Winter Layoff Chapter 13
| Winter Layoff | |
|---|---|
| Chapter 13 of 21 | |
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| Time frame | January 2006 |
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Locations
- Pass Christian, Mississippi
Characters
Summary
Jim, to say the least, is flabbergasted. He was just telling Bob that he needed to get back to Spearfish Lake to start pulling materials together for his aunt and uncles house when Randy showed up with a complete house kit in a box.
A conversation with Randy and Rachel reveals that just after Jim left to go south that Rachel had suggested that Randy and Ken started to pull materials together, and things just snowballed from there.
Randy tells Jim that Rita and Jim won't have any house payments as a lot of the materials were donated, and that all the labor is donated. Rachel, Randy and Ken are pulling vacation time. Carlos and Regina stayed behind in Spearfish Lake to keep the Clark Construction doors open, otherwise they'd be there as well.
Rachel comments that some materials were purchased, and that the money came from Three Pines through Norm Eaglebeak. Other funds happened after Mike McMahon did a nice story in the Record-Herald describing how Clark Construction is building a house for a wounded Vietnam vet who had lost his place to Katrina. Danny Evachevski donated quite a bit of appliances and discounted the rest, and even loaned his delivery truck. Jennifer Walworth was involved as well.
They finished bringing Jim and Bob up to date by saying that Rita and John will have to buy things like cookware and dishes and sheets but there’s a cash fund for them to do it with.
They park the vehicles on the lots that Jim and Bob cleared on each side of Rita and John's lot, and on the lots across the street. Bud Ellsberg brought along his motor home, a big rental box trailer, a huge BBQ grille, and arranged for donated food for the crew for two weeks.
Around that nights campfire Bob and Jim share what they've learned about the area and the relief effort. Everybody eventually crawls into bed, leaving only Jim and Rachel around the dying fire. She shares how some of the donated materials happened, how the electrical hookup is going to happen, and how she's glad to get out of the Michigan cold for a few weeks. She also shared how Randy was happy to get behind the wheel of the semi, ...and any other equipment he can get his hands on whenever he can. I think he rigged around the donation for the new soccer field last summer just so he’d have an excuse to go out there with the new John Deere grader to get a feel for it... It frustrates him that he can’t be more hands-on with this stuff, since he’s a hands-on kind of guy but stuck doing just paperwork and office stuff. When we were kids growing up, I never saw that in him. He was just a little pest trying to make my life more difficult, but he sure grew out of it. After he, Dad, Mom, and Ruth brought me back to Spearfish Lake, he’s been just about like a dad to my son Jared. I mean, way more of a father than his father ever was. Rachel continues to share that Nicole is seven months pregnant with their second child, and that Randy is not going to want to stay too long in Pass Christian.
They both decide to call it a night - but Rachel surprised Jim by saying Jim, I don’t know how to say this, but a couple times you’ve said you wanted to kiss me, and now would be a real good time. It wasn't just a peck, but considerably more of a kiss than he’d planned – he hadn’t had one like that since the early days with Carolyn, and it went on and on.
The chapter ends with Jim crawling into bed in his camper, not quite knowing what to make of Rachel's comments and kiss.
Also Mentioned
- Jared Lancaster, Rachel's son
- Nicole Clark
- Brent Clark (Randy's grandfather) referred to as "Old Man Clark"
