Saturday 10 November 2018

Project Coffee Break Redux 004

    Chapter 5 Structure
   
    The builders where not what Jenny had expected. The picture in her minds eyes was... well builders, all living very close type 2 diabetes, massive figures who looked like they had been brought to life by a blue collar Prometheus who had formed them out of the materials they were destined to from with their broad coarse hands. What she got instead where three outlaws straight out of the very niche genre of the construction western. The leader Adrian was a tall wiry man who's warm smile somehow reinforced the 'man with no name' vibe, he was the wall and electricity guy. Stu was the closest to the 'classic' builder type, the heaviest of the three, the one that would described as am man who loved food in children's books or dating apps, which was offset by the feline way he moved and by the smirk in his face that was almost constantly dripping with sarcasm, his speciality was pipe work and painting. The third one Dan was a small, compact guy who had the personality of a 7 foot bruiser condensed into his 5'6" he took care of tiling and plastering.
   
    They stood in a lose wedge formation in front of the water mill, Adrian in the middle scanning the property, Stu lokking at the pavement in front of the building as if looking for something that he had lost a long time ago and sporting a smirk that did that had given up on dripping sarcasm, deciding to just open flood gates instead. Jenny was standing tat the entrance looking out suddenly feeling very protective of her chosen castle. Barbara had gone back in after she had announced the arrival of the trio to continue evicting stones that had overstayed her welcome.
   
    Adrian moved a stop forward. Jenny squashed the impulse to step back, her hand grabbing the wooden door frame hard.
   
    "This is going to be expensive." Adrian said.
   
    "Define expensive." Jenny said.
   
    "Just getting the building stable will take time. Barb also told me that you were planning to take down walls, install new windows, things like that. We'll need someone to do the maths. And we will need the materials." While Adrian was saying this his eyes kept moving all over the building, stopping every once in a while becoming narrow slits as he focused on a detail. Stu had wandered away mumbling under his breath while still looking at ground. Dan was just enjoying the show putting some half hearted effort into not openly laughing.
   
    "Tell me something I don't know yet?" Jenny said, she was starting to feel like when she had told her parents of her plan again and she didn't like that one bit.
   
    "First of all. This," Adrian pointed at the watermill, "is going to be months of work. Second each of us takes 25 pound per hour. On weekdays and regular working hours. Everything else costs extra." he paused waiting for Jennies reaction.
   
    Jenny try to hold his gaze while at the same time doing the maths in her head, comparing it with the resources she had. The result was not a disaster, but what she had though off as 'loads of money' was actually just adequate at best.

     "Found it." that was Stu who had stopped his meandering a short way down the road.
    
     "Huh?" Jenny said as she was being pulled out of her calculations.
    
     "The water pipes." Adrian said. "I assume there is no running water inside of the building."

     "er... no..."
    
     "Then it is safe to say that there is no connection to the sewers," Adrian continued checking off points from a mental list, "no electricity, no phone line, no cable or gas."

    "No..." Jenny said her calculations she had just made dying in her hands leaving an expensive corpse behind.

    "You need to think what you want to have. Double check if you can get it here." Adrian said, "Then we can set you up. This is also pretty much the first thing that needs to be done. We need electricity and running water. And there are of course the things that you will need."
   
    "Anything else I should consider?" said Jenny doing her best not feel overwhelmed.
   
    Adrian thought for a while. "Central heating. You'll want some for of that, and installing that will be a mess. It's something you want to get done when we are still tearing the place apart. Not when we have started building it up again."
   
    Jenny just nodded. Her plan that had seemed complicated before had just exploded into a fractal nightmare that reached into dimensions that were usually only ever visited by mathematicians in their most obscene fever dreams.

    "Do you want to have a look inside?" she said smiling weakly.

    Inside they met Barbara who had been building a barrow out of the stones she had been collecting from around the watermill.
   
    "Hey Barb." said Adrian.
   
    "Oh, hi Adrian. Good to see you. How do you like the place?" Barbara asked her enthusiasm clearly shining past the layer of grime she had acquired during her anthropological adventure.
   
    "Well. It's a challenge." Adrian said smirking. Jenny felt that the list of things that had to be done that he was compiling in his head was getting longer and longer. "And I'm not so sure if our client," he cast a meaningful look towards Jenny, "has enough funds to see this through."
   
    Barbara crossed her arms. "Really? That's how you are going to go about this?"
   
    "You know how we work. We like to do things right. And we like to finish them." he said.
   
    "Well, then you should focus on getting things done..." Barbara's tone had very carefully lowered it's temperature to a point where it threatened into icy territory. "Jenny, why don't you give my friend here the tour. I believe he needs to get a proper feel for what you are planning to do."
    Adrian was about to reply when, icy turned to skewering. He sighed, his features relaxing a bit, he turned to Jenny. "Ma'am?"
   
    Jenny gave Adrian, Stu and Dan the tour around the mill feeling like she had to defend what she was trying to do. When she had shown Barbara the place it was almost like she was already in the renovated building. It felt bright and warm. Like home, like a little fortress in a cold harsh world. A haven that she could share with others the feeling she had when she was visiting her grandfather. No matter how bad it was out there in here you were safe.
    Now though it was cold and grey. The air smelled of rock dust, the wind found its way into the mill, past her cloths to drink away her warmth. This was a ruin that was just refusing to yield to time, but its endurance was running out. Brining it back to life was not going to be easy. But that was not the worst part. Jenny could work; especially if it was something that it was worth working for. But Adrian was right. All of this would only ever stay in the realm of the possible as long as there was money. The moment she ran out of funds, no matter how far along she had come, the dream would end leading into a rude awakening for her.
   
    "And behind this wall," Jenny said now feeling to cold seeping past her bones into her soul, "is I believe the way to the basement."
   
    "Basement?" Adrian asked. Dan knocked on the wall, making a non-committal gesture with his head.
   
    "Yes." Barbara said. "I remember back in the day, there was a stairway leading a large basement."
   
    "How large?" asked Stu who had not said anything since he had found out where the water access was but had been taking notes in a grubby tiny notepad since he had entered the windmill.
   
    "At least as large as the building." Barbara said. Could be even larger.
   
    "Did it ever flood?" Stu asked.
   
    "Not that I know of." Barbara said. "But the last time I was here this wall did not exist.
   
    "Not the same material as the rest of the building." Dan said. "Under all the dirt," he tried to rub away some with his sleeve without much success, "are cement bricks. Quick and dirty work. Nothing a sledgehammer can't get rid of." as he said this he started to grin.
   
    "You want to check?" Adrian asked.
   
    "Has to." said Stu. " 'tis the first thing we need to take care off. Without it, all of this," he made a circular gesture with his index finger. "house of cards."
   
    "When do you think we can check?" the empty husk that used to be Jenny asked.
   
    Dan looked at her. "I can start in 10 minutes. I just need to get my hammer."
   
   
    One worst case scenario later.
   
    The wall that had sealed off the basement was now reduced to rubble. Dan who had done all the work by himself was still steaming from the effort. Covered in grey dust, eyes gleaming he looked like a demon from a concrete hell that had come to earth to collect what he was owed. Before him was a large ragged hole where the new wall used to be. Beyond it an old wooden stair that after three steps was submerged in water.
   
    "Well," Stu said adding another note to his records. "that would explain why they sealed off the entrance to the basement."
   
    Jenny was numb. When she had heard the first splash when Dan had broken through the wall for the first time, her soul had given up all hope and started packing. While it was still considering how to leave the still breathing body behind she noticed that Adrian's expression had changed. For the most part he had just been mostly unconvinced, but now he was angry.
   
    "Those bastards." he said between clenched teeth.
   
    "Bastards?" Jenny asked. The change of Adrian's demeanour was strange enough to bring her closer to life again.
   
    "Yeah. From the city.", he said. "They knew."
   
    Stu shook his head,
   
    "You sure about this" asked Dan.
   
    Adrian nodded. "Old building. Close to a river. They do an inspection every once in a blue moon. They notice the basement has started leaking. What's the cheapest solution?"
   
    "You look where the water comes from and seal it." Stu said.
   
    "Stop thinking like a professional." Adrian said. "That would be work and it would be expensive."
   
    Dan shrugged. "They just out up a wall and poof: problem gone."
   
    "But..." Stu started to say. "The foundation..."
   
    "I know." Adrian said. "But it would take a long time before it failed, long enough that it becomes the problem of some future dick head." he looked at Jenny, his face softening for the first time since his arrival. "I'm really sorry about this ma'am."
   
    "Yeah. Me too." Jenny responded feeling like she was physically drowning in the cold water of the old basement.
   
    "For how long can you pay us?" Adrian asked.
   
    "Adrian!" Barbara snapped. He held up his hand.
   
    "No, this important." he turned back to Jenny. "How long."
   
    She went through the numbers again. "Counting just weekdays... six months tops. Including materials, I guess." She had no idea what and how many 'materials' she would need. But did this matter any more?
   
    Adrian thought about the answer for a while. He looked at his friends. Stu did not meet his eyes concentrating on the floor instead. Dan looked at him and just shrugged.
   
    "We will help you. This is not going to be easy. Far to many risks. But this..." he pointed at the water, "this isn't right."
   
    Jenny looked at him still dazed she did not know what to feel. She just nodded.
   
    "Oh and one more thing," said Adrian, "you need to get a lawyer."

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