a moment if Edmund maybe was born in the wrong age, why didn't he just use the mute button? "Yeah. Skip." she said. "Maybe we should have gotten one of those earlier..."
"You think?" said Edmund eyeing the place where the might Mount Trash had been replaced a a growing pile of rubble that was starting to look like a real mountain and one that garbage disposal would not simply come and take with them.
"Yes?" Edmund said talking to the phone again. "7 meters? Times what? It doesn’t say? You know what. Never mind. We'll take it. Yes. Right, that's the address. It's not number 7 though. It's right across the street. There is no number. Because it's and old building? You can't miss it it is a giant watermill. Yes. You know? Like a windmill but with a river instead of wind? Just tell the driver. Yeah... thank you. And to you. Goodbye." Edmund exhaled. "So how are you holding up then?" he said.
"Better than you it seems." Jenny said. "I think this is going to work."
Edmund laughed, it started bitter but became good natured as it went on. He shook his head, his posture straightening. "Now it's going to work?" he said.
"Yeah." Jenny said grinning. "Now I've seen everything and I think I understand it all now."
Edmund's smile froze for a moment he waited, looking around to see if fate so tempted decided to add something else to their rich buffet of misfortune. But as no one was hit by lightning and no sink-holes opened up to swallow what was left of the mill he relaxed again. "So where does this come from?"
"Have you been to the basement yet?" Jenny asked.
"No, still need to get my wellies, I don't want to get wet feet. In this weather that would be...", he looked at Jenny's wet feet. "...suicide. But I guess something as trivial as pneumonia won't stop you..."
"There can't be a pneumonia without the bacteria, you told me so yourself." Jenny said.
"Still... that", he pointed to her soaked shoes, "is a shit idea. Never mind. What about the basement?"
"It is solid rock. It looks like a long time ago people carved the basement out of the rock."
"Why?"
"I have no idea. Maybe because they needed a safe space? And that is exactly what that is." she pointed to the mill. "A safe space. Out here all kinds of shit can happen. And they do. The universe is a scary chaotic place but in there, there is a safe space." Jenny said.
Edmund looked at the ruined roof. "You have a very strange definition of safe..."
"Nothing is just safe Edmund. You have to work for it. The people who first carved out the rock had to work for it, then the people who build on it and even the idiots who are responsible for that," nodded towards the collapsed part of the building, "worked hard to build on that. And to be fair, it only collapsed because of neglect. You are the scientist Edmund. There's something about close systems and entropy and work that explains all that."
"I'm glad to see how little you have learned from me." Edmund said.
"It's true though. You want order, you have to work for it. You want safety you need to work for it. You want to maintain it, you have to work for it."
"True." said Edmund.
"And once we have pushed all the uncertainty and chaos out of the door again, and this is the important part" Jenny said raising her index finger, "we can share it with others. We can be safe together. Like a..."
"Is this going to be another strained metaphor?" Edmund asked.
"Perhaps?"
"Maybe you should consider setting up a safe space for defenceless threatened metaphors too?"
"Right now I'm considering punching you." Jenny said feeling happy for having such a magnificently annoying friend in Edmund.
"Fair enough. But first, do something about those wet shoes and trousers of yours.
Barbara took care of the clothing situation. First she forced Jenny into a bathroom that had grown out of the dreams marble must have when it is still in a quarry thinking what it might become when it grows up. In there she was commanded to take a warm foot bath, there was an actually mini tub just for that installed in the floor, while she took care of her cloths and made her a tea. It was the first time Jenny had seen Barbara acting her age. There were a lot of "oh dears" and "don't worry Barbara will take care of this"s.
Jenny tried to relax while waiting for Barbara to return but the bidet standing next to her looked like it had a restraining order banning it from getting near any human being ever again. It looked resentful and full of appetite. Jenny shuddered.
Barbara returned with a fresh towel and a large plastic rugged plastic mug which would have gotten along just fine with Claire's armoured laptop.
"Here." she said to Jenny giving her first the towel, followed by the mug after she had dried her feet and legs. "Now we'll find you something nice to wear."
"Right..." Jenny followed her wrapping the towel around her waist as in impromptu skirt. While Barbara didn't seemed bothered about Jenny being without trousers, Jenny felt uncomfortable without them. She followed Barbara upstairs wondering what Barbara might have that she could wear. The answer was: a lot. Once upon a time Barbara had had a walk in closet until it had decided to walk out and take over most of the first floor. There were clothes everywhere. In all stylers a wild range of sizes and all colours known to mankind and others of which only a small number of artists knew the names of. What to Jenny had appeared like a simple endeavour of just getting a skirt or pair of pants and with a bit of luck a pair of shoes she could wear until her own things were dry again turned into an odyssey that took almost an hour. Much of the time the increasingly exasperated Jenny was fighting off Barbara who was constantly distracted by clothes that would be 'the perfect fit' for Jenny and sudden bursts of inspiration about where they could take her 'personal style'.
In the end she got a surprisingly comfortable pair grey flecked cargo pants. "Those," Barbara said "are from the Urban Worker Tribes collection of a friend of mine. Great designer, horrible at marketing. It has pockets, loops and stuff like that for everything. You should keep it!" she said with mounting enthusiasm.
"What?No I can't possibly accept or pay for this." Jenny said.
"Pay? Bah." Barbara dismissed, "When am I going to wear them? Also not they are finally complete. These trousers are made for work. They will never be done if they stay here catching dust, or if they are worn by some clueless Instagram model..." an idea was dawning on her. "Do you have an Instagram account?"
Jenny had to stop herself from asking how she knew about Instagram. "Not really. And no!"
"Hmmm?" Barbara asked summoning all innocence that was indebted to her wrapping it around here like a fur. "I don't know what your problem is. Nevermind you also need some shoes."
To Jenny's surprise it took Barbara only a few minutes to find a pair of heavy work boots which again, were a suspiciously good fit. "How do you know my shoe size?" she asked.
"I don't" Barbara said. "But as I help people I get tons of free stuff. And this is not simple merch. Everything you see here are prototypes, first version, all made by hand. And these come in all different kind of sizes. Those you can keep too." Before Jenny could say anything. "They don't fit my feet."
"What do you get out of this." Jenny asked.
Barbara looked at her obviously considering if she was going to be offended but in the end decided to be understanding. When she looked at Jenny she was again very close to being a grandma instead of the ageless art guerilla. "I get to see you succeed Jenny. I get the deep satisfaction to remove stones be they small or great from the path you chose to walk. And, at least that is what I hope, I get to see your project grow and bloom." she said her expression shifting towards the impish again turning her from granny back towards the fair folk.
"Thank you." Jenny said trying not to blush.
"Oh and free coffee and food for the rest of my life once the place finally opens." Barbara added. "There you go ulterior motive revealed."
Jenny laughed. "Right now you can get all the coffee you want. We'll see about the food."
Thursday 15 November 2018
Project Coffee Break 008
Chapter 9 Clarity
The rain had given up an the earth it so loathed deciding that it if it had to go down to ground level it would touch as little as possible turning into a thick fog. When the group left Barbara's house to get back to work they could hardly see the windmill on the other side of the street. Despite knowing better Jenny felt alone in this moment. She left the others behind their muffled voices slowly swallowed by the fog, moving towards what was left of her dream. The looming carcass of the watermill slowly solidifying out of the white mist in front of her while the lights of the houses bind her slowly vanished. The part of the roof that had collapsed was pointing bits of splintered beams towards the heavens, a futile gesture perhaps but this building would not breakdown without a fight. Seeing this comforted Jenny. She placed her hand on the heavy wooden door, she had come to think of this door as the main entrance. The real main door was probably near the milling room, but to her this was the real one, this was the door she had passed through when she had taken shelter from the rain. As she moved inside she felt sheltered again. Over the last few weeks she had passed through the steps of grief: denial, anger, depression, bargaining, in several variations and combinations; it was exhausting. She was ready to leave all of that behind. She went to the breakthrough in the wall that led downstairs, garbed one of the torches that were standing there and went downstairs.
The light of the torch illuminated grey steps step worn smooth by centuries of use. Jenny noticed that everything down here was made from the same grey stone. With a splash she found the last step and the rest of the water. It was bitter cold and reminded her that she should have gotten her rubber boots first. She didn't care. She got worse things to worry about than wet feet. She had imagined that the basement would be a creepy place, dark, damp and full of the things that other people had left here to rot. It certainly had its share of empty bottles, the odd mattress, folding chairs rusted into strange forms, enough to make any haunted house prod, but it lacked the feeling of ruin. This place in its strange dilapidated way felt safe. The decaying items here did not tell the story of a place that had been left in a hurry, but one that had been maintained with love. Here was a room where Jenny could see the skeleton of a dead sofa. the remains of two or maybe three large chairs grouped around a low wooden table that had just turned black in its years under water but was unwavering in its function. There where shadows on the grey walls of where once posters had hung and while there were broken bottles pretty much everywhere they were covered in wax. Once upon a time this had been a cherished place. Jenny imagined this being the secret retreat for the local teenagers where they could be the adults they knew they were.
Every room was like that. These were nests. The dark was not a menacing dark hiding unknown predators but the reassuring dark of a comfy duvet, the kind that made one invisible to the monsters. People had found solace here, company, joy, friendship, hope. As Jenny examined the walls she could see for how long this had been this way. They were all marked with names, dates and little pictures. A surprising amount from them endearing while those which were obscene were so in a way that would have been hilarious to the adolescent mind. Jenny sniggered when she saw an especially silly one. Some walls had been papered others had been plastered over, the water revealing many layers one over another all of them carrying the mementos of the many, many people who had found shelter here. At one point Jenny removed a large bit of plaster revealing the same grey stone as the one the steps where made off and even there on the original surface were names written in old long dead languages.
As she emerged from the basement, she had left all the stages of grief behind she was now calm, having not found acceptance but determination.
The others upstairs were busy putting up portable steel columns according to the acerbic commands of Claire who did not waste time on being nice when she had to stabilise a patient. They were to busy to talk to Jenny or maybe they did not dare talking to her preferring her to be the one to start a new conversation, and set the tone for it. This suited Jenny just fine, she didn't want to talk, she wanted to feel the watermill, to understand it like she had done when she had fallen asleep there on her first day dreaming of her grandfather. Now that she knew what she was looking for it was easy for her to notice that this warm feeling permeated the whole place. She entered the milling room. Here too she could feel it. This was a safe place even with the broken roof. She to the middle of the room climbing over the rubble and looked up into the sky. She felt warm, but up there there was just the grey sky and the apathetic rain that was still falling under protest towards the earth. Of course it was, the sun did not break through, there was no symbolic ray of light. It was not this kind of story. But that didn't matter. Jenny closed her eyes, she could feel the misty rain coating her face, it was a nice clean feeling, but beyond that she could feel the summer sun, it was bright and warm, telling her that everything would be alight.
The rain had given up an the earth it so loathed deciding that it if it had to go down to ground level it would touch as little as possible turning into a thick fog. When the group left Barbara's house to get back to work they could hardly see the windmill on the other side of the street. Despite knowing better Jenny felt alone in this moment. She left the others behind their muffled voices slowly swallowed by the fog, moving towards what was left of her dream. The looming carcass of the watermill slowly solidifying out of the white mist in front of her while the lights of the houses bind her slowly vanished. The part of the roof that had collapsed was pointing bits of splintered beams towards the heavens, a futile gesture perhaps but this building would not breakdown without a fight. Seeing this comforted Jenny. She placed her hand on the heavy wooden door, she had come to think of this door as the main entrance. The real main door was probably near the milling room, but to her this was the real one, this was the door she had passed through when she had taken shelter from the rain. As she moved inside she felt sheltered again. Over the last few weeks she had passed through the steps of grief: denial, anger, depression, bargaining, in several variations and combinations; it was exhausting. She was ready to leave all of that behind. She went to the breakthrough in the wall that led downstairs, garbed one of the torches that were standing there and went downstairs.
The light of the torch illuminated grey steps step worn smooth by centuries of use. Jenny noticed that everything down here was made from the same grey stone. With a splash she found the last step and the rest of the water. It was bitter cold and reminded her that she should have gotten her rubber boots first. She didn't care. She got worse things to worry about than wet feet. She had imagined that the basement would be a creepy place, dark, damp and full of the things that other people had left here to rot. It certainly had its share of empty bottles, the odd mattress, folding chairs rusted into strange forms, enough to make any haunted house prod, but it lacked the feeling of ruin. This place in its strange dilapidated way felt safe. The decaying items here did not tell the story of a place that had been left in a hurry, but one that had been maintained with love. Here was a room where Jenny could see the skeleton of a dead sofa. the remains of two or maybe three large chairs grouped around a low wooden table that had just turned black in its years under water but was unwavering in its function. There where shadows on the grey walls of where once posters had hung and while there were broken bottles pretty much everywhere they were covered in wax. Once upon a time this had been a cherished place. Jenny imagined this being the secret retreat for the local teenagers where they could be the adults they knew they were.
Every room was like that. These were nests. The dark was not a menacing dark hiding unknown predators but the reassuring dark of a comfy duvet, the kind that made one invisible to the monsters. People had found solace here, company, joy, friendship, hope. As Jenny examined the walls she could see for how long this had been this way. They were all marked with names, dates and little pictures. A surprising amount from them endearing while those which were obscene were so in a way that would have been hilarious to the adolescent mind. Jenny sniggered when she saw an especially silly one. Some walls had been papered others had been plastered over, the water revealing many layers one over another all of them carrying the mementos of the many, many people who had found shelter here. At one point Jenny removed a large bit of plaster revealing the same grey stone as the one the steps where made off and even there on the original surface were names written in old long dead languages.
As she emerged from the basement, she had left all the stages of grief behind she was now calm, having not found acceptance but determination.
The others upstairs were busy putting up portable steel columns according to the acerbic commands of Claire who did not waste time on being nice when she had to stabilise a patient. They were to busy to talk to Jenny or maybe they did not dare talking to her preferring her to be the one to start a new conversation, and set the tone for it. This suited Jenny just fine, she didn't want to talk, she wanted to feel the watermill, to understand it like she had done when she had fallen asleep there on her first day dreaming of her grandfather. Now that she knew what she was looking for it was easy for her to notice that this warm feeling permeated the whole place. She entered the milling room. Here too she could feel it. This was a safe place even with the broken roof. She to the middle of the room climbing over the rubble and looked up into the sky. She felt warm, but up there there was just the grey sky and the apathetic rain that was still falling under protest towards the earth. Of course it was, the sun did not break through, there was no symbolic ray of light. It was not this kind of story. But that didn't matter. Jenny closed her eyes, she could feel the misty rain coating her face, it was a nice clean feeling, but beyond that she could feel the summer sun, it was bright and warm, telling her that everything would be alight.
Wednesday 14 November 2018
Project Coffee Break Redux 007
Chapter 8 The tower.
When Edmund arrived at the watermill late in the morning her found Jenny mostly wandering around the building starting into space.
"Everything OK?" he asked.
"What?" she had noticed Edmund when he had arrived but since then lost sight of him when ever she blinked. "Yes. I'm just thinking."
"About what?"
"Good question. Everything?"
"Well that clear that up then." said Edmund. "So, Adrian tells me that Dan has risen from the dead. If you say the word we can go and buy supplies. He gave me a rather long list of things we need already. Or we could wait for the structural engineer to arrive.
Jenny stared through Edmund for a while. "We should go to the building centre first. I think that is the place where we can get the most things done without causing another disaster. The engineer will be able to work here even if we aren't here. I think I would go crazy...er if I have to follow someone around who will be looking for all the weak spots of my mill. I'd rather I was given the bad news directly."
"Good point." Edmund said. They drove through the outer halo of the city to a place a large storehouse had found fertile ground and expanded over a considerable area before its growth was inhibited by surrounding streets. Inside of it a building supplies store had taken residence and filled out the sprawling building. Dan was already there waiting for them, when he saw them he smiled his crooked smile and greeted them. "Good morning, got the list?"
Edmund answered by waving a large sheet of paper at him. They spent the next few hours buying surprising amounts of concrete, several form of steel mesh and other things to keep the concrete in place. Prodigious amounts of wires and an astonishing amount of pipes. They, or rather Dan rented out a wide variety of machinery they'd need for the construction. Enough to have Jenny slash an entire month for which she would be able to pay wages for. 'And this is only the boring stuff.' she thought suppressing a slight shudder. It was no use complaining though, things needed to be bought and that was that. She still had enough to pay Adrian's gang for months.
They also rented a large transporter for the larger machines and all the bulky stuff. The smaller things were put into Edmund's trusty old Vauxhall.
When they returned the excavator was almost done opening a narrow but deep trench from the street to the old mill and as not carefully removing the last bits of earth next to the building itself. Stu was gesticulating to direct the excavators process. When he saw that they had returned he stopped the machine with held up hand.
"They are almost done." he shouted "Almost done too." he then turned back and beckoned the excavator to continue.
Dan said to Jenny "Tell Adrian to move his lazy arse outside and help us with unloading the transporter. The earlier we can bring it back the better." Not waiting for an answer he turned around opened the sliding door of the transporter and started to unload its cargo.
Jenny and Edmund went inside. There was no one in the the main room, so they went through the corridor into the milling room that was also empty. But they could hear muffled voices from the gallery. There was no one in the second floor either. They finally found Adrian and the engineer in the third floor. The engineer was a tiny lithe woman of maybe forty, she was wearing a dirty overall, a battered hard hat and a medium sized hammer. Her hands where in her hips and she was looking at the roof.
"I'm not sure about this." the engineer said. The wood looks damp and soft. Also that part she pointed towards the centre of the ceiling. "That's not a proper arch. It's too flat and over-extended." she shook her head. Stuck the hammer under one arm, took out an impressively large notebook from inside her overall and scribbled something down. "That needs to be replaced with a proper arch. Or columns, which will mean that we have to do the same thing down stairs, as there is virtually nothing holding up that floor either." Looking up from her book she noticed Jenny and Edmund for the first time. "And you are?"
"I'm Jenny Davis and this here is my friend Edmund Vollhardt." Jenny said.
"Ah the owner. I am Claire Mortimer. Pleased to meet you." she moved towards Jenny, offering her hand. "You have a very nice place here. Very interesting. This building was built in at the very least three phases and lucky for you the first architects of this mill knew what they where doing. The second generation was adequate and the less we say about the third the better."
"That's good?" Jenny asked.
"Oh yes considering the circumstances very much so. It is better to have a piece of crap build over a solid foundation than have a master work attic sitting on top of s tick house. I already got what ever blueprints there were at the land-registry which wasn't much. But it is a start. Adrian here already told me what you want done and there’s quite a few things that you can get started on immediately. Like sealing the basement for example. I will measure the rest of the mill in that time and make a proper ground plan in that time." while talking Claire was moving the group slowly but surely out of the room. As they arrived at the door there was a strange noise that they felt more than they heard. Something between a dissonant screech and a deep rumble. The mill reacted to it by shuddering, the wooden beams in the ceiling groaning, the bursting. It looked deceptively slow to Jenny. The wood breaking apart, the roof tiles falling inwards towards the floor where Claire had stood only a minute before. The engineer's eyes grew wide and with surprising force the small woman shoved Jenny and Edmund into the door frame, dragging Adrian behind her and then somehow awkwardly holding them there in place like stopper made out of arms, legs and confused faces. The mill around them shifted once more, there was a loud crack followed by an even louder crash as the floor in the room gave way falling into the milling room below.
No one dared to move for a while, until Claire nodded to herself and said. "I think we're OK to move now." They unfolded themselves out of the door frame into the corridor outside of the ruined room, only Claire moving a step back inside. She looked up at the hole in the roof where a cloud speckled sky could now be seen.
"You know what. I think I know what we can do with that."
"How is that not a disaster?" asked Jenny to shocked to feel anything right now.
"First of all lets leave this area for now it is not safe." said Claire shooing then away back to the stairs where a horrified Stu and Dan scrambling upstairs.
"We're okay." said Claire still very calm. "No need to panic. We need to leave the premise for now though so that I can assess the situation. We will need some pillars to stabilise the roof of the big room, the one with the shaft thing from the water wheel? And I will need to recalculate a few things and see how we can stabilise the building as fast as possible." Stu nodded, Dan stared.
"Dan are you still the hardware guy?" Claire asked.
"Yeah."
"OK then you go get me telescopic metal columns to stabilise this. Chop chop."
Dan nodded. "I need everyone here to help me unloading the transporter." Adrian and Stu immediately started moving. Jenny and Edmund Were about to follow them.
"Not you two." said Claire. "Adrian some parts of Adrian that are needed for self preservation have atrophied a long time ago, he will be fine working. But you two will need to sit down, get a warm blanket and maybe a cup of tea."
"I'd rather stay in motion." said Jenny. "And I would really love it if this building would stop falling apart."
"I'm sure you are dear, but in a few minutes all of us will start getting the shakes and that is the time when we should be sitting." she held up one hand it was shivering in a quick continuous tremor. "Adrenalin is almost gone." she said her smile more a grimace now.
A few minutes later they lay sprawled in Barbara's living room. Jenny sat slumped in a bloated arm chair that was mostly soft cushion. It was like sitting in a friendly cloud. Jenny was mostly focused on breathing while the scene of the collapsing roof tried to replay itself in her mind over and over.
Edmund was lying on the couch legs lying on a little pile of throw pillows eyes closed but moving rapidly. Claire lay on the floor her legs propped up on the couch table. Together they looked like a strange contemporary version of a renaissance painting. Three Bourgeoisie in different states of shock.
Barbara entered the room with a large try carrying a teapot several cups, as before not one matching the other, a big silver sugar container and a strange crystal carafe full of milk. She played the tray on the table and served everyone in the room one by one with softly spoken words.
"Now what?" it was Jenny who spoke first. "At this point it would be easier to tear the entire mill down and build a new one."
"Not really." said Claire. "First of all, if we did that, the city would have our heads on the platter. While there is no preservation order for the place, thank god. You got the place under the condition of preserving it. Right?"
"Yes." said Jenny gripping her cup hard. She was getting tired everything going wrong the whole time.
"That gives us some leeway. As I said before the upper part of the building was shoddy work in the first place. Put there several hundred years after the mill was first built. Actually the mill it self seem to be an addition. Have you been to the basement yet?"
"No. Not yet. Until this morning it was underwater." Jenny said.
"Well you should have a look at it. The basement is the oldest part of the building. You'll see what I mean. And it was build for eternity. The watermill they built on top is also designed to stand there come hell or high water. The people who build lacked knowledge but they had good instincts and technique apart from that they were also very fond of reinforcing everything. That just leaves us with the part where the latest generation involved was under the impression that everything with walls and a roof on top is a proper house."
"And how exactly is that supposed to help me?" Jenny asked.
"We get rid of the parts that do not work. The building just did us the favour of showing us which of these parts are the ones that really don't work. I will sort through the rest."
"OK..." said Jenny. "What are we going to put there instead? Won't you have to redesign the roof?"
"Yes. And I have a design in mind. One that will work out cheaper and faster than what I was originally considering."
"Really? And what would that be." said Jenny crossing her arms and leaning back half of her slowly vanishing into the cloud chair.
"A skylight." said Claire. "The roof hasn't got the right angle to cover the space it does. That's why it collapsed. We just take the hole in the roof, make it round and cap it with a ring and voilà you get a proper arch. You can leave the hole open, or insert a window, or you can build a tiny roof over it. Your choice really."
"And that will work?" Jenny asked.
"If I say so, it will."
"I like the idea." said Edmund. "Imagine being in the mill room, the generator humming gently, looking up and seeing the sky." he smiled.
"That does sound nice." Jenny said relaxing bit and vanishing further into the cushions.
"And," said Clair, "it will look dope, as the young people say these days."
"No one says that." said Edmund.
When Edmund arrived at the watermill late in the morning her found Jenny mostly wandering around the building starting into space.
"Everything OK?" he asked.
"What?" she had noticed Edmund when he had arrived but since then lost sight of him when ever she blinked. "Yes. I'm just thinking."
"About what?"
"Good question. Everything?"
"Well that clear that up then." said Edmund. "So, Adrian tells me that Dan has risen from the dead. If you say the word we can go and buy supplies. He gave me a rather long list of things we need already. Or we could wait for the structural engineer to arrive.
Jenny stared through Edmund for a while. "We should go to the building centre first. I think that is the place where we can get the most things done without causing another disaster. The engineer will be able to work here even if we aren't here. I think I would go crazy...er if I have to follow someone around who will be looking for all the weak spots of my mill. I'd rather I was given the bad news directly."
"Good point." Edmund said. They drove through the outer halo of the city to a place a large storehouse had found fertile ground and expanded over a considerable area before its growth was inhibited by surrounding streets. Inside of it a building supplies store had taken residence and filled out the sprawling building. Dan was already there waiting for them, when he saw them he smiled his crooked smile and greeted them. "Good morning, got the list?"
Edmund answered by waving a large sheet of paper at him. They spent the next few hours buying surprising amounts of concrete, several form of steel mesh and other things to keep the concrete in place. Prodigious amounts of wires and an astonishing amount of pipes. They, or rather Dan rented out a wide variety of machinery they'd need for the construction. Enough to have Jenny slash an entire month for which she would be able to pay wages for. 'And this is only the boring stuff.' she thought suppressing a slight shudder. It was no use complaining though, things needed to be bought and that was that. She still had enough to pay Adrian's gang for months.
They also rented a large transporter for the larger machines and all the bulky stuff. The smaller things were put into Edmund's trusty old Vauxhall.
When they returned the excavator was almost done opening a narrow but deep trench from the street to the old mill and as not carefully removing the last bits of earth next to the building itself. Stu was gesticulating to direct the excavators process. When he saw that they had returned he stopped the machine with held up hand.
"They are almost done." he shouted "Almost done too." he then turned back and beckoned the excavator to continue.
Dan said to Jenny "Tell Adrian to move his lazy arse outside and help us with unloading the transporter. The earlier we can bring it back the better." Not waiting for an answer he turned around opened the sliding door of the transporter and started to unload its cargo.
Jenny and Edmund went inside. There was no one in the the main room, so they went through the corridor into the milling room that was also empty. But they could hear muffled voices from the gallery. There was no one in the second floor either. They finally found Adrian and the engineer in the third floor. The engineer was a tiny lithe woman of maybe forty, she was wearing a dirty overall, a battered hard hat and a medium sized hammer. Her hands where in her hips and she was looking at the roof.
"I'm not sure about this." the engineer said. The wood looks damp and soft. Also that part she pointed towards the centre of the ceiling. "That's not a proper arch. It's too flat and over-extended." she shook her head. Stuck the hammer under one arm, took out an impressively large notebook from inside her overall and scribbled something down. "That needs to be replaced with a proper arch. Or columns, which will mean that we have to do the same thing down stairs, as there is virtually nothing holding up that floor either." Looking up from her book she noticed Jenny and Edmund for the first time. "And you are?"
"I'm Jenny Davis and this here is my friend Edmund Vollhardt." Jenny said.
"Ah the owner. I am Claire Mortimer. Pleased to meet you." she moved towards Jenny, offering her hand. "You have a very nice place here. Very interesting. This building was built in at the very least three phases and lucky for you the first architects of this mill knew what they where doing. The second generation was adequate and the less we say about the third the better."
"That's good?" Jenny asked.
"Oh yes considering the circumstances very much so. It is better to have a piece of crap build over a solid foundation than have a master work attic sitting on top of s tick house. I already got what ever blueprints there were at the land-registry which wasn't much. But it is a start. Adrian here already told me what you want done and there’s quite a few things that you can get started on immediately. Like sealing the basement for example. I will measure the rest of the mill in that time and make a proper ground plan in that time." while talking Claire was moving the group slowly but surely out of the room. As they arrived at the door there was a strange noise that they felt more than they heard. Something between a dissonant screech and a deep rumble. The mill reacted to it by shuddering, the wooden beams in the ceiling groaning, the bursting. It looked deceptively slow to Jenny. The wood breaking apart, the roof tiles falling inwards towards the floor where Claire had stood only a minute before. The engineer's eyes grew wide and with surprising force the small woman shoved Jenny and Edmund into the door frame, dragging Adrian behind her and then somehow awkwardly holding them there in place like stopper made out of arms, legs and confused faces. The mill around them shifted once more, there was a loud crack followed by an even louder crash as the floor in the room gave way falling into the milling room below.
No one dared to move for a while, until Claire nodded to herself and said. "I think we're OK to move now." They unfolded themselves out of the door frame into the corridor outside of the ruined room, only Claire moving a step back inside. She looked up at the hole in the roof where a cloud speckled sky could now be seen.
"You know what. I think I know what we can do with that."
"How is that not a disaster?" asked Jenny to shocked to feel anything right now.
"First of all lets leave this area for now it is not safe." said Claire shooing then away back to the stairs where a horrified Stu and Dan scrambling upstairs.
"We're okay." said Claire still very calm. "No need to panic. We need to leave the premise for now though so that I can assess the situation. We will need some pillars to stabilise the roof of the big room, the one with the shaft thing from the water wheel? And I will need to recalculate a few things and see how we can stabilise the building as fast as possible." Stu nodded, Dan stared.
"Dan are you still the hardware guy?" Claire asked.
"Yeah."
"OK then you go get me telescopic metal columns to stabilise this. Chop chop."
Dan nodded. "I need everyone here to help me unloading the transporter." Adrian and Stu immediately started moving. Jenny and Edmund Were about to follow them.
"Not you two." said Claire. "Adrian some parts of Adrian that are needed for self preservation have atrophied a long time ago, he will be fine working. But you two will need to sit down, get a warm blanket and maybe a cup of tea."
"I'd rather stay in motion." said Jenny. "And I would really love it if this building would stop falling apart."
"I'm sure you are dear, but in a few minutes all of us will start getting the shakes and that is the time when we should be sitting." she held up one hand it was shivering in a quick continuous tremor. "Adrenalin is almost gone." she said her smile more a grimace now.
A few minutes later they lay sprawled in Barbara's living room. Jenny sat slumped in a bloated arm chair that was mostly soft cushion. It was like sitting in a friendly cloud. Jenny was mostly focused on breathing while the scene of the collapsing roof tried to replay itself in her mind over and over.
Edmund was lying on the couch legs lying on a little pile of throw pillows eyes closed but moving rapidly. Claire lay on the floor her legs propped up on the couch table. Together they looked like a strange contemporary version of a renaissance painting. Three Bourgeoisie in different states of shock.
Barbara entered the room with a large try carrying a teapot several cups, as before not one matching the other, a big silver sugar container and a strange crystal carafe full of milk. She played the tray on the table and served everyone in the room one by one with softly spoken words.
"Now what?" it was Jenny who spoke first. "At this point it would be easier to tear the entire mill down and build a new one."
"Not really." said Claire. "First of all, if we did that, the city would have our heads on the platter. While there is no preservation order for the place, thank god. You got the place under the condition of preserving it. Right?"
"Yes." said Jenny gripping her cup hard. She was getting tired everything going wrong the whole time.
"That gives us some leeway. As I said before the upper part of the building was shoddy work in the first place. Put there several hundred years after the mill was first built. Actually the mill it self seem to be an addition. Have you been to the basement yet?"
"No. Not yet. Until this morning it was underwater." Jenny said.
"Well you should have a look at it. The basement is the oldest part of the building. You'll see what I mean. And it was build for eternity. The watermill they built on top is also designed to stand there come hell or high water. The people who build lacked knowledge but they had good instincts and technique apart from that they were also very fond of reinforcing everything. That just leaves us with the part where the latest generation involved was under the impression that everything with walls and a roof on top is a proper house."
"And how exactly is that supposed to help me?" Jenny asked.
"We get rid of the parts that do not work. The building just did us the favour of showing us which of these parts are the ones that really don't work. I will sort through the rest."
"OK..." said Jenny. "What are we going to put there instead? Won't you have to redesign the roof?"
"Yes. And I have a design in mind. One that will work out cheaper and faster than what I was originally considering."
"Really? And what would that be." said Jenny crossing her arms and leaning back half of her slowly vanishing into the cloud chair.
"A skylight." said Claire. "The roof hasn't got the right angle to cover the space it does. That's why it collapsed. We just take the hole in the roof, make it round and cap it with a ring and voilà you get a proper arch. You can leave the hole open, or insert a window, or you can build a tiny roof over it. Your choice really."
"And that will work?" Jenny asked.
"If I say so, it will."
"I like the idea." said Edmund. "Imagine being in the mill room, the generator humming gently, looking up and seeing the sky." he smiled.
"That does sound nice." Jenny said relaxing bit and vanishing further into the cushions.
"And," said Clair, "it will look dope, as the young people say these days."
"No one says that." said Edmund.
Tuesday 13 November 2018
Project Coffee Break Redux 006
Chapter 7
The next day Jenny was back to the watermill early in the morning. It was still dark and the sun would refuse to look down on them for several more hours. Even the light drizzle floated with the greatest reluctance towards the ground. If it found anything else on its way down, like say Jenny, it would instead attack her with rabid fury crawling beneath her warm cloths biting the warmth out of her in tiny chunks. Jenny was not a morning person and this morning was doing everything to convince her that her instincts were right. She should have stayed in bed. Maybe adding one or two extra blankets only to be sure. But this was a morning she was not going to miss. Adrian had told her that today would be the day where they would get an excavator to dig a trench to connect the watermill to the circulatory system of modern civilisation. He had told her that he could take care of all of that. He knew who to talk to to get an official connection. Someone who would be happy to just hand over the work to them instead of having to do it themselves. He just needed a certified copy of the document with which the city had passed the responsibility over the mill over to Jenny. As much as Jenny would have loved to stay away and wait for others to take care of the disaster that was the watermill she had decided against it. That was the cowards way. A road that she had been taking for all to long. While she could not do the work herself, this was still her plan and her battle and just because everything seemed to be conspiring against her did not mean she would back down. Fuck that.
So she stood there a lonely figure standing in the cold illuminated by a soft glow of sympathy light she got from the street-lamps who stood a way back on the civilised part of the street, who by their nature could not look right at her but at the very least send a glimmer of solidarity towards her.
First she heard the call of the excavator. A deep rumbling growl. Then she felt the vibration of the street as it started to resonate with the machines power over the earth. Then at last she saw the lights appear down the street, the many shining eyes of a metal dragon. This was a machine that knew it was a beast. Followed by another car carrying his loyal subjects with it.
The excavator came to a halt not far from the watermill where Stu had pointed out the water line. It turned its spotlight eyes towards the mill, which just stood its ground as it had for so many centuries now.
From behind the glare of the beasts eyes Adrian appeared.
"Good morning ma'am." he said.
"Good morning Adrian." she said nodding. "When can we start?"
"Pretty much immediately. The city needs to see your papers, the a signature and we can start. During the excavation Stu'll check the basement. I'll do a detailed check of the building so that I can brief our statics man when he arrives here this afternoon. And Dan's sleeping in."
"Sounds good to me." Jenny said. "So who needs my signature."
Out of the dark appeared a creature from the city tribe. This one was different to the one in the city office. A strange hybrid that worked half the day inside an office the other half out in the body of the city proper, maintaining it the city according to its own plans. It followed the ritual of greeting and pleasantry. Examined the papers Jenny gave to it in the most cursory way. Jenny wondered if they new it was real by contact, they had developed special sense to see if it was the real thing or they maybe just didn't care. And how comes the city can give a part of itself into her care and yet not know that it did so?
"... and there and there." said the creature from the city tribe to Jenny offering her a pen. She stared at it for a second noticing that she was being presented with a clipboard holding the official documents for her to sign. The parts helpfully marked with highlighter by the creature in front of her.
"Oh. Yes of course." she said, putting her signature where it was required thus sealing the contract. As she had done so the thing from the city double checked, nodded and then a smile flickered on its face revealing a the friendly face of a middle aged man.
"You've got a good team working for you here." he said. "Adrian and his boys always do great work. I for one am glad to see that you got this watermill. There are many beautiful places her in the city that just get ignored. We keep telling the higher ups that we have to be doing something about it. To preserve sites like these. But it is always to expensive." the man shook his head. "You're doing good work here." he nodded. "Adrian told me about the situation with the basement. I remember that Sutcliffe was complaining about that botched job. So if you need any help with you'll know where to find me."
"er... yes. Thank you." Jenny said. The man from the city said goodbye to Adrian and disappeared into the darkness beyond the excavator beast.
"So about that lawyer." Adrian said.
"We're working on it." Jenny said as the excavator came to life again and moved into position to bite the first chunk out of the earth.
The morning crawled along at snails pace. Seeing the excavator doing its work quickly went from being impressive to being quite boring. There was a certain meditative charm to it which was the last thing that Jenny needed, now that the adrenalin of the last few days was finally ebbing away it was replaced by a deep fatigue. She went inside to see if she could make herself useful there. It was to dark to clean up inside. She had gotten half a dozen battery powered lamps and place inside the mill but instead of providing adequate light they just gave more prominence to the darkness. Not that there was much what she could do right now anyway. Pretty much everything that she could move by hand was gone. It was now shovels and wheel barrows time, but that required shovels and wheel barrows which she did not have yet. That was among the fist things she was going to get later. She would meet with Dan later at a building centre, but for that the centre had to open its doors and Dan his eyes.
She thought of going into the basement to see how Stu was doing but decided against it as she had not thought of wearing rubber boots that day. The pump they had installed was doing good work, however the water down there was still ankle deep and would probably stay at that level until Stu had discovered where the water was coming from. She doubted that there was much she could do down there besides getting wet feet. She looked down the stairs seeing the glow from Stu's helmet light, she wondered what it looked down there. The pump had been working since yesterday and it was only now that it was even possible to enter the basement. Her curiosity had to wait until she got herself the proper footwear.
She turned back towards the door and looked out. A figure that tightly wrapped in a heavy coat was walking towards her from the dark.
"You're up early." Jenny said to Barbara.
"It happens when people start ripping open the street in the middle of the night." Barbara said. Now that she had come closer Jenny could see her face. It was a face that did not want to be seen. "Are you busy?" she asked.
"Not really. I've given my magic signature. Until the rest of the world wakes up there isn't much I can do." Jenny said.
"How about some breakfast then?"
"I wouldn't say no to a cup of tea."
Perfect." Barbara said, "Follow me."
Barbara's house was not what Jenny had expected. But then it didn't really surprise her either. It was not an old ladies house, which made perfect sense to Jenny as the only thing old about Barbara was the amount of years she had lived. What was surprising was just how stylish the house was, in a messy way. The furniture was designer furniture following no particular style but chosen for their own merit and then carefully combined with each other so that their different styles complemented each other. There were paintings on the wall, modern, contemporary, impressionist, expressionist and some other styles that Jenny could not identify. What stopped the house from looking like exhibition for art and design were the clothes carelessly draped over the chairs and couches. The books and magazines scattered on every flat surface and the legions of glasses mugs and cups placed on top of them to prevent them all from flying away in case they suddenly came to life.
Strangely enough the kitchen was spotless. Still all very stylish but in a deeply utilitarian way. Every surface be it metal, stone or polished wood was clean. In hear everything had its precise place and function.
"Take a seat." Barbara said gesturing at one of three bar stools in front of an elevated counter facing the work space of the kitchen Jenny sat down and watched Barbara prepare tea using a tea maker that looked like it belonged inside of a 1960s interstellar space ship.
"What is it you do again?" Jenny asked.
"Hmm..." Barbara thought about the question for a while. "That's a hard question to answer." she said while she turned to the tea maker that had just announced that it was done with a load 'clack' noise. She poured the tea into two fashionable but miss matched mugs which looked like they could be the protagonists of a cup oriented buddy movie. "Maybe a gardener?" Barbara said, trying out the description in her mind. "Or a collector?" she considered the taste of that thought for a moment. "Milk? Sugar?" she asked.
"Huh?" it took Jenny a moment to process the question. "A bit of both. Thanks."
Barbara added a bit of milk to both mugs. "No not quite a collector." A tablespoon of sugar added to Jenny's cup the one she considered the old cup who bent the rules when it was necessary.
"You are not talking about plants." Jenny said. It was not a question, more a statement intended to give Barbara something to build her thoughts around.
"No I'm talking about... artists." she took the other cup, the young wild one that did things by the book until its hot temper got the better of itself. "She took a sip of tea, grimaced because it was too hot and put the cup down again. "But then artist isn't quite the right word either."
"So you are a kind of patron then?" Jenny asked.
"Do I look that rich?"
Jenny took a look around the bespoke kitchen. "Actually yes."
Barbara followed Jenny's gaze. "Ah. You've got a point there. But this is the fruit of my labour and not the other way round."
Jenny smiled judging the heat from her mug she tried a little sip of her tea. Good strong with a tinge of sweetness. "That still doesn't answer my question."
"I said it wasn't an easy question to answer." Barbara said still looking for the right words. " I help people, creative people with their work. Having an idea is just a seed for it to grow it needs to be tended and taken care off. That is a lot of hard work. Everyone has ideas, but bringing the more ambitious to fruition is hard."
"Yeah, I've noticed." Jenny laughed shaking her head, humour slwoly returning to her.
"Midwife!" Barbara said. "It fits but it make me sound so old."
Jenny knew when it was time to stay silent.
"Somewhere in between a gardener and a midwife." Barbara said slowly nodding. "I'm usually get there when the seed is has already opened, but I am there to tend the sapling. I help nurturing it, protect it." Barbara's soul was starting to glow. "Making sure that it survives the many storms that come to finally see it bloom. That's what I do." she looked at Jenny smiling a smile that had warmed generations before her. Right at this moment Barbara looked ancient yet ageless.
"Oh." Jenny could see how that was hard to explain. "You must have seen quite a lot of interesting things in your life."
"Like you could never imagine." Barbara said. "There were a lot of failures along the way too. But if I may have my moment of hubris, I helped bring several great works into this world which would have otherwise died in the minds of their creators."
"How did you know that that was what you wanted to do." Jenny asked. "And how did you turn that into a job?"
"The official version would be that I could see talent in other people since I was young. That I noticed that most creative people have a really hard time of making their ideas a reality. Either because they doubt themselves, they are doubted by others or because they simply don't know where to look for help."
"And the unofficial version?"
"The unofficial version or the truth as I like to call it is that when I was young I was a fan first and everything else second. I was here when the early rock bands appeared and I was loving it. The show the spectacle the people. At first I was just a groupie I guess you could say. Following bands around, talking to the musicians feeling the thrill of being part of it, getting to know other artists and their work. It was, it is intoxicating. When you meet people who see things that are just out of reach for the so called normal people who are happy getting their work done and use what ever they earn in money to recover what they have lost to their daily routine... you cannot help but to be in awe." Barbara was lost for a moment reliving these sublime moments.
"So you started out as a muse?" Jenny said feeling impressed.
Barbara snorted. "No. I was a vampire."
Jenny stopped mid sip. "A vampire?"
"I wasn't creating anything. I was just following these people around and eating up what they created. I was elevated by association. But I wasn't doing anything on my own. And this might be hard to imagine but back in the beginning it was actually easy to be close to the so called stars. It was a smaller world back then. But as they rose in fame and the fans went from a few dedicated people to an untold number of fanatics it became increasingly harder to get near them. I was 'lucky'" Barbara made air quotes with her fingers, "that I was among the first. I was friends with enough stars that I was still invited to the parties. However it became abundantly clear that the flame I was warming myself with was growing more and more distant with every day that passed. Until one day I found myself out side on the lawn of some fancy mansion, the sun was was rising again, it was one of those parties, that I realised that my life was coming to an end." Barbara exhaled.
"Where you thinking about suicide." Jenny asked. Somehow the thought of a woman like Barbara committing suicide was hard to imagine.
"No. In a way that would have been easier. Wrong and cowardly, but easier. I had lived my life exactly like I felt it had to be lived I had been right there in the moment and those moments had been spectacular. This was the point where I noticed that those moments where going to leave me behind and when that happened the thing that kept me going would be gone. And then what? I had no 'real'" the air quotes again, "qualifications to speak off and in contrast to the people I admired I had no artistic ability. At all."
"Everyone has artistic ability." Jenny said. Feeling like an idiot the moment the words had left her mouth.
"True. How are your drawing skills?" Barbara asked.
"er... do doodles count?" Jenny said.
"Ability is not the same as skill. And I had spent years of my life enjoying the skills of others, not cultivating my own what ever they may be. Also I never felt that drive. When you see artists, whether they are called that or not you can see it in the way they do things. They are not necessarily consumed by it but even among the unwilling, once they do their thing there is a clarity to it. There never was in clarity in what I did."
"But you said you followed those artist with deep determination."
Barbara wagged her finger at Jenny. "You are cheating. You already know how the story ends. For me this was my darkest moment. It was made worse by the fact that I was not at the end of the line. I knew that there was still a good deal of sunshine left but I knew that night was coming. I could feel it approach."
"So what was the the plot twist." Jenny asked. She took another sip of her tea which to her surprise was now merely warm.
"First came the time when I felt like the shortest candle. Feeling how I was dwindling but I could hardly stop to burn. In a way I pushed even harder. Trying experience as much as I still could. I talked to more people made more acquaintances while slowly sinking deeper into my dark thoughts. It was around this time that I noticed the other people at the fringes. I had been so distracted by the bright light of the famous that I did not notice the glowing embers of the many other artists who were working in obscurity. The plot twist was called Anne."
"Anne?"
"A young painter I knew without knowing at that time. You know the kind of person. You keep appearing at the same parties, start knowing each other, do some small talk, but you never don't get to see the real person behind the pleasantries."
Jenny had never had known someone like that. She obviously didn't go to enough parties. "Yeah. That kind of person.", she nodded,
"Well it was in the time I was sinking into an early but fulminant mid-life crises that I got to know her. Intimately."
"Right." Jenny said preferring to not let her curiosity stop the flow of the story.
"Anne was a painter. Out of art school for a while mainly maintaining herself by doing the odd job here and there, what she really wanted... what she needed was to be recognized though. When I went to the parties I was there to gorge myself on the radiance of others. She however went there to be seen. She might as well have been invisible. She lacked the ego of the self declared genius. She didn't think highly of her work. Actually the way she told it her work was rubbish, but it should be seen by others so that they may help her improving. To get to the point where she could actually express what she wanted to convey effectively." Barbara paused for a moment gazing at her tea. She took another swig. "These days you'd say that her self marketing was atrocious. But as I got to know her, I also got to know her art. And it was impressive. Far from perfect, still to restricted by what she had learned and by her lack of confidence. But you could see her energy and power past all of that. Her work was usually dark but always with something bright and colourful breaking out of that darkness. She did things like no one else, and she was good. To me it was obvious that the only way for her was up. That's not what happened. She kept working to make ends meet. Work on her art. Go out and be ignored by everyone. And bit by bit her flame was dying.
It was OK for me to fade away, you know? I was not happy about it, but in the end the world would not miss me. But her? Life had never felt so unfair to me like in the moment where I saw where Anne was heading. And that was something I was not going to let happen."
"What did you do?" asked Jenny her hand resting on her now cold tea cup.
"I still knew pretty much everyone. So I talked to the right people and made them look. I also gave Anne a crash course in advanced social skills so that she stopped killing her work in the eyes of others before they had a chance to judge for themselves."
"It worked." Jenny said. Not a question. Had it not worked she would not be sitting in this kitchen and not have this conversation.
Barbara nodded. "It worked. It was a lot of work, but in the end it was easier than I had thought it would be. I thought I would have to fight more, but Anne's art did all the fighting for me. It was mostly of talking to people. Bringing them together and make them appear at the right place at the right time. It meant an end to the odd jobs and she could finally focus on her art. She never became famous outside of certain circles, but I think that's just for the better. All things considered."
"What happened to her?"
Barbara's smile found something bitter and broke over it. "In the end her flame burnt to bright and she was consumed by it. She had some very good years but in then end... I don't really know what happened we had grown apart by that time. If I wanted to see her I could just see how she was in the various galleries you could find her work at. She was for a while resplendent but then her work took a turn back towards the dark. I thought she was maturing, getting back to her roots, following more 'adult' themes. I was wrong. I think. In the end she died of drug overdose..."
Silence.
Jenny thought about what she could say but everything she could say sounded stupid in her mind. This woman had opened up to her in a way that was a bit overwhelming considering that they just met a bit over a week ago.
"So..." Jenny cleared her throat, "what happened with you?"
"In general or after Anne had died?"
"Both..."
"In general:", Barbara took a deep breath, "I discovered my skill. I was no artist and would never become one. But I knew people and I know great works when I see them. I have a feel for potential. I had spent so much time around it that I had become an expert of sorts. So this became my calling. I left the burning light that had drawn me into the field and went looking for the embers making sure that they at least got a chance to blossom instead of fading away. Anne's fate... Anne's fate reminded me that I had a certain responsibility, that I was playing with fire after all. I took more care of the people I helped afterwards. That was stupid too, I became overprotective and ruined some perfectly good friendships. It took me a long while to get the balance right. To help people, to take care of them, while at the same time not becoming controlling." Barbara sighed. "And there are some people who just can't be saved. The best you can hope for is that as long as they stay they at least get the chance to be their best selves."
"I see." said Jenny slightly overwhelmed.
Barbara look at her, "Well, you asked." she said and laughed.
"So...er..." Jenny fidgeted on her bar stool.
"You've got a question." Barbara asked with an expectant smile.
"Yes. Well..."
"You want to know if I am helping you. In a professional capacity?" Barbara said.
Jenny flinched. "Yeah?"
"Right now I am helping you in a friendly capacity. Professional would mean I get a cut. That would not be right. At least not now. I'm fine, you have enough problems of your own, you don't need an 'investor'" there where the air quotes again, "to make things worse. But I see the spark in you. I am really curious about what you are going to do with the watermill and I introduced you to Adrian, who in turn introduced you to the man from the city." Barbara looked supremely satisfied as she said that. "Right now I'm perfectly happy sitting at the sidelines enjoying the spectacle. And providing tea and comfort if the need arises. Who knows what the future might bring." Barbara smiled a smile full of conspiracy and winked at Jenny.
Jenny opened her mouth and closed it again.
"You're welcome. Oh and see to it that the statics guy appears today. Adrian is an absolute professional but he tends to be a bit to convinced about his instincts when it comes to buildings which means that he sometimes starts to knock down walls and ask questions later. While I do trust him these days you need and architect for a loft extension, let alone a crumbling mill."
The next day Jenny was back to the watermill early in the morning. It was still dark and the sun would refuse to look down on them for several more hours. Even the light drizzle floated with the greatest reluctance towards the ground. If it found anything else on its way down, like say Jenny, it would instead attack her with rabid fury crawling beneath her warm cloths biting the warmth out of her in tiny chunks. Jenny was not a morning person and this morning was doing everything to convince her that her instincts were right. She should have stayed in bed. Maybe adding one or two extra blankets only to be sure. But this was a morning she was not going to miss. Adrian had told her that today would be the day where they would get an excavator to dig a trench to connect the watermill to the circulatory system of modern civilisation. He had told her that he could take care of all of that. He knew who to talk to to get an official connection. Someone who would be happy to just hand over the work to them instead of having to do it themselves. He just needed a certified copy of the document with which the city had passed the responsibility over the mill over to Jenny. As much as Jenny would have loved to stay away and wait for others to take care of the disaster that was the watermill she had decided against it. That was the cowards way. A road that she had been taking for all to long. While she could not do the work herself, this was still her plan and her battle and just because everything seemed to be conspiring against her did not mean she would back down. Fuck that.
So she stood there a lonely figure standing in the cold illuminated by a soft glow of sympathy light she got from the street-lamps who stood a way back on the civilised part of the street, who by their nature could not look right at her but at the very least send a glimmer of solidarity towards her.
First she heard the call of the excavator. A deep rumbling growl. Then she felt the vibration of the street as it started to resonate with the machines power over the earth. Then at last she saw the lights appear down the street, the many shining eyes of a metal dragon. This was a machine that knew it was a beast. Followed by another car carrying his loyal subjects with it.
The excavator came to a halt not far from the watermill where Stu had pointed out the water line. It turned its spotlight eyes towards the mill, which just stood its ground as it had for so many centuries now.
From behind the glare of the beasts eyes Adrian appeared.
"Good morning ma'am." he said.
"Good morning Adrian." she said nodding. "When can we start?"
"Pretty much immediately. The city needs to see your papers, the a signature and we can start. During the excavation Stu'll check the basement. I'll do a detailed check of the building so that I can brief our statics man when he arrives here this afternoon. And Dan's sleeping in."
"Sounds good to me." Jenny said. "So who needs my signature."
Out of the dark appeared a creature from the city tribe. This one was different to the one in the city office. A strange hybrid that worked half the day inside an office the other half out in the body of the city proper, maintaining it the city according to its own plans. It followed the ritual of greeting and pleasantry. Examined the papers Jenny gave to it in the most cursory way. Jenny wondered if they new it was real by contact, they had developed special sense to see if it was the real thing or they maybe just didn't care. And how comes the city can give a part of itself into her care and yet not know that it did so?
"... and there and there." said the creature from the city tribe to Jenny offering her a pen. She stared at it for a second noticing that she was being presented with a clipboard holding the official documents for her to sign. The parts helpfully marked with highlighter by the creature in front of her.
"Oh. Yes of course." she said, putting her signature where it was required thus sealing the contract. As she had done so the thing from the city double checked, nodded and then a smile flickered on its face revealing a the friendly face of a middle aged man.
"You've got a good team working for you here." he said. "Adrian and his boys always do great work. I for one am glad to see that you got this watermill. There are many beautiful places her in the city that just get ignored. We keep telling the higher ups that we have to be doing something about it. To preserve sites like these. But it is always to expensive." the man shook his head. "You're doing good work here." he nodded. "Adrian told me about the situation with the basement. I remember that Sutcliffe was complaining about that botched job. So if you need any help with you'll know where to find me."
"er... yes. Thank you." Jenny said. The man from the city said goodbye to Adrian and disappeared into the darkness beyond the excavator beast.
"So about that lawyer." Adrian said.
"We're working on it." Jenny said as the excavator came to life again and moved into position to bite the first chunk out of the earth.
The morning crawled along at snails pace. Seeing the excavator doing its work quickly went from being impressive to being quite boring. There was a certain meditative charm to it which was the last thing that Jenny needed, now that the adrenalin of the last few days was finally ebbing away it was replaced by a deep fatigue. She went inside to see if she could make herself useful there. It was to dark to clean up inside. She had gotten half a dozen battery powered lamps and place inside the mill but instead of providing adequate light they just gave more prominence to the darkness. Not that there was much what she could do right now anyway. Pretty much everything that she could move by hand was gone. It was now shovels and wheel barrows time, but that required shovels and wheel barrows which she did not have yet. That was among the fist things she was going to get later. She would meet with Dan later at a building centre, but for that the centre had to open its doors and Dan his eyes.
She thought of going into the basement to see how Stu was doing but decided against it as she had not thought of wearing rubber boots that day. The pump they had installed was doing good work, however the water down there was still ankle deep and would probably stay at that level until Stu had discovered where the water was coming from. She doubted that there was much she could do down there besides getting wet feet. She looked down the stairs seeing the glow from Stu's helmet light, she wondered what it looked down there. The pump had been working since yesterday and it was only now that it was even possible to enter the basement. Her curiosity had to wait until she got herself the proper footwear.
She turned back towards the door and looked out. A figure that tightly wrapped in a heavy coat was walking towards her from the dark.
"You're up early." Jenny said to Barbara.
"It happens when people start ripping open the street in the middle of the night." Barbara said. Now that she had come closer Jenny could see her face. It was a face that did not want to be seen. "Are you busy?" she asked.
"Not really. I've given my magic signature. Until the rest of the world wakes up there isn't much I can do." Jenny said.
"How about some breakfast then?"
"I wouldn't say no to a cup of tea."
Perfect." Barbara said, "Follow me."
Barbara's house was not what Jenny had expected. But then it didn't really surprise her either. It was not an old ladies house, which made perfect sense to Jenny as the only thing old about Barbara was the amount of years she had lived. What was surprising was just how stylish the house was, in a messy way. The furniture was designer furniture following no particular style but chosen for their own merit and then carefully combined with each other so that their different styles complemented each other. There were paintings on the wall, modern, contemporary, impressionist, expressionist and some other styles that Jenny could not identify. What stopped the house from looking like exhibition for art and design were the clothes carelessly draped over the chairs and couches. The books and magazines scattered on every flat surface and the legions of glasses mugs and cups placed on top of them to prevent them all from flying away in case they suddenly came to life.
Strangely enough the kitchen was spotless. Still all very stylish but in a deeply utilitarian way. Every surface be it metal, stone or polished wood was clean. In hear everything had its precise place and function.
"Take a seat." Barbara said gesturing at one of three bar stools in front of an elevated counter facing the work space of the kitchen Jenny sat down and watched Barbara prepare tea using a tea maker that looked like it belonged inside of a 1960s interstellar space ship.
"What is it you do again?" Jenny asked.
"Hmm..." Barbara thought about the question for a while. "That's a hard question to answer." she said while she turned to the tea maker that had just announced that it was done with a load 'clack' noise. She poured the tea into two fashionable but miss matched mugs which looked like they could be the protagonists of a cup oriented buddy movie. "Maybe a gardener?" Barbara said, trying out the description in her mind. "Or a collector?" she considered the taste of that thought for a moment. "Milk? Sugar?" she asked.
"Huh?" it took Jenny a moment to process the question. "A bit of both. Thanks."
Barbara added a bit of milk to both mugs. "No not quite a collector." A tablespoon of sugar added to Jenny's cup the one she considered the old cup who bent the rules when it was necessary.
"You are not talking about plants." Jenny said. It was not a question, more a statement intended to give Barbara something to build her thoughts around.
"No I'm talking about... artists." she took the other cup, the young wild one that did things by the book until its hot temper got the better of itself. "She took a sip of tea, grimaced because it was too hot and put the cup down again. "But then artist isn't quite the right word either."
"So you are a kind of patron then?" Jenny asked.
"Do I look that rich?"
Jenny took a look around the bespoke kitchen. "Actually yes."
Barbara followed Jenny's gaze. "Ah. You've got a point there. But this is the fruit of my labour and not the other way round."
Jenny smiled judging the heat from her mug she tried a little sip of her tea. Good strong with a tinge of sweetness. "That still doesn't answer my question."
"I said it wasn't an easy question to answer." Barbara said still looking for the right words. " I help people, creative people with their work. Having an idea is just a seed for it to grow it needs to be tended and taken care off. That is a lot of hard work. Everyone has ideas, but bringing the more ambitious to fruition is hard."
"Yeah, I've noticed." Jenny laughed shaking her head, humour slwoly returning to her.
"Midwife!" Barbara said. "It fits but it make me sound so old."
Jenny knew when it was time to stay silent.
"Somewhere in between a gardener and a midwife." Barbara said slowly nodding. "I'm usually get there when the seed is has already opened, but I am there to tend the sapling. I help nurturing it, protect it." Barbara's soul was starting to glow. "Making sure that it survives the many storms that come to finally see it bloom. That's what I do." she looked at Jenny smiling a smile that had warmed generations before her. Right at this moment Barbara looked ancient yet ageless.
"Oh." Jenny could see how that was hard to explain. "You must have seen quite a lot of interesting things in your life."
"Like you could never imagine." Barbara said. "There were a lot of failures along the way too. But if I may have my moment of hubris, I helped bring several great works into this world which would have otherwise died in the minds of their creators."
"How did you know that that was what you wanted to do." Jenny asked. "And how did you turn that into a job?"
"The official version would be that I could see talent in other people since I was young. That I noticed that most creative people have a really hard time of making their ideas a reality. Either because they doubt themselves, they are doubted by others or because they simply don't know where to look for help."
"And the unofficial version?"
"The unofficial version or the truth as I like to call it is that when I was young I was a fan first and everything else second. I was here when the early rock bands appeared and I was loving it. The show the spectacle the people. At first I was just a groupie I guess you could say. Following bands around, talking to the musicians feeling the thrill of being part of it, getting to know other artists and their work. It was, it is intoxicating. When you meet people who see things that are just out of reach for the so called normal people who are happy getting their work done and use what ever they earn in money to recover what they have lost to their daily routine... you cannot help but to be in awe." Barbara was lost for a moment reliving these sublime moments.
"So you started out as a muse?" Jenny said feeling impressed.
Barbara snorted. "No. I was a vampire."
Jenny stopped mid sip. "A vampire?"
"I wasn't creating anything. I was just following these people around and eating up what they created. I was elevated by association. But I wasn't doing anything on my own. And this might be hard to imagine but back in the beginning it was actually easy to be close to the so called stars. It was a smaller world back then. But as they rose in fame and the fans went from a few dedicated people to an untold number of fanatics it became increasingly harder to get near them. I was 'lucky'" Barbara made air quotes with her fingers, "that I was among the first. I was friends with enough stars that I was still invited to the parties. However it became abundantly clear that the flame I was warming myself with was growing more and more distant with every day that passed. Until one day I found myself out side on the lawn of some fancy mansion, the sun was was rising again, it was one of those parties, that I realised that my life was coming to an end." Barbara exhaled.
"Where you thinking about suicide." Jenny asked. Somehow the thought of a woman like Barbara committing suicide was hard to imagine.
"No. In a way that would have been easier. Wrong and cowardly, but easier. I had lived my life exactly like I felt it had to be lived I had been right there in the moment and those moments had been spectacular. This was the point where I noticed that those moments where going to leave me behind and when that happened the thing that kept me going would be gone. And then what? I had no 'real'" the air quotes again, "qualifications to speak off and in contrast to the people I admired I had no artistic ability. At all."
"Everyone has artistic ability." Jenny said. Feeling like an idiot the moment the words had left her mouth.
"True. How are your drawing skills?" Barbara asked.
"er... do doodles count?" Jenny said.
"Ability is not the same as skill. And I had spent years of my life enjoying the skills of others, not cultivating my own what ever they may be. Also I never felt that drive. When you see artists, whether they are called that or not you can see it in the way they do things. They are not necessarily consumed by it but even among the unwilling, once they do their thing there is a clarity to it. There never was in clarity in what I did."
"But you said you followed those artist with deep determination."
Barbara wagged her finger at Jenny. "You are cheating. You already know how the story ends. For me this was my darkest moment. It was made worse by the fact that I was not at the end of the line. I knew that there was still a good deal of sunshine left but I knew that night was coming. I could feel it approach."
"So what was the the plot twist." Jenny asked. She took another sip of her tea which to her surprise was now merely warm.
"First came the time when I felt like the shortest candle. Feeling how I was dwindling but I could hardly stop to burn. In a way I pushed even harder. Trying experience as much as I still could. I talked to more people made more acquaintances while slowly sinking deeper into my dark thoughts. It was around this time that I noticed the other people at the fringes. I had been so distracted by the bright light of the famous that I did not notice the glowing embers of the many other artists who were working in obscurity. The plot twist was called Anne."
"Anne?"
"A young painter I knew without knowing at that time. You know the kind of person. You keep appearing at the same parties, start knowing each other, do some small talk, but you never don't get to see the real person behind the pleasantries."
Jenny had never had known someone like that. She obviously didn't go to enough parties. "Yeah. That kind of person.", she nodded,
"Well it was in the time I was sinking into an early but fulminant mid-life crises that I got to know her. Intimately."
"Right." Jenny said preferring to not let her curiosity stop the flow of the story.
"Anne was a painter. Out of art school for a while mainly maintaining herself by doing the odd job here and there, what she really wanted... what she needed was to be recognized though. When I went to the parties I was there to gorge myself on the radiance of others. She however went there to be seen. She might as well have been invisible. She lacked the ego of the self declared genius. She didn't think highly of her work. Actually the way she told it her work was rubbish, but it should be seen by others so that they may help her improving. To get to the point where she could actually express what she wanted to convey effectively." Barbara paused for a moment gazing at her tea. She took another swig. "These days you'd say that her self marketing was atrocious. But as I got to know her, I also got to know her art. And it was impressive. Far from perfect, still to restricted by what she had learned and by her lack of confidence. But you could see her energy and power past all of that. Her work was usually dark but always with something bright and colourful breaking out of that darkness. She did things like no one else, and she was good. To me it was obvious that the only way for her was up. That's not what happened. She kept working to make ends meet. Work on her art. Go out and be ignored by everyone. And bit by bit her flame was dying.
It was OK for me to fade away, you know? I was not happy about it, but in the end the world would not miss me. But her? Life had never felt so unfair to me like in the moment where I saw where Anne was heading. And that was something I was not going to let happen."
"What did you do?" asked Jenny her hand resting on her now cold tea cup.
"I still knew pretty much everyone. So I talked to the right people and made them look. I also gave Anne a crash course in advanced social skills so that she stopped killing her work in the eyes of others before they had a chance to judge for themselves."
"It worked." Jenny said. Not a question. Had it not worked she would not be sitting in this kitchen and not have this conversation.
Barbara nodded. "It worked. It was a lot of work, but in the end it was easier than I had thought it would be. I thought I would have to fight more, but Anne's art did all the fighting for me. It was mostly of talking to people. Bringing them together and make them appear at the right place at the right time. It meant an end to the odd jobs and she could finally focus on her art. She never became famous outside of certain circles, but I think that's just for the better. All things considered."
"What happened to her?"
Barbara's smile found something bitter and broke over it. "In the end her flame burnt to bright and she was consumed by it. She had some very good years but in then end... I don't really know what happened we had grown apart by that time. If I wanted to see her I could just see how she was in the various galleries you could find her work at. She was for a while resplendent but then her work took a turn back towards the dark. I thought she was maturing, getting back to her roots, following more 'adult' themes. I was wrong. I think. In the end she died of drug overdose..."
Silence.
Jenny thought about what she could say but everything she could say sounded stupid in her mind. This woman had opened up to her in a way that was a bit overwhelming considering that they just met a bit over a week ago.
"So..." Jenny cleared her throat, "what happened with you?"
"In general or after Anne had died?"
"Both..."
"In general:", Barbara took a deep breath, "I discovered my skill. I was no artist and would never become one. But I knew people and I know great works when I see them. I have a feel for potential. I had spent so much time around it that I had become an expert of sorts. So this became my calling. I left the burning light that had drawn me into the field and went looking for the embers making sure that they at least got a chance to blossom instead of fading away. Anne's fate... Anne's fate reminded me that I had a certain responsibility, that I was playing with fire after all. I took more care of the people I helped afterwards. That was stupid too, I became overprotective and ruined some perfectly good friendships. It took me a long while to get the balance right. To help people, to take care of them, while at the same time not becoming controlling." Barbara sighed. "And there are some people who just can't be saved. The best you can hope for is that as long as they stay they at least get the chance to be their best selves."
"I see." said Jenny slightly overwhelmed.
Barbara look at her, "Well, you asked." she said and laughed.
"So...er..." Jenny fidgeted on her bar stool.
"You've got a question." Barbara asked with an expectant smile.
"Yes. Well..."
"You want to know if I am helping you. In a professional capacity?" Barbara said.
Jenny flinched. "Yeah?"
"Right now I am helping you in a friendly capacity. Professional would mean I get a cut. That would not be right. At least not now. I'm fine, you have enough problems of your own, you don't need an 'investor'" there where the air quotes again, "to make things worse. But I see the spark in you. I am really curious about what you are going to do with the watermill and I introduced you to Adrian, who in turn introduced you to the man from the city." Barbara looked supremely satisfied as she said that. "Right now I'm perfectly happy sitting at the sidelines enjoying the spectacle. And providing tea and comfort if the need arises. Who knows what the future might bring." Barbara smiled a smile full of conspiracy and winked at Jenny.
Jenny opened her mouth and closed it again.
"You're welcome. Oh and see to it that the statics guy appears today. Adrian is an absolute professional but he tends to be a bit to convinced about his instincts when it comes to buildings which means that he sometimes starts to knock down walls and ask questions later. While I do trust him these days you need and architect for a loft extension, let alone a crumbling mill."
Sunday 11 November 2018
Project Coffee Break Redux 005
Chapter 6 The garden of thorns
Edmund did not know what to do with the person that used to be Jenny hanging over her chair like a damp towel.
"I admit that the basement situation is a bit out of the ordinary. But we just need a pump and a bit of time. That's all." he said.
"That's all." croaked the body that once contained Jennies soul. "After that it will be still damp, and there is still the part from where all that water came from. What's gonna happen to there? Magic?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of technology." Edmund had read a few things about that once he had heard what had happened the other day.
"Sure.We will just technology it all away." said Jenny drunk on resignation. "We just get all those thingies and make the holes or cracks or whatever go away.And then just two shakes of the magic money tree later I get all the pipes and cables and... and... stuff installed and we are golden!"
"Of course it will cost money to get it done. But that was going to happen anyway. And there were always going to appear complications." Edmund said, constantly shifting between a soothing and an encouraging tone. "You yourself loved to tell me about the project managers at your work who loved to plan for every little detail with exception of the unexpected. This is just that. And we knew that things like these would happen."
"Did we? We knew that we had a flooded basement and crumbling foundation?" Jennies tired eyes met Edmund's.
"Well not what exactly. But shit happens. And at least it is front loaded." Edmund said.
"Yaaaay..." said Jenny mustering her last precious reserves of sarcasm. "And I'm sure that nothing else unexpected will happen."
"Of course more will happen. But at least the foundation will be strong. And you build from the ground up not the other way round."
"Just getting that done will cost a time and a lot of money. And you of all people should know that a strong foundation isn't worth anything if there are no more resources left to build on them."
That hit Edmund where it hurt. He had fought his way through academia taking no short cuts, following his conviction becoming a very promising scientist only to be left behind by a world more interested in people who did things quickly and in a certain way. While he enjoyed his transformation into a libertine, jack of all trades who brought people together he had never lost his love for science or his yearning to follow his call.
Jenny had not noticed that he had not said anything in a while lost in her own garden of thorns. With some effort Edmund shook off the encroaching bitterness. He warped himself in his dignity and looked Jenny in the eyes.
"We will dry the foundations, we will repair them. Then we will build your café on top of them. One step at a time. We went through the numbers. There is enough money for the work. And we don't have to wait for the basement to dry out before we can start our work upstairs. You can give Linda the tour tomorrow. If we convince her to come on board we might be able to finance her work over an EU research grant." Edmund said.
"If she wants a sea burial for her project..." Jenny said.
"I think you don't quite understand the concept of hydro electric power Jen."
"Does it convert humidity in electricity?" Jen asked.
Edmund sighed. "I understand you, I really do. This is a horrible situation. Everything that you had planned has turned out to be so much more difficult than you anticipated. But right now you are just being a twat."
"No. I'm being realistic. The project is already derailed. The costs are already sky rocketing. For all this to work we will need other people to join us. Who in their right mind would do that."
"I did." Edmund said trying not to glare at Jenny. "The bank did. The city did."
"Those we tricked." Jenny protested.
"Maybe we did. But our trick was good enough to tempt them. Also your builders. They believe in you."
"Hardly, that Adrian guy was about to around and just leave pretty much the whole time."
"But he didn't." Edmund said fixing his eyes on her. "He didn't. Nor did his friends. Neither did Barbara."
Jenny sat up slowly she tried to meet Edmund's glare.
"They," Edmund continued. "we believe in your vision. And it is a good one. I will not stand back watching you let this pass you by."
"There is still a lack of money trees though." Jenny said.
"True. But there is that possible grant. And this Adrian fellow had mentioned something about a lawyer?"
"He did. The city gave us the building and passed all the responsibility for the maintenance to us. However if they knew about the basement and never told us about it would mean that we could sue the city for damages."
"Hmmm...." Edmund said, resting his on a hand. "As long as we can prove that it was the city who bricked up the basement."
"Who else would have done that? Guerilla bricklayers?"
"If there is no proof. The city can say what ever it wants and just wash its hands off the whole thing. But don't worry. I know a lawyer who can either help us or point us in the right direction. We need to be careful right now."
"OK. You take care of the lawyer. I'll go back to the mill and continue the work there. That thing won't rebuild itself." Jenny said life slowly returning to her.
"Perfect." Edmund said standing up.
"Oh by the way," Jenny said. "what was it that you wanted to talk to me about anyway?"
"Right. I had forgotten about that." Edmund said. "I found us a hipster."
"What are you talking about?"
"You know. The hipster. The cook!"
"Oh right." Jenny laughed. "The cook. And not a minute to early."
Edmund did not know what to do with the person that used to be Jenny hanging over her chair like a damp towel.
"I admit that the basement situation is a bit out of the ordinary. But we just need a pump and a bit of time. That's all." he said.
"That's all." croaked the body that once contained Jennies soul. "After that it will be still damp, and there is still the part from where all that water came from. What's gonna happen to there? Magic?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of technology." Edmund had read a few things about that once he had heard what had happened the other day.
"Sure.We will just technology it all away." said Jenny drunk on resignation. "We just get all those thingies and make the holes or cracks or whatever go away.And then just two shakes of the magic money tree later I get all the pipes and cables and... and... stuff installed and we are golden!"
"Of course it will cost money to get it done. But that was going to happen anyway. And there were always going to appear complications." Edmund said, constantly shifting between a soothing and an encouraging tone. "You yourself loved to tell me about the project managers at your work who loved to plan for every little detail with exception of the unexpected. This is just that. And we knew that things like these would happen."
"Did we? We knew that we had a flooded basement and crumbling foundation?" Jennies tired eyes met Edmund's.
"Well not what exactly. But shit happens. And at least it is front loaded." Edmund said.
"Yaaaay..." said Jenny mustering her last precious reserves of sarcasm. "And I'm sure that nothing else unexpected will happen."
"Of course more will happen. But at least the foundation will be strong. And you build from the ground up not the other way round."
"Just getting that done will cost a time and a lot of money. And you of all people should know that a strong foundation isn't worth anything if there are no more resources left to build on them."
That hit Edmund where it hurt. He had fought his way through academia taking no short cuts, following his conviction becoming a very promising scientist only to be left behind by a world more interested in people who did things quickly and in a certain way. While he enjoyed his transformation into a libertine, jack of all trades who brought people together he had never lost his love for science or his yearning to follow his call.
Jenny had not noticed that he had not said anything in a while lost in her own garden of thorns. With some effort Edmund shook off the encroaching bitterness. He warped himself in his dignity and looked Jenny in the eyes.
"We will dry the foundations, we will repair them. Then we will build your café on top of them. One step at a time. We went through the numbers. There is enough money for the work. And we don't have to wait for the basement to dry out before we can start our work upstairs. You can give Linda the tour tomorrow. If we convince her to come on board we might be able to finance her work over an EU research grant." Edmund said.
"If she wants a sea burial for her project..." Jenny said.
"I think you don't quite understand the concept of hydro electric power Jen."
"Does it convert humidity in electricity?" Jen asked.
Edmund sighed. "I understand you, I really do. This is a horrible situation. Everything that you had planned has turned out to be so much more difficult than you anticipated. But right now you are just being a twat."
"No. I'm being realistic. The project is already derailed. The costs are already sky rocketing. For all this to work we will need other people to join us. Who in their right mind would do that."
"I did." Edmund said trying not to glare at Jenny. "The bank did. The city did."
"Those we tricked." Jenny protested.
"Maybe we did. But our trick was good enough to tempt them. Also your builders. They believe in you."
"Hardly, that Adrian guy was about to around and just leave pretty much the whole time."
"But he didn't." Edmund said fixing his eyes on her. "He didn't. Nor did his friends. Neither did Barbara."
Jenny sat up slowly she tried to meet Edmund's glare.
"They," Edmund continued. "we believe in your vision. And it is a good one. I will not stand back watching you let this pass you by."
"There is still a lack of money trees though." Jenny said.
"True. But there is that possible grant. And this Adrian fellow had mentioned something about a lawyer?"
"He did. The city gave us the building and passed all the responsibility for the maintenance to us. However if they knew about the basement and never told us about it would mean that we could sue the city for damages."
"Hmmm...." Edmund said, resting his on a hand. "As long as we can prove that it was the city who bricked up the basement."
"Who else would have done that? Guerilla bricklayers?"
"If there is no proof. The city can say what ever it wants and just wash its hands off the whole thing. But don't worry. I know a lawyer who can either help us or point us in the right direction. We need to be careful right now."
"OK. You take care of the lawyer. I'll go back to the mill and continue the work there. That thing won't rebuild itself." Jenny said life slowly returning to her.
"Perfect." Edmund said standing up.
"Oh by the way," Jenny said. "what was it that you wanted to talk to me about anyway?"
"Right. I had forgotten about that." Edmund said. "I found us a hipster."
"What are you talking about?"
"You know. The hipster. The cook!"
"Oh right." Jenny laughed. "The cook. And not a minute to early."
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