Mallard Heir
Ernest Bywater
Mallard Heir
All rights reserved and Copyright © 2016 by Ernest Bywater
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. All rights are reserved by the author, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
Product names, brands, and other trademarks referred to within this book are the property of their respective trademark holders. Unless otherwise specified there is no association between the author and any trademark holder, nor are any expressed or implied. Nor does it express any endorsement by them, or of them. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark, service mark, or registered trademark.
Cover Art
The images used are Pheanixphotos/5670959108 by Pheanixphotos, and North Branch Township, Wyoming County by Nicholas A Tonelli, listed as Flickr_-_Nicholas_T_-_Endless_Mountains_Landscape_(1).jpg on Wikipedia. They're used with permission under Creative Commons Attribution. The cropping, size adjustment, and text are by Ernest Bywater. All rights to the cover images are reserved by the copyright owners.
12 February 2022 version
Published by Ernest Bywater
ISBN: 978-1-365-42263-8
__________________________________
Note: Due to the main character and the narrator being Australians UK English is used in this story, except for dialogue by a US character where US English is used in the dialogue and some nouns.
__________________________________
The title styles in use are a chapter, a sub-chapter, and a section.
__________________________________
Images
Mallard House Grounds
Mallard House Floor Plan
New Mallard House Floor Plan
Ridge House Floor Plan
__________________________________
All the images are also available for viewing in high definition at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ebk8ve052m0c1rs/AACohN7e_x8OuRFrn0EbQ2L6a?dl=0
__________________________________
A New Future
Morton 'Mort' Moreland walks into his home at four thirty in the afternoon to be greeted by his sister, Laura, asking, “Any luck today?” He shakes his head no, and she gives him a wry smile while saying, “Well, the big envelope on the bench is for you. Maybe it's a job offer.”
While waving his acknowledgement Mort changes direction to pick up the envelope mentioned. He glances at the return address and frowns at the Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA address of the law firm who sent it. He wonders what it's about while he opens the envelope. In it there's a bunch of photos, a genealogy chart for his mother's side of the family, a map, and about fifty pages of text for him to read.
The Inheritance
The photos are of a very run-down two story house in some woods while the map is of its location a few hours drive south-east of Altoona. The house sits just outside of a small town on the side of a valley with a single road in and out of the valley. The ridge behind the house is very steep with a major road on the other side of the ridge that's inaccessible from the valley until it crosses the ridge twenty miles to the south of the town. The road generally runs east-west but it goes in a north-south direction beside the ridge because it runs down the valley on the other side of the ridge. The map shows the land belonging to the house is quite large and goes to the road on the other side of the ridge. Morton can't see how you'd be able to use the other land due to the long drive to get to it. So he thinks it′s a case of a boundary drawn up with no local knowledge.
The genealogical chart lists a lot of people in his mother's family since the late seventeenth century. It isn't a full chart because it only follows the one line: the direct line of Ben Mallard, Mort's first ancestor to live in Pennsylvania. The chart shows Ben's family, children, and grandchildren. For all of the subsequent generations they show the nominal head of the family, their siblings, all of their children, and their grandchildren. Beside each name are the dates of birth, marriage, and death. Some of the names are in bold with the letter 'H' beside it and a note at the bottom of the page shows the 'H' stands for Heir / Head of the Family. In some cases the 'H' is beside a name of a person who isn't the direct descendant of the one before. However, an examination of the chart shows the reason is due to the property going to the eldest male of the next generation who is closest in line to the direct line. Thus, sometimes the Heir is the brother or nephew of the previous Heir. This movement of the Heir in and out of the direct line happens a number of times.
The second last Heir is Mort's great grandfather on his maternal line with the last Heir being his grandmother's nephew who died last year. Mort is the eldest living male in the direct line and is now the Heir to the Mallard Estate. His grandmother was born Amanda Mallard then she married Howard Cable and they had three daughters with the youngest being Amanda Cable, Mort's mother, who married Bob Moreland. Both Howard and Bob are Australians who can trace their other family lines back to the First Fleet. However, Amanda Cable was the only one of their daughters to be born in the USA while on a family visit over there, and also the only one to confirm her US Citizenship when old enough to do so. She had her two children confirm their US citizenship as well.
The bulk of the papers are details of the Mallard Family Trust which Mort is now the manager of, with the lawyer as the trustee. There's also a list of the trust assets: most of it is the house and land marked on the map plus twenty thousand dollars in a bank accoount. Mort has two hundred thousand dollars in his bank account from his parent's estate. He's also a half owner of the house where he lives with his sister and her family. It's been in their father's family since it was first built when an ancestor settled in Windsor, west of Sydney, over two hundred years ago.
The last few pages are instructions from the Altoona lawyer, Sissy Long, on how to contact her to arrange the transfers of control to Mort.
Actions
While eating dinner Mort tells his sister and brother-in-law about the inheritance and it's location. He asks for their opinions on it. The meal is over at the same time they finish listing the good and bad points of the inheritance. Mort is still undecided when Laura says, “Mort, we both know neither of us want to leave this house, nor can both of us raise a family here. One of us has to leave. Accepting this inheritance and going to Pennsylvania means you've a house of your own so far away you won't be visiting here often enough to be upset about having left here.”
Mort's brother-in-law, Mike Wells, says, “By the way it looks in those photographs you'll be busy fixing it up for quite a while too. That'll help you get over being homesick about leaving here.”
While laughing Mort responds, “More than you think, Mike! More than you think. The papers describe the house very well. Water is from a well by a hand-pump in the kitchen, there's no electricity, the loo is an outdoor privy with an ancient style septic tank and leach field. The utilities and services are over a mile away and it'll cost a fortune to connect, so they haven't done that. The good thing is the ridge looks to be a perfect spot for wind turbines and it's part of the property.” After some more discussion he sends the lawyer an email telling her of his acceptance and he'll send Sissy his travel plans when they're finalised.
__________________________________
Note: One important side issue is for Laura and Mort to write and sign a contract for her to buy his share of the family home in Windsor over the next ten years at zero percent interest.
Mort is on a plane to the US two weeks after reading the letter. The hardest part about organising to go is to establish a bank account in the US with fifty thousand dollars. He'll transfer his remaining Australian funds when there's a better rate of exchange. He does have a new VISA Card on the US bank and traveller's cheques for five thousand dollars in US currency.
__________________________________
The Details
The travel agent arranges good connections for Mort: all the way from Sydney to Pittsburgh by plane and then bus to Altoona. Although there's very little time spent waiting around the terminals it's a long and tiring trip for Mort. His appointment with Sissy is for the morning after he arrives in Altoona, so when he gets to the hotel he takes his time to have a hot bath before having a meal then going to bed in the early evening.
After the introductions the next day Mort asks Sissy, “Is the cost the only reason the utilities aren't connected to the house?”
“Correct,” is her reply. “That, and the fact it's not really worth it.” Mort frowns, “The leach field is sound, the well is into a good source, so that only leaves electricity. Henry was looking at the cost of putting wind turbines on the ridge. It is feasible but also expensive while he was used to the wood stove, wood fires, and coal oil lamps so he didn't do it.” Mort is confused for a moment, until he remembers many people in the US use 'coal oil' as the name for what he knows as 'kerosene.'
“So the place is liveable if you accept those limitations?”
“Yes. Another issue with the wind turbines is the ridge is the line between two townships and both of them claim the right to rule on taxes for them. It'll be cheaper on taxes and easier paperwork if you can get the ridge declared as under the control of just one of them.”
“Will that be possible?”
“Legally possible, but expensive to get done. Better to build just off the ridge on one side or the other so it's all in one or the other. It's only the turbines that'll be affected, not the cables you run from them.”
“From what I can see in the photos you sent me and the terrain maps of the area there's a very steep slope, almost straight up, on the house side of the ridge. Why don't you write to the council with a request they get up there to mark what they see as the township boundary. Tell them if they don't want to provide a clear boundary before anything is done you'll accept the boundary as being the bottom of the steep slope.”
“What do you hope to gain out of that?”
“Sissy, if they do the climbing to mark the boundary I can tell where to build off the border. If they claim too much we ask the other township council to confirm the line and then they can fight it out. If the township staff don't want to do the climbing they'll accept what we say because our next request will be to have them mark what they say is the top of the slope. However, they can mark the bottom without climbing up it.”
“I should hire you as an assistant. I like the idea of getting them to pay to mark the border or to declare the change. Whatever happens, you get a clear decision on where you can build without the conflict.” Mort nods his agreement with her. “Now, one other thing you need to be aware of.” Her tone of voice triggers a higher level of attention by Mort. “The house is in the Appalachians and most of the locals are best described as Hillbillies. Most of them are descended from the first four families to settle in the area and they're very clannish. One of the clans, the Cullen Clan, have had a feud going with the Mallard Clan for nearly two hundred years. Also, Henry upset many of the Hawk Clan during his life. I'm not sure if that will be directed at you or if it was buried with Henry. When you take over they'll all test you to see what you're like. So you need to take care when you go there.”
“Do they know I'm coming?”
She shakes her head no as she adds, “The only public information is to the effect I'm tracing the relatives to find a suitable live heir. Why?”
“While you do that wouldn't it be reasonable for you to hire someone to look after the place and to fix it up?” She nods her agreement. He adds, “So I'll go there as an employee to fix it up and to look after it.”
Sissy smiles, “I'm sure you saw you have to change your name to Mallard to take full control, but there's no need to do that right away. So they won't immediately link you to the Mallard House heir.” He nods his agreement and they move to the many minor details. For eighteen days Mort and Sissy are very busy organising things he needs to have done.
__________________________________
Cleaning House
Three weeks after his Altoona arrival Mort is riding a motorcycle into the town where his new home is. Sissy did tell him the town's name but he was busy reading the map with the directions and he didn't listen. He still doesn't know where he is because there isn't a sign on the edge of town and all of the businesses he can see in the town are named after people. It doesn't matter since he thinks of it as 'the town.' Mort is riding a motorcycle because he passed the tests for driving a car and riding a bike but he finds it easier to ride the bike than it is to drive a car. The different rules and driving on the other side of the road is easier than learning to control the car from the left side of the front seat. This is due to the differences in perspective throwing his judgement out a little bit.
Mort stops in front of the best hotel in town, 'Harry's Hotel,' it's also the only hotel in town. He gets off, locks the bike, lifts his large pack from the back of the bike, and goes into the hotel. In a few minutes he's registered and unpacking in a room. It's only mid-afternoon so he goes down to the front desk and says, “I've been hired to clean up and keep an eye on a place called Mallard House. Can you please tell me how to get to it?” He knows how, but he doesn't want them to know that yet.
The man at the desk stares at Mort for a moment before saying, “It's the place you can see on the hill just past the end of town. You go down the road until you see a road off to the right side just past the house and follow the road to curve up through the woods to it. How come you got the job of cleaning the place up and looking after it?”
“Thanks for the directions. I finished university a few months back and I haven't found a job yet. A friend told me this lawyer in Altoona wants a cheap hire to do some cleaning, fixing, and checking of the place. Since she's paying for me to stay here while I spend a few months to do this it's cheap living while I earn some money and I can still look about for a job on the Internet.” Mort hands over Sissy's business card, “I have to send her the bills each week and she'll reimburse me unless it's small enough to charge on the VISA card she gave me or you bill her direct.”
“I prefer cash in hand, thanks.”
“Is a credit card, OK?” The man nods to show it is. “Good! That makes it easier for me. She'll pay the bank before the bill hits it. Now to have a look at the job I've signed up for. Thanks for the help. Have a nice day.” The man waves at the door while picking up the phone at the same moment Mort is turning away from him to walk out the door.
Mort takes a few minutes to ride the few miles to Mallard House, park, and unlock the front door. He makes a lot of notes while he walks through the house to see what it's like. It's clear Henry only used a few of the ground floor rooms which are close together. What Mort thinks was originally the parlour is set up as a bedroom and lounge, the front entry is the entrance, and the kitchen is obvious. The other rooms are covered in dust and their shutters are bolted shut. There's some light coming through cracks and holes in the shutters while some of the holes look like bullet holes. All of the windows are cracked or broken. There's no food in the place but there is a lot of old cooking gear, cutlery, and crockery.
After inspecting the inside Mort walks around the outside to look at what needs to be repaired on the exterior, followed by checking out the stables, privy, and workshop. His pocket notebook is very full by the time he's checked it all out and he noted the work he needs to do, along with the tools and materials he needs to do it all. The workshop has a lot of hardwood boards that'll be useful to make the new shutters needed.
When he's finished Mort goes back through the house to lock it up. He's turning away from locking the front door when a Sheriff's Deputy parks his car beside Mort's motorbike and a deputy gets out of the car. He asks, “Who are you, and what ya doing here?”
Mort hands over his driver's license as he says, “I've been hired by the Altoona lawyer looking after this place to clean it up, list repairs, fix the ones I can, and supervise the rest being fixed. She also wants me to see it doesn't get damaged any further.” He holds up the bundle of keys to show he has them, and he also gets out his copy of his work contract with Sissy so the Deputy can see he's an employee.
The Deputy checks the license is valid by calling it in on his radio then he hands it and the work contract back while saying, “If you see anyone here to cause trouble call it in to let us deal with it, OK!” Mort can see this is an order and not a request so he simply nods his agreement while he gets out his new mobile phone to show he can call it in. He takes the opportunity to check the phone has coverage: which it does. The Deputy gets in his car while Mort puts his helmet on, and the two drive back into town together. Mort stops at the hotel while the Deputy keeps going.
As soon as he's back in his room Mort sends an email to Sissy to tell her of his day so far with a list of materials, tools, and cleaning gear he needs. He closes his computer, washes up, and gets changed.
When Mort walks downstairs the guy at the desk says, “No food service here unless we have four or more guests. Our restaurant is shut but 'Kevin's Kitchen' puts on a good feed for a fair price.” Mort smiles at the man as he keeps on walking. The eatery isn't exactly opposite as it's just one building up on the other side of the road.
Dinner
The first indication of how fast the local gossip network operates comes when Mort enters Kevin's Kitchen to be greeted with, “Please sit at that table, Mister Moreland,” while the man points to a table near the back wall. Mort smiles and waves at the man as goes to the table.
A sad looking young woman in her late teens comes out to hand him a menu and Mort asks, “How come I'm given this table?”
She looks at him as she replies, “All of the regulars have their specific tables which we keep open for them until well after their normal time.”
“Thank you,” he glances at her name tag, “Diane.”
She frowns, looks down, sighs, and says, “I'm Jenny. Diane is my sister and I've grabbed her name tag by mistake. It's a good thing you saw it because the regulars will give me hell for a week for doing that.” She leaves to fix the name tag while he studies the menu.
A minute or so later she's back with a name tag saying 'Jennifer' and is ready to write his order. Mort asks, “What do you recommend tonight since I don't know the menu? Also, some of these foods are new to me.”
“If you stay here long enough I'll train you in our local delicacies. But the roast pork is perfect tonight. Have it with the vegetables and not the salad. Then follow it with the apple pie and cream.”
“Sounds delicious, put me down for all of that. If you have home-made lemonade I'll have that with the roast and a mug of hot chocolate after the apple pie.” She nods to him as she writes it down before taking the menu and disappearing into the kitchen area.
The food is plentiful and well cooked. Mort enjoys the roast dinner, and when Jenny delivers the apple pie she asks, “How do you like it?”
Mort grins as he says, “It's very good. As Isaiah said, 'Let us eat, and drink, for tomorrow we diet.' I prefer to include being merry.”
Jenny laughs and says, “I'm sure the quote is 'die' not 'diet,' when you look it up.”
Mort notices how everyone else in the place turns to look at them when she laughs. He ignores their behaviour and replies, “No, that's a long ago copying error. If you're dead you have no worries, but if you're alive and dieting then you have a good reason to worry.” Jenny laughs again and walks away while slowly shaking her head at his reasoning for messing up the Bible quote from Isaiah 22.
After finishing his meal Mort pays the bill and returns to the hotel.
__________________________________
Getting Ready to Work
The next morning Mort has an email authorising him to purchase a lot of the smaller tools and other things he'll need to work on the house from the local sources. He stops at Kevin's Kitchen for breakfast as well as buying some cold drinks, ice, and sandwiches to eat during the day. They all go into the cooler bag he has in the backpack on the bike.
Next is the town's general store so he can buy most of the cleaning gear and the tools he needs. He uses the trust's credit card to buy them. He buys enough gear the store owner agrees to deliver it all to the house for him. Mort doesn't need to say where as the man already knows.
On reaching the house Mort opens it up and goes around the rooms opening up the shutters. When he gets back downstairs he finds the store owner unloading today's purchases onto the front porch. Mort is quick to help him unload it all and to take it all through to the kitchen. The man helps Mort to carry it into the house and the man has a good look around at the place while he carries the gear in. At one point he says, “Don't look like Henry had much of anything here, do it?”
While nodding his agreement Mort says, “The most he had of anything is dust. I'll be a long time getting it all collected and taken out. Also, the broken glass will be a big pile. I think I'll be working here a very long time just to get this place up to a reasonable standard to live in.”
“Yep. Ya got ya work cut out. That's for sure.” The store owner grins while he walks out the door. Mort gets busy sorting the things out.
__________________________________
Denny Cullen parks his pickup truck beside his store, walks in, and picks up the phone. He dials a number, waits for it to be answered, and says, “Just got back from Mallard House. It looks like Henry only used a couple of rooms and the rest have been gathering dust for decades. All the furniture I saw looked well past it's prime and not worth much. He must've been selling off the good stuff they used to have up there.” The Cullen Clan Patriarch, Colin Cullen, agrees with him then hangs up.
__________________________________
Mallard House and Grounds
Mallard House Floor Plan
High definition images are also available for viewing at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ebk8ve052m0c1rs/AACohN7e_x8OuRFrn0EbQ2L6a?dl=0
Mallard House Grounds Plan
__________________________________
First Day of Cleaning
Mort takes both of the eight foot ladders upstairs where he sets the extending ladder against the wall with the 'A' frame ladder under the manhole to the attic area. On his next trip he has a two foot high bin with his cleaning items inside it: a hand broom, a pan, a filter mask, a hand coal shovel, goggles, thick gloves, a lantern, and bags for the bin.
After opening up the 'A' frame ladder he puts on his protective gear of gloves, mask, goggles, and ball cap then he climbs the ladder to lift the cover to the attic manhole and push it to the side while some dust falls on him. Then down the ladder, shift it aside, place the extending ladder under the hole, and extend it out to its full fourteen feet. The ceiling is ten feet from the floor so the ladder sticks about four feet into the attic to make the transfer to the attic easy and safe. He grabs the bin with the other gear by it's handle, climbs up the ladder, and steps into the attic.
He puts the bin down, takes out the lantern, turns it on, and looks at the attic area. There's five trunks and six wooden boxes with tops plus a huge amount of dust. He walks along the beams to the nearest end of the house and he opens the two small windows there, each is about a foot square and is a simple hole with a half inch thick wooden shutter cover. He clips them open to the metal fastenings on the outside wall then he walks the length of the building to do the same at the other end.
Mort walks back to the bin, grabs the hand broom, and he goes to the furthest wall. He gives the wall a good brushing that causes a lot of dust to fall down. The dust isn't caked onto the wall but it isn't far from it, so it takes some energetic work to get it all off. Once the wall is done he works his way around the building doing the same to both of the sloping walls of the roof and the other end. Back to the bin, remove everything from it, put a bag in it, stick more bags in his pocket, grab the coal shovel, and the broom then go to where he started. Squatting on a beam he brooms the beams within reach, moves, brooms where he was, puts the broom aside, and he uses the shovel to scoop the dust between the beams into the bin. When the bag is full he ties it off, puts it aside, and puts a new bag into the bin, then he starts scooping dust again. He keeps at it until he has the whole attic area as free of dust as he can get it, as well as a large pile of bags of dust. Feeling hungry he goes to the kitchen to clean up.
While washing up Mort looks at his watch and thinks, Two fifteen! No wonder I feel hungry. Now he's clean he sits at the kitchen table, opens his backpack, gets out a drink and two sandwiches while thinking on how to get the trunks and boxes down. But he can't think of a safe way to do it alone so leaves it as a job for later when he has some helpers on hand.
After his meal he gets busy going up and down the ladder to move the bags of dust out of the attic. Once he has them all down he closes the windows and moves the cleaning gear out of the attic. Mort closes the ladder and moves it to a wall in one of the rooms to be out of the way because the attic access is in the hall. He puts the 'A' ladder in position, climbs it, and puts the manhole cover back into place then he moves the ladder into the same room as the other ladder so it's out of the way too.
He checks the walls of the rooms and they don't appear to have much dust on them so he doesn't brush them. He does brush off all the furniture before going downstairs to get the wide push broom to push the dust collected in the rooms into a pile in the hall. After he pushes all the dust out of a room he closes the shutters so he won't have to go back in to close them when he's finished for the day. When all of the rooms are cleared of dust he uses the coal shovel to scoop most of the dust into the bin, filling many more bags, then he uses the broom to push the rest of the dust into one big pile to shovel it into the bin. The last task for today is to move the cleaning gear and all of the bags of dust downstairs before he goes around locking the windows and shutters. Mort takes the hand broom and he stands well away from the house while he brushes his clothes off as best as he can, then he goes in to put the broom inside, lock the back door, go through and lock the front door before putting his pack on the bike, his helmet on, and heading to the hotel for the night.
The wind of the ride back gets a lot more of the dust off Mort, so he's reasonably clean when he gets to the hotel. A hot shower then he's off to Kevin's for his evening meal where he jokes with Jenny. Every time he gets her to laugh everyone in the restaurant turns to look at them so he wonders why that is, but he can't think of a way to ask without causing trouble. Tonight Jenny introduces Mort to 'scrapple,' a sort of meatloaf style main meal, and 'shoofly pie,' which is a very sweet thin dessert.
__________________________________
Second Day of Cleaning
This day starts like the day before with Mort brushing dust off the furniture then collecting all of the dust in the unused rooms. The rooms Henry used are easy to sweep clean but they need more work to clean the furniture because it appears Henry didn't ever clean the furniture.
After sweeping off the front and rear porches Mort gets out a bucket, fills it with water and a cleaning solution, puts in some cloths, then he goes upstairs to use damp cloths to wipe down all of the furniture and all of the walls. It's a long and tiring task. He breaks for lunch when he finishes upstairs, and he calls it a day when he finishes downstairs.
Mort is done for the day around three thirty in the afternoon so he stops to talk to Denny Cullen. He walks into the general goods store and asks, “Mister Cullen, is there someone local who I can hire to turn over and dig up a garden area?”
Denny grins and replies, “Ben Hawk has a small machine he does a lot of that sort of work with. Go to the house on the south end of town with the big brown barn beside it. He'll be around there, somewhere.”
“Thanks. Any news on when the battery powered vacuum cleaner will be in?”
“It should be on tomorrow morning's truck.” Mort smiles, nods to Denny, and leaves the store.
A few minutes later Mort is stopping in the yard in front of a large brown barn. Mort takes his helmet off while a man walks over. The man holds his hand out while saying, “I'm Ben Hawk, Mister Moreland.”
Mort replies while shaking his hand, “Please call me Mort. I'm told you can do some digging for me.”
“I've got the gear to do a lot of things. What do you want done?”
“Mallard House has a large vegetable garden over its leach field. I want it broken up and then dig it up so I can dump some dust in it.”
“I can do that. What sort of dust are you dumping?”
“I'm sure you know I'm being paid to clean up the house,” Ben nods in reply. “Most of it hasn't been cleaned or swept for decades. So I've got a huge pile of bags of dust I've cleaned up. I figure I may as well put it in the garden as to try to do anything else with it. If you dig down a few feet before I dump in the dust it'll become part of the earth again.”
“I can do that. I take it you want the broken up dirt pushed back after you dump the dust!” Mort nods agreement, “I'll be up there to get it done in the morning. I'll break it up with the rotary hoe then I'll dig it up. Once I start clearing an area you can start dumping. That way we can get it done faster. I'll have to see how long it takes before I can bill you, but I'll be fair. I charge the same rates as everyone else in the region.”
“Good. I can put it on the VISA card or I can send the bill to the lawyer to have her send you a cheque. Which do you want?”
“The bill will have codes to allow for a direct deposit. See if you can have her set up to pay it as soon as I give it to you tomorrow, please.”
They talk for a little longer before Mort goes to the hotel to clean up. Once there he sends Sissy an email to organise a few other things as well as the payment process. Then he goes out for his dinner.
Tonight Mort ends up with a steak and collard greens for his dinner, with apple cobbler for dessert. He enjoys talking with Jenny and they both have a good time while telling each other a few jokes.
After dinner Mort spends some time on the Internet doing a lot of research on ways to clean, restore, and protect wood. The furniture and the buildings are made from hardwoods and are still good, but some do look bad. He hopes to restore them to be close to their original look. He finds an oil designed to keep wooden boats in good condition, and a new polymer sealant to protect the wood. The big find is a pressure cleaning system that uses very little water to steam clean things. Mort sends another email to Sissy about his finds and to order the gear needed.
__________________________________
Third Day of Cleaning
Mort has a nice breakfast served by Diane before he rides up to the house. He opens the house up then leaves the shutters locked back to let the house air out while he has a closer look at the stables and workshop to see what's in there he needs to clean up and what can be thrown away. He's surprised when he enters the buildings because the floor for both is a solid sheet of rock someone has worked on to make level.
The roof of the stables is extended out to the side about ten feet. Due to a rail along the wall he thinks it was originally a protected place to tie up horses. There's an open space between the shelter and the mountain where the stables block the wind from across the valley while the house blocks the wind from up the valley and the trees thirty feet in front of the stables stop the wind from down the valley, so it's a nice sheltered area.
There's an old pickup and a lot of gear in the stables, but a lot of the gear is so damaged it's not worth trying to do anything with it or keep it. Mort starts by cleaning out the bed of the pickup then moving the gear to be disposed of from the workshop and the stables to the back of the shelter and storing all of the good small stuff in the back of the pickup.
He's in the middle of cleaning the stables out when Ben arrives with his dump truck and a trailer. A few minutes later Ben is busy using the rotary hoe attachment on his small tractor to break up the earth of the large garden area about sixty-five feet from the house. Mort didn't know you could get tractors so small, so now he wonders if he should look at getting one to use in his garden. It doesn't matter if Ben breaks up more than the old garden area or not, so Mort leaves him to it as he goes back to cleaning out the stables and the workshop.
When he breaks for an early lunch Mort sees Ben is putting the tractor back on the trailer. Then Mort sits on the porch to watch how Ben intends to get the skid-steer front loader out of the dump truck. Mort smiles while watching how Ben does it. The tailgate on the truck can be set to pivot at the top or the side. Ben opens the gate and secures it to the side of the truck, pulls out two ramps, locks them onto the truck bed then he gets in and slowly tips the bed. The skid-steer slides down the ramps and onto the ground. It's very neatly done.
Ben gets into the skid-steer, drives it off the end of the ramps and over to the work area before he breaks to have his lunch while sitting by Mort on the porch. Mort says, “I like how you got the skid-steer down.”
“Yeah, it's nice and easy with this set up. But a bit harder to put back in the truck.” They sit and chat while they eat.
When Ben goes to start digging out the garden area Mort goes to get the bags of dust. The hoed garden is just over sixty feet deep and a hundred feet wide. Ben clears out a strip twenty feet wide and four feet deep in the middle of the garden area with a ramp up to the main level in the middle of the long side and the earth is piled up on three sides of the cleared area. Ben tells Mort he can start to dump the dust.
Mort spreads the dust out on the ground, and it doesn't look to take up much space. However, he does have a huge pile of bags of it and by the time he has it all spread out he's covered an area of twenty feet by about forty feet to a depth of an inch in dust. Ben shakes his head in wonder at the amount of dust before he starts up the skid-steer. Using the blade to push the earth back into the area it was dug up from takes only a fraction of the time spent digging it out in the first place.
When he's finished Ben parks the skid-steer near the truck, gets a pad from the truck, and writes a bill for his time. While handing over the bill he says, “If I hadn't seen it all I wouldn't have believed you could get so much dust out of a place this size. Here's the bill.”
Mort takes the bill, gets out his phone, takes a photo of it, and sends the image to Sissy while Ben drives the skid-steer onto the dump truck. By the time Ben has everything ready to drive away Mort has a text message from Sissy with a receipt code for paying the bill. Mort shows the message to Ben who checks something on his phone, signs off the bill as paid, shakes Mort's hand, and drives away.
Another couple of hours is all Mort needs to finish cleaning up the stables and the workshop. Then back to the hotel to have a bath and off to have another meal while chatting and joking with Jenny.
__________________________________
Fourth Day of Cleaning
Today is more of a day of sorting than actual cleaning because Mort is busy going through Henry's clothes and packing them into garbage bags. He also goes through all of the blankets and linen. By the time he's finished he has twelve large garbage bags of clothes and linen. All of them are still in good condition but he doesn't want them. He calls the local church to tell the minister what he has and ask him to arrange to have the bags collected from the front porch for him to distribute them to those who can use them. Mort takes the bags out onto the porch and goes back to checking out what's in the various drawers and cupboards in the house. He's already had a quick look to be sure there's no clothes or linen, now he wants to have a more careful look with a thorough search.
Starting in the far upper room Mort removes every drawer from every item of furniture and he examines everything closely. He's looking for anything that may have been hidden and for any hidden areas. He breaks for a late lunch when he finishes with everything upstairs.
Mort is sitting on the porch having his lunch when an older woman drives up in a pickup. She gets out, glances at Mort, stops, takes a real close look at him, grins, and says, “Toss those bags into the back of the pickup, please, Mister Moreland.” He stands, grabs two bags, walks to the pickup, and puts them into the bed. Five more trips and it's done. The woman smiles and says, “I'm Harriet Cullen, and the matriarch of the Cullen Clan. I want to know what your intentions are with regards to Jenny.” He gives her a half frown. “She grew up a tom-boy and spent most of her time with Hank Kelly. Everyone who knew them expected them to get married when they were old enough. However, since Hank was killed, almost four years ago, she's been melancholy. You've been in town only a few days and you've got her to laugh more in a few days than she has in four years. It's also clear to all she's interested in you. So what do you intend to do in regards to her?”
He shrugs and says, “Please call me Mort, Ma'am. I like her a lot. But I don't really know her all that well and she doesn't know me that well. So I intend to spend a lot more time getting to know her. Then see where things go. There's no need to rush things.”
Harriet smiles and says, “Mort, there's a couple of things you need to know. But first, my advice is: tonight you ask Kevin for permission to court Jenny. Once he gives his permission and has Colin's permission as the Clan Patriarch they won't be able to withdraw it when they learn all about you.” Mort frowns. “Amanda Mallard was a very good friend of my oldest sister and I knew her well. You've a lot of her looks in your face, especially in the bones and eyes. You're too young to be her son, so I'd guess you're her grandson.” He sighs as he nods yes. “Good. You the new heir?” He nods again. “Right smart to keep it quiet while they get to know you. Way too many people around here don't bother to think before they do stupid things. I like what I've found out about you and what I've seen. So I approve of you stepping out with Jenny. Dress nice and ask her to church on Sunday.” Another nod is his response. “The big bear in these woods is a piece of garbage called Darby Hawk and he's helped by his three dumb cousins, Ed, Fred, and Ian. Everyone knows they murdered Hank Kelly but there's no evidence to take them to court with. Everyone knows Darby is after Jenny and he scares off anyone who shows an interest in her. However, he's away right now but he's due back soon. You need to keep an eye out for him. He's a snake in the grass, and if he thinks you can hurt him he'll strike from hiding.”
“Thanks for the information and the advice. I'll keep an eye out. Is there a gym or physical fitness place in town?”
“There's a big green barn like building about a hundred feet south of the hotel. There's no sign on it but it's a sports centre with exercise gear you can use to get fit. They've no sign up because everyone knows it.”
“I guess I know where I'll be spending my evenings for the next few days. I've been a bit slack since I arrived, but a lot of the work here has kept me from going to seed. Now I need to get back into top shape, just to be safe. If I ask to court Jenny is that a clear commitment under the local culture or just a notice of intent to get to know her better?”
“It's just a notice you think it's a good possibility but wish to spend more time with her towards that possibility, and it warns others off while you do. No one will get upset if you later decide not to go further.”
“Thanks. I guess I've got to speak to a few people tonight as well!”
Harriet smiles, gets in the truck, and drives off. Mort returns to his meal while thinking about the situation. After his lunch he returns to his work of checking everything out in the house. In the process he does find a few odds and ends, but the real big find is a hidden cache which has some old coins in it. They're from the late 1800s and add up to thirty six dollars, a princely sum in those days. He finishes his search of the house a bit early so he goes back to town. A check with Denny gets the same answer on the vacuum cleaner being expected in the morning, again, which leaves Mort wondering when he will get it delivered.
Mort cleans up, checks the value of the coins on the Internet, sends Sissy an email about the find with a request on how to handle them. He checks on the prices of various vehicles on the Internet too.
On entering Kevin's Kitchen Mort stops at the front to have a word with Kevin Cullen, the owner and Jenny's father. He waits for Kevin to look at him then Mort says, “Excuse me, Sir, may I have your permission to court Jenny?”
Although he's noticed how well Mort and Jenny interact Kevin is still a little stunned by the request this soon after their first meeting. He blinks a few times then he says, “I'll think on that and I'll give you an answer in a little while, Mister Moreland.” Mort smiles at him and goes to sit down while Kevin reaches for the phone.
Mort orders the meal Jenny recommends, just as he has every day since he arrived. He's almost finished the main meal when Colin Cullen arrives and takes a seat opposite Mort. Colin waits for Jenny to go into the kitchen with an order before he asks, “Why do you want to court Jenny, Mister Moreland?”
A smiling Mort replies, “In all my life I've not met anyone I enjoy to talk with as much as I do with Jenny. She's funny, intelligent, and has a sense of humour much like my own, so I wish to spend more time with her to find out if we have a future together. Also, please call me Mort.”
“Well, Mort, that's about the best reason I've heard of for wanting to court a young lady. You have my permission.” He gets up and leaves.
On his way out Colin has a quick word with Kevin, who comes over to say, “Mort, Colin gives his permission as the Clan Head, and you now have mine. Now all you need is Jenny's agreement.” He goes back to the front of the eatery.
Jenny walks out of the kitchen with Mort's dessert, puts it on the table, and asks, “What did Colin and Pa want with you, Mort?”
He looks up, smiles, and says, “Just answering a question I made to your father when I came in.” She stands there with her hands on her hips while she frowns at him. “Oh, do you want to know what I asked them?” She sighs and nods yes. “I now have their permission to court you if you agree to let me court you.” Her eyes go wide and her jaw drops.
A moment later Jenny takes a deep breath and says, “You have my permission, but you need to get a car cause I'm not getting on a bike in my good clothes. On Sunday we can walk to church from here. When you have a car we can go for a drive and a picnic lunch after church.” He nods to show he understands, so she turns and goes into the kitchen.
Soon after Jenny enters the kitchen Mort hears an older woman say, “Bless my soul! You best warn him girl!”
Jenny walks out with a sad expression so Mort holds his hand up and says “Harriet Cullen told me about Hank then warned me about Darby and his cousins, so I already know. Is that's what's worrying you?” She nods to him, gives him a weak smile, and he adds, “I'll worry about them when they decide to do something stupid, OK?” She nods again then she goes back into the kitchen.
After his meal Mort goes to the hotel, changes, and walks down to the sports centre, signs up for a six month membership with the gym, and goes into the gym. He starts with some of the basic machinery to build arm and leg muscles. While he's doing some bench presses Ben Hawk walks by, stops to look at the weight Mort is pressing, and smiles at how easily Mort is handling it before he asks, “Isn't that a lot of weight for a person of your size and build?”
It's a good question because Mort is best described as slight to medium build. He's not thin, but he doesn't have any obvious muscles or fat and is just under average height. He grins and says, “I'm a lot stronger than I look. Dad said all the men in his family are like strong wire rope: thin but very strong for their size.”
Ben grins and shakes his head before saying, “I hear you're chasing after Jenny Cullen. Anyone tell you about my nephews?”
Mort sits up and says, “I've been told to watch out for a quartet of vicious idiots called Darby, Ed, Fred, and Ian. If they start something and I finish it is it likely to end there or not?”
Stunned by Mort's confidence Ben says, “As the Hawk Patriarch I can tell you the Clan won't get involved, as long as there's proof they started it. But, Ian has two brothers who are dumber than he is and they may want to get involved as well. I can't say what they'll do.”
“Well, my father raised me as a militant pacifist so I'll wait for them to start it.” Ben frowns. “You've not heard the term before?” Ben shakes his head to show he doesn't know the term. “As my father told me to, I try to avoid a fight as much as possible, that's the pacifist part, but if a fight is unavoidable I hit them with everything I can, and, in his words, 'To kill the bastards who won't let you be.' He figured if they want to push things that hard they lose all rights in the process. That's the militant part of the term. You're safe from me unless you won't let me walk away or put me in a position where I have to protect me and mine.”
Ben asks, “Can you fight?”
“I've not done any formal studies on how to fight, but one of my uncles was in the Australian Army and he taught me how to look after myself in a fight. So I think I can hold my own.” Ben grins and walks away to get on with his own work out.
After the weights Mort spends thirty minutes throwing punches and kicks at the heavy bag before he goes to the hotel for a bath and to relax before going to bed for the night.
__________________________________
Day Five of Cleaning
Mort checks his emails after he has his breakfast across the road and finds one from Sissy about some of the gear they want being ready for him to collect in a bigger town an hour's drive away. He emails her to buy a suitable trailer from the same people and to have them put it all on the trailer. He tells her he has to buy a car so he'll buy one with a tow hitch to take the trailer with the gear to the house. Once she confirms she'll buy the trailer he locks up the room, gets on his bike, and rides off.
When he arrives in the larger town he finds he has a choice of two dealerships: GMC or Ford. After checking what both have to offer Mort ends up back at the Ford dealership looking at a demonstrator they have on special. He asks one of the sales staff, “Why is this one cheaper than the other demonstrator when it has more extras on it?”
She grins and says, “My brother thought it'd sell, but he made one big mistake. People around here go for black, silver, white, and even blue, but no one buys red four by fours. In all our small sedans red is the best selling colour, but not for the pickup trucks.” Mort half frowns. “Look, the bulk of the small sedans are sold to ladies and girls for around town while the pickups are sold as work vehicles or to the high-school boys. How many boys want a bright red pickup?” Mort nods his agreement, now he sees why. “So, are you really interested in buying a long bed F one fifty Lariat with all the trimmings at a good price.” Mort looks the vehicle over in fine detail. It has a towing package, the fancy window into the back, dark windows which look a bit odd on the red body, plus a three and half litre motor. He does like the six and a half foot long bed this has, and it's the only large crew cab on the lot with the long bed.
Mort says, “I'm not that happy about the colour and I don't really need a skylight, but I do like the bed length and the price.” He turns to her and asks, “If I pay you cash can you have it ready to go today with a canopy on it coloured to match plus a good liner in the bed?”
She grins and says, “Pay cash and I'll throw in the canopy as we've got an unpainted one we can finish to have it put on the truck just after lunch. I'll also give you the bed liner and pay for the registration transfer. Just give me your insurance company and your details.”
“You seem a little anxious to get rid of it!”
“If I get this moved Dad and my brother will owe me, big time. Dad said if it doesn't sell soon my dear brother has to buy it. But he wants one of the sportier vehicles. I'll also throw in the next year of services plus a full tank. Let's get the paperwork done.” Mort grins and goes with her to an open office area to do the paperwork. A quick call to Sissy and the arrangements are made to register the truck to the trust with their insurance coverage while Mort pays for it from his own bank account.
As soon as the paperwork is signed Doreen, the salesgirl, is on the phone ordering the painting of the canopy and the people to put in the liner. A few minutes later two staff have the liner in and one is taking the signed papers to get the plates for the truck. Twenty minutes later the plates are on the truck, Mort has all of the paperwork, and Doreen says, “The canopy won't be ready to put on for another two hours. They use a new fast setting paint, but it still takes time to get it done.”
Mort holds out the piece of paper with the address of where he has to collect the gear as he asks, “Can someone show me how to drive this tank by taking me over to collect some gear at this place?”
Doreen grins, grabs the keys off the desk, and says, “I'll be glad to.” She raises her voice and calls out, “Dad, I'm taking a client for a ride in a truck, be back soon.” A faint acknowledgement comes from another part of the shop. “We're going to have to go by his office when we go, and he'll have a fit when he sees what we're taking.” While giggling she leads the way to the truck and they get in. She shows him how to start it up and they drive off the lot.
It takes Mort half an hour to inspect and sign for the gear then hitch it up the F 150. On the way back to the dealership they stop to get some lunch at a take-way Doreen recommends. Back at the lot they park and one of the mechanics helps Mort to put his bike on the trailer then tie it down for the trip back to Mallard House. Even so, the large trailer with the generator, steam cleaner, accessories, pool, and Mort's bike looks very empty. In order to get a trailer she felt was tough enough Sissy bought a heavy-duty double-axle unit that's eight feet long and four feet wide.
With nothing else to do Mort sits in the dealership checking things on his laptop computer while they wait for the canopy to be ready. He smiles when Doreen's father comes out to congratulate her on selling the big red truck. Mort figures they may not have made much profit on it but they didn't lose anything either, while he got a good deal.
Mort's phone rings and he answers it. Sissy talks about the coins and how she wants him to keep them safe for now, then she adds, “I just had to check on it. However, according to the motor vehicle registration database, outside of a few fire departments, you own the only red pickup truck in the state. People will think you're the local fire chief when they see you driving it around.”
Both laugh and Mort asks, “Sissy, is there a family or trust motto or image of some sort?” He gets a negative answer so he says, “Why don't you see if you can find a good image of a mallard duck in flight and buy the rights to use it on our letterhead and the like. We can use it as a logo for the trust, the house, and any business I set up.” She agrees and promises to look into it.