Winter Layoff Chapter 17
| Winter Layoff | |
|---|---|
| Chapter 17 of 21 | |
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| Read this chapter | |
| Time frame | January 2006 |
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Locations
- Pass Christian, Mississippi
Characters
- Bud Ellsberg
- Aaron, an Amish construction supervisor
Summary
The house construction made steady progress. There still was no utility power but one of the generators provided enough to test everything after Greg Schoonover and one of his workers finished all the electrical work. The local electric company crew came by the following Monday and hooked up the electrical utility power, and the generators that had run ten and twelve hours a day for the last eight days fell silent.
They still hadn’t been cleared to use the sewer, but it was on the schedule for another week or ten days or so. Randy and some others had to head back to Spearfish Lake over the next few days and we wanted to be here when your aunt and uncle see the place for the first time, and a lot of the crew feels the same way. Do you suppose it would be possible to get them down here, even if it’s just for a day, so those of us who need to head back can start on their way?
Rachel offered to call them from the pay telephone bank as she did the next dump truck load, and in that call she would suggest that Aunt Rita and Uncle John make it a three day trip with two nights in a Hattiesburg motel room - one on the trip down and the second on the trip back up.
While Rachel was gone Randy and Jim discussed her and how this trip was having a big positive effect on her overall attitude. Randy said She needed this about as much as anyone. More than some. This is about the happiest I’ve seen her in a while. I mean, she’s always polite and cheerful, but this is something beyond that. Further on in the discussion he said All I can say is that she seems happier than she was a month ago ... But this is kind of an adventure and a vacation for her, like it is for me.
Over the next couple days they finished the the last-minute little things, but everything was as done as they could get them by the middle of Thursday morning, when they expected Rita and John to arrive. Finally someone looked up the street and saw them coming, and yelled out to everyone to get ready. The semi had been parked to deliberately obscure the view of the house until someone was right in front of it. When Rita and Johns car came into view in front of the house they could all watch as Rita jammed on the brakes and slid to a stop.
Rita and John were just blown away by the new house - it took fifteen very emotional minutes just to get them out of the car and to push John up the wide wheelchair ramp to the back deck of the house. Both of them kept saying This is unbelievable and I never dreamed that something like this could happen. Jim pointed out that there’s still a problem with the sewer so you can’t move in just yet. He also volunteered that he'd planned on staying around until that was taken care of. That gives Rita and John time to buy things like bedsheets, cookware, dishes and the like.
As Rita and John toured the house there were plenty of hugs, and lots of tears - not only from Rita and John, but from the construction workers from Spearfish Lake who had turned an impossible dream into a reality.
Randy wanted a group photo of everyone involved in the project positioned over behind the Clark Construction sign - but he'd forgotten the tripod. Jim was going to get a stepladder to use one of the steps as a tripod when Aaron showed up to ask a favor - and Randy got Aaron to press the button on the camera first.
After the photo was taken Aaron asked for some machinery help clearing lots. Randy asks Aaron for a dollar, just for making a legal contract, both for insurance and for tax reasons. Randy tells Jim that the Spearfish Lake people can stay for up to six weeks, but not much more. Aaron pointed out that the Amish weren't going to stay much longer than a month as they have fields and farms that need springtime attention.
Also Mentioned
- Greg Schoonover of Jasper Electric in Spearfish Lake
- Jared Lancaster, Rachel and Joel's son
- Ken Halpern
- Joel Lancaster, not by name, only as as "Rachel's ex"
