This is the intro/prelude to what will be an ongoing story, which will feature forced femme, subliminal messaging as a form of mind control and physical/emotional abuse. Much of that will come once the story itself gets going, here we will meet our main antagonists.
This intro will not have anything nasty happening, it is simply to set the background and primary location for the story. On with the story.
Note: The house I mention does exist, it shows in online listings as being for sale, I'm using it as it fits the needs of the story. I know I don't have the £1.5 million needed to buy it. I would love to have a house like that, but a snowball has a better chance in hell.
All characters in this story are fictional, although real people may appear occasionally. Places in the story are real.
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1. Tuesday, December 10th, 2013 10:45 AM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Mrs. Elspeth Parks steered the old Vauxhall carefully down the country lanes, looking for a specific village; her sister Vanessa James sat in the passenger seat, watching the countryside roll by. They were meeting a realtor to look at a house they'd seen in an online listing.
Both women appeared to be about 40 years of age, natural blonds, Elspeth being sandy blonde, her sister a light golden blonde. They were fairly tall, Elspeth standing 5'9" in stocking feet, Vanessa 5'8", both weighed in at about 130 lbs, both had blue eyes.
Elspeth was wearing a knee length light green skirt suit with an off white blouse, nude tights and a pair of off-white shoes with two inch block heels. Vanessa was wearing a robin's egg blue dress, the skirt not quite knee length, nude hose and pale blue shoes similar to her sisters. They had chosen the lower heels because they weren't sure just how long they would be standing or walking while assessing the property.
Elspeth noticed a sign near the road which said Welcome to Hanslope; she nodded, they would reach their destination in a few minutes. Keeping an eye open for the specific sign she wanted to see, she drove on, turning onto Higham Cross Rd., following that road past the kennel/cattery, then turning north as the road switched direction. Another minute or so and there was the sign showing Pindon Manor.
Elspeth turned into the drive and followed it up to the house. Both women were nodding as they looked around; the house itself was quite large, they'd checked out the info, six bedrooms plus six rooms that could be converted into bedrooms. The other rooms in the house seemed fairly normal, but the fact that this house had its own cellar was a key point to their coming here. The pool was a nice bonus. That the house sat on six acres of land was an even bigger bonus, the two women felt it made the rather high cost more bearable.
Elspeth parked the car near the front entrance, the two women exited the car just in time to see a man coming out of the house.
"Hello, ladies, I'm Michael, I'll give you a tour of the house. Follow me, please."
For the next 45 minutes, he led them through the house, room by room, then out for a quick look at the coach house and stables before returning to the dining room. The cellar was large enough for what they wanted, the rest of the house had them smiling, it was perfect.
After the tour, Elspeth smiled at Michael, saying, "We want it, I'm offering £1.55 million in cheque form right now."
He seemed a bit surprised, perhaps he hadn't been expecting to get a sale here. "You have the cheque here?"
"No, but if I can have a moment, I'll do it now." She pulled her cheque book from her purse, stood at the kitchen counter, and quickly filled out a cheque in the amount of £1.55 million to the realtor, handing it to him after she had signed it.
"I assume this will take a few days to go through the banks, you'll call us once it clears?"
He nodded, accepting the cheque from her, then escorted the two women out to their car.
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2. Tuesday, December 10, 2013 11:55 AM GMT, Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Once in the car, Elspeth started it, turned the car around and headed back to the road. After they had passed through Hanslope, she followed a series of roads heading toward Milton Keynes, then picked up the southbound M1 at the junction with the A509.
The two sisters spent the rest of the journey back to London discussing plans for the house. An hour later, they entered London, it took them another forty-five minutes to reach their two bedroom flat across the river in Battersea.
Vanessa used a remote to open the small garage, Elspeth carefully steered the car into the small space. Exiting it, they locked the car, stepped out of the garage, closed it and walked to the side door entrance to their flat, the front entrance being for the other rental.
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3. Tuesday, December 10, 2013 1:50 PM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Battersea, London
Elspeth unlocked the door and the two women trudged up the steps, took their coats and shoes off and deposited them in the hall closet. They walked into the tiny kitchen and dining area, dropping their purses on the table, then Elspeth grabbed the kettle, filled it with water and plugged it in to the nearest wall socket. Elspeth checked the fridge, pulled out a can of tuna, a bit of lettuce, some mayo and a half loaf of sliced whole wheat bread; she quickly mixed the tuna and mayo, split the tuna into three portions, and added the lettuce, making three sandwiches.
She sliced each sandwich in half diagonally, placed them on a plate, took two side plates and placed them on the table at the end opposite to where they had dropped their purses. The kettle whistled, Vanessa grabbed two mugs, filled them with water before putting them on the table, grabbed two teabags, then got the milk from the fridge and the sugar container and placed them next to the sandwich plate.
The two women prepared their tea as they liked it, Elspeth preferring it weak with no sugar and a little milk, Vanessa liking it somewhat stronger with a teaspoon of sugar and a little milk. They each took a sandwich plus a half from the plate and began to eat.
Once they had finished eating, they talked about the new house as they drank the last of their tea. Elspeth was quite pleased overall. "The only issues I see with it is that we'll need to make at least four little 'rooms' down there and the cellar will need to be fully soundproofed. We can't have our 'guests' wandering all around the property when they first arrive."
Vanessa nodded, agreeing with her elder sister. "Perhaps we could use Jackson Marcham, he doesn't mind doing work for cash." The man she named was known for doing work that wasn't licensed, as long as he was paid what he considered fair price for the job.
"Perhaps, he has worked for us once or twice in the past. I just hope he knows how to do soundproofing, we'll have to ask him."
The two women continued chatting, the conversation turning to more normal topics.
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4. Monday, December 16, 2013 1:30 PM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Battersea, London
Elspeth's cell rang as she was sitting in the small living room space in their flat, the TV was on, but she wasn't paying attention to it.
"Hello, this is Elspeth Parks, who may I ask is calling?"
"Hello, Elspeth, this is Michael, I'm calling to tell you that the check cleared this morning, as of now, Pindon Manor is yours."
"Why, thank you, Michael, that's excellent news. Now we can start the process of arranging to move."
"Thank you very much for doing business with us, ma'am. I hope you have a good day and a Merry Christmas as well."
"Same to you, Michael, it's been a pleasure," Elspeth replied before ending the call.
Elspeth turned to face the bedrooms and yelled out, "Vanessa, the cheque for the house just cleared, it's ours!"
Vanessa ran out of her room, grinning from ear to ear. She went over to the small liquor cabinet, pulled out the Glenfiddich half bottle, which was still about a quarter full; she took it into the kitchen, grabbed two shot glasses, filled them halfway, and returned the bottle to the cabinet.
She entered the kitchen again, picked the two shot glasses up and headed into the living room. Handing one of them to Elspeth, she smiled at her, saying, "We really should make a toast, this is going to be the start of a whole new era in our lives."
Elspeth nodded, smiling herself. "To our new enterprise, may it succeed beyond our brightest dreams!"
Vanessa returned the toast, "To success!", then they both brought the shot glasses up to their lips and drank, savouring the taste.
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5. Tuesday, December 17, 2013 10:35 AM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Battersea, London
Elspeth had been trying to connect with Jackson Marcham since the previous afternoon, she finally managed to catch him.
"Hi, this is Jackson, who's calling?"
"Jackson, Jackson, Jackson, have you no manners? This is Elspeth, I called you last week about a little job I want done."
"Ahhhh, yes, sorry, ma'am, I just walked in the door a few minutes ago. I'm assuming you managed to acquire the property?"
"Yes, we did, Jackson, the cheque cleared yesterday. How soon would you be able to get up there to do the work?"
"Tomorrow and Thursday, I'll be busy with a job here in the city. Friday through the weekend is good, I'll be bringing someone to help."
"This person you are bringing is willing to work for cash, no questions asked?"
"Yes, ma'am, the other person is my brother Thurston."
"I see. We'll meet you at 9:30 AM on Friday by the Edgware Rd. circle near the start of the M1. Make sure you are on time."
Jackson agreed and Elspeth ended the call. She then informed her sister of the trip to the house on Friday.
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6. Wednesday, December 18, 2013 11:15 AM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Battersea, London
Elspeth tapped in the phone number of the realtor they had used, then waited as the phone rang twice before being answered.
"Michael Graham Realty, Newport Pagnell office, Michael Petterson speaking, how may I help you?"
Elspeth chuckled, then replied, "I will be coming up to Pindon Manor on Friday, I will need to get the keys at that time."
"Ahhh, yes, if you like, tell me when you will be there and I will bring the keys to you at the house."
They spoke for another minute or two before Michael had to take another call, at which point Elspeth ended the call.
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7. Friday, December 20, 2013 8:10 AM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Battersea, London
Elspeth and Vanessa had been awake for over an hour already, they had had toast and cereal for breakfast, with their usual tea. Both were wearing jeans and oversized plaid shirts, definitely a style outside of their normal experience. The clothing was due to the fact that they might need to do some physical work themselves up at the house, they didn't want to ruin nice clothing if they could avoid it.
As the total horror known as the London morning rush hour was still in progress, they were leaving now to ensure that they would get to where they were meeting Jackson and his brother Thurston on time.
They put on their jackets, headed down the stairs and exited the house, locking the door behind them.
After opening the garage, Elspeth used the car remote to unlock the car doors, then she and her sister entered the car and buckled in. Elspeth started the engine, waited for a minute for it to warm up, then slowly backed the car out of the garage. Once they were fully out, Vanessa used a remote control to close the garage door. Elspeth looked behind them, seeing the street was clear, she backed out and they were off.
The drive up was slow and somewhat tortuous, they had to detour twice because of accidents, but they had no trouble except for wishing the darn traffic would go faster. Just after 9:20 AM, they pulled off to the side of the road not far from the roundabout.
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8. Friday, December 20, 2013 9:28 AM GMT Edgware roundabout by North Circular Road & start of M1
Jackson and his brother approached the Edgware Rd. roundabout, Thurston spotting the car at the side of the road.
Jackson honked the horn, causing Elspeth to look up at the large dark blue van, she could see a ladder and some other things on the roof. She nodded to the man she assumed to be Thurston sitting in the passenger seat of the van, then rejoined the traffic, heading for the roundabout and the ramp to the M1, the van following along behind her as they joined other cars heading onto the motorway.
The trip up to the new house took just over an hour, the two vehicles entered the drive and parked near the main entrance.
Elspeth and her sister stepped out of the car, leaving their purses in the glove compartment before locking it. Elspeth doubted they would need to do much, from what they had seen when they toured the house, the house and grounds had been well maintained. If they did need anything, she thought they might be able to find it in the village, at the worst, they might need to go to Milton Keynes.
She walked around the front of the van, looking at the two men standing near the entrance. Both were stocky, fairly well muscled, Jackson was 32 years old, stood 5'10, weighing about 180 lbs., wearing heavy jeans and a plaid shirt similar to her own. His brother Thurston looked a bit older, she guessed him to be about 35, he looked to be about 5'11", weighing about the same as his brother, being slightly slimmer. He too was clad in a pair of heavy jeans and a large plaid shirt. Both had strapped on tool belts, filled with a variety of tools.
She was startled to hear a horn sounding from behind her. She turned and saw the realtor, Michael, stepping out of his car.
She walked over to Michael, accepted the keys from him and thanked him for bringing them there. She then explained that she had brought the men up so they could do an extensive check of the house to ensure everything was in proper working order.
Michael nodded, "We did try to maintain the property, but it is possible that we missed something. Thank you, and have a good day."
Jackson and Thurston nodded to him, returning the pleasantry. They could hear Michael as he got back into his car, and watched for a moment as he turned around and left the property before turning and waiting for Elspeth to unlock the front door.
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9. Friday, December 20, 2013 10:45 AM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Jackson and Thurston headed straight for the stairs to the cellar, flipping the light switch on before they started down. At the bottom, they looked around, there were three empty wine racks on one side, the space was otherwise empty. Assessing it by eye, they figured it was not quite thirty feet long, and maybe twelve feet wide. There would be space for up to a dozen small cells, even with the room heavily soundproofed. They made a quick list of what they would need, then Jackson headed up the stairs.
Once he found Elspeth, he told them that the job wouldn't be too difficult, if they could get the materials fast, they might be able to finish late tomorrow, but no later than Sunday. She reached into her purse, pulled out a bunch of bills and handed them to him.
"Get what you need, there's just under £1000 there, that should be plenty, I would think?"
He responded in the affirmative, called out to his brother and they both headed out to the van, which left the property a minute or two later.
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10. Friday, December 20, 2013 11:00 AM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Elspeth and Vanessa exited the house, then walked over to the pool; it had been emptied and the cover rolled over it for the winter months. As they walked around the outside of the house, Elspeth was thinking out loud, "I'm figuring we need a large van ourselves, so we can pick up twin size boxsprings and mattresses from a few different locations; if we put two beds in each room, and two in each attic room, there would be room for 20 kids. We'll also need to get plenty of bedding and dishes, enough in both cases to cover about two dozen people.
"Two of the bedrooms have several built-in wardrobes, even though they don't have fireplaces, we could use those as our bedrooms, it's easy enough to get decent space heaters if we need them. As for the rest of the rooms, a wardrobe and dresser for each child should be enough.
"On second thought, Jackson already has a large van, we could ask him to stay up here through Monday or Tuesday to get the beds as I've noted, then put them in the rooms. On third thought, we'll need a van anyway for when we grab the kids."
The two women headed back into the house, checking the various rooms in the house. They reached the six attic rooms, two of them appeared to have been used as storage spaces, there were bags and boxes scattered across both rooms. "We'll need to clear these out."
Vanessa nodded, replying, "Perhaps we should check what is in the boxes and bags, some of it might be useful."
Elspeth responded, "The men should be back fairly soon, when they return, we can head into the village for lunch."
While they waited for the men to return, they opened up the boxes and bags. They found some partial sets of dishes, a recyclable bag similar to ones you can get in some large grocers or food markets, which held a substantial amount of flatware. A large plastic garbage sack held several rather battered pots and pans; Elspeth shook her head, wondering why someone had thought to save those.
A couple of other large sacks held some pillows and an assortment of bedding, including two queen size duvets that looked semi-new. The pillows looked to be rather cheap, Elspeth decided they would get new ones instead.
Three large bags in the second room held an assortment of plus sized women's clothing, neither woman would be able to wear any of it.
The rest of what they could see was just plain junk, they would ask Jackson and Thurston to take it all outside.
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11. Friday, December 20, 2013 12:50 PM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Elspeth was standing in the kitchen thinking when she heard the van return; a moment later, the two men entered the house. She informed them that she and Vanessa had been in the attic rooms, had gone through what was up there, set a small part of what was there aside to be kept, and the rest had been left in the next room. All of that was to be taken out by the men as it was trash.
Jackson nodded and said they would deal with it in a few minutes. They had filled the van with insulation, thin vinyl sheets and drywall sheets, so they would be able to start on the soundproofing at any time. They intended to layer insulation, vinyl, insulation, then cover with drywall.
Elspeth informed them, "Once the garbage in that attic room is outside, and we all wash up, we'll go into the village for lunch."
The men agreed and headed up the stairs.
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12. Friday, December 20, 2013 1:35 PM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
The men had spent the last half hour or so hauling the trash out and placing it by the stone wall nor far from the front gate. They had been grumbling for the last fifteen minutes or so about having to go up and down the stairs so much, but the trash was all out of the house.
They spent a few minutes washing up in the cloakroom near the entrance, then waited as Elspeth yelled for Vanessa to hurry up.
Vanessa came down the stairs at a brisk pace, she had been in the bedrooms deciding where all the furniture would be placed.
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13. Friday, December 20, 2013 1:55 PM GMT The Watts Arms, Castlethorpe Rd., Hanslope, Milton Keynes
A few days before, Elspeth had found out about the two pubs in the village. Today, she announced they were going to The Watts Arms.
Once the car was unlocked, the men got into the back, the women in the front and they all buckled up before Elspeth started the engine.
She waited a moment, then turned the car and headed out the drive; leaving the property, she turned toward the village. It only took a few minutes before they were entering the village, and not long after that, they were parking next to the pub.
Once they were all out of the car, she locked it and they headed into the pub. They found an open table and sat down, removing their coats.
Elspeth shook her head, then spoke, "No food service until 2:30, I guess we order drinks and wait."
The men both ordered Well's Eagle, Vanessa picked Young's Bitter and Elspeth asked for a coffee, "I'm driving."
The drinks arrived a few minutes later and the women mentioned the need to obtain lots of beds for the house. "Since that would mean more work for the two of you, would you be willing to stay up here for an extra day or so to sort that out?" Elspeth asked.
Jackson replied, "As long as you're willing to pay, we can do whatever's needed."
Elspeth nodded. "There really isn't anything we can do at this point, so once lunch is done, we'll take you back there, then head back to London. Make sure to call me once the work is done and I'll have a check waiting for you when you arrive back in London."
Shortly before 2:30 PM, they started looking through the menu. A few minutes later, they were approached by a woman holding a notebook in her hand. "Picked what you want yet?" They all nodded, Jackson ordered the ploughman's deli board, Thurston wanted the steak, Elspeth asked for the chicken, ham and leek pie meal and Vanessa decided on the roast ham.
The woman walked off toward the kitchen to give their orders to the cook. Elspeth sat there thinking for a moment, then she looked up at Jackson, "I changed my mind about the beds, get doubles for all the rooms except mine and Vanessa's, we want king size."
The four waited about fifteen minutes before their meals started arriving at the table, each tucking in as they were served. The next half hour passed in companionable silence, the only noise being the off and on chatter of other patrons in the pub.
They had to wait a few minutes before the woman approached, asking if they were finished; Elspeth asked for the bill. When the woman returned with the bill, Elspeth paid it in full and added a generous tip, then the four stood up, put on their jackets and left the pub.
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14. Friday, December 20, 2013 3:30 PM GMT The Watts Arms, Castlethorpe Rd., Hanslope, Milton Keynes
They each took the same seats as on the way to the pub, once they were buckled in, Elspeth started the car and returned to the house. She and Vanessa stayed in the car; as the men got out, Elspeth opened her purse and pulled out a small envelope. She handed the house keys and the envelope to Jackson, telling him that there was £7500 in it, she hoped it would be enough to cover the beds, wardrobes and dressers. She figured that the furniture stores would be likely to have delivery service, and told Jackson to call her if there were any problems.
The men headed into the house, there was a lot of work that needed to be done. Elspeth turned the car around and headed for London.
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15. Friday, December 20, 2013 3:45 PM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Jackson and Thurston were leaning against the kitchen counters. Jackson knew of some furniture suppliers in Milton Keynes; he made a call to an acquaintance of his living there, asked for numbers of decent but reasonable cost furniture places and was given several.
Jackson spent the next twenty minutes placing orders for beds through a company named Linthorpe Beds, the total coming to about £3700, then he called up a furniture store to inquire about wardrobes and dressers. He wanted pieces that matched or nearly so, and the best arrangement he could get would cost over £17,000 to sort out those items for the children's rooms. He didn't have enough cash.
He didn't see any choice at all, he had to call Elspeth and ask her to wire up another £15,000 for the furniture and any extra expenses. He knew she wouldn't be home for another hour, most likely, so he and Thurston brought in the soundproofing materials.
It took a few trips to get everything down there, then the two men started covering the walls with a layer of insulation, this was simplified by the fact that the entire cellar was underground, so there were no windows to deal with. Once the first layer of insulation had been placed all around the space, the men brought a couple of saw horses down to the cellar; Jackson cut about 15 inches off of each sheet of vinyl, then cut each sheet into three pieces before placing one of them against a part of the insulation layer, carefully pushing each piece in so it was snug.
They had placed ten of the vinyl pieces by the time Jackson figured the women had returned home.
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16. Friday, December 20, 2013 5:35 PM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Battersea, London
The drive back to London had been long and tedious, especially when they were caught in the rush hour traffic as they entered the city. They had arrived at their flat several minutes before, after having locked the car and closed the garage. The two women had hung their jackets up in the hall closet, then headed into the kitchen to boil water for their tea. Elspeth found part of a fruitcake in the fridge, cut two fairly thick slices from it, put them on side plates and set them on the table. She was just about to sit down for a moment when her phone rang.
"Hello, this is Elspeth Parks speaking, who may I ask is calling?"
"Hi, Elspeth, it's Jackson. I was on the phone with a furniture outlet in Milton Keynes an hour or so ago, they have pieces that will work for the kids' rooms, but they cost an arm and a leg; for ten large wardrobes, which I figure can go one to a room, the kids can share it, twenty small five drawer chests that match the wardrobes fairly closely, then twenty two drawer bedside tables they can use for personal items, the total cost is £17,200. The beds aren't a problem, they'll arrive tomorrow, they were bloody cheap by comparison, total cost of about £3700."
"So you need me to wire you some money? How much?"
"I figure £15,000 will cover everything, that will get the rest of the furniture and leave us with a bit of cash to cover personal expenses."
"Okay, I can send the money this evening, but you likely won't be able to get it until the morning, not many of those shops are open."
"All right, thanks for doing that, we'll get back to work. The cellar is going along pretty fast, we might finish it tomorrow if things go well."
"That's good to hear, I hope you two have a good night, we'll chat soon."
She set down the phone just in time to hear the kettle whistling away, she got up, unplugged it, and poured water into two mugs, dropping a tea bag in one; she yelled to Vanessa, "There's some fruitcake here, and a tea bag waiting for you, come and get it!" She chuckled as she pulled the tea bag from her mug, added a bit of milk, then turned to her fruitcake and began to eat it.
Vanessa padded into the kitchen, grabbed a tea bag and a fork and spoon, and sat down by the second plate with fruitcake on it; she dropped the tea bag into the mug of hot water, then used the fork to pull off a small piece of the fruitcake and nibbled at it. She sniffed at her tea, it looked about right, so she pulled out the tea bag, dropped it on the edge of her plate, added a bit of sugar and milk, and took a sip.
It didn't take long for the women to finish eating the fruitcake, they rinsed the plates and dropped them into the dishwasher.
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17. Friday, December 20, 2013 7:45 PM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
The two men had finished putting in the layer of vinyl around the cellar, then covered that with another layer of insulation. When that was done, Jackson pulled out his cell phone, turned it on to check the time, saw it was 7:45 PM and decided to call it a day.
"I think that's enough for the day, Thurston, let's get some food somewhere and then a place to stay the night. Actually, since it looks like we might have to be here on Monday to collect the furniture delivery, we should try to see if we can get a deal for three nights."
They headed up to the kitchen, washed their hands, then realized there was nothing there to dry them. They looked at each other, both shrugged, then both of them proceeded to wipe their hands on the legs of their jeans, like men have done many a time.
They grabbed their coats, then left the house, locking the front door behind them and walked over to the van. As they unlocked the van and climbed in, Jackson looked over at Thurston, smiled and said, "I'm in the mood for fish and chips, we're going to Fish'n'Chick'n."
A little over ten minutes later, they pulled into the nearest parking lot, hopped out of the van, locked it up and headed into the fish shop. They quickly ordered cod and chips for both, paid for the food, then waited for a few minutes as it was prepared. Once they had received it, they found a table, sat down and demolished their meals in short order. They dropped the wrappers in the trash and left the shop.
Unlocking the van, they jumped in, buckled up and headed over to the Ramada Inn, it seemed to be about as cheap as you could find there. Arriving at the hotel, they exited the van, locked it up again and headed inside.
There was a clerk manning the desk, Jack walked up and stated, "One room for the two of us, three nights, please." The clerk nodded, processed the request, and when he had been paid, handed over two key cards for the room.
Jackson looked at his key card, seeing the number 205. "It shouldn't be hard to find our room, it should be fairly close to the elevators."
He was right, once they were on the second floor, their room was just a short way down the hall. They approached the door, Jackson using his card to open it, then they entered, Jackson first followed by his brother. They took off their jackets and tossed them on a chair.
The two men sat on the end of each bed, Jackson stretched over and grabbed the remote that was lying beside Thurston, then turned on the TV to see what was available. There didn't seem to be much available unless they wanted to use the pay per view, which they didn't.
It was ten to nine, Jackson shrugged, "Nothing on, I guess we can hit the sack now and get an early start tomorrow."
Thurston agreed. The two men stripped down to their boxers and t-shirts, then pulled back the covers and climbed into their beds.
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18. Saturday, December 21, 2013 07:15 AM GMT Room 205, Ramada Inn, Milton Keynes
Jackson woke up, rubbed his eyes to clear the sleep from them, then looked out the window; the sky was slowly lightening as the sun took its sweet time to rise above the horizon. He dug into the pockets of the plaid shirt, pulled out his phone and checked the time, 7:15 AM.
Neither of the two men had set an alarm, so it appeared that they had gotten almost ten hours of sleep, an unusual occurrence for him. He continued to relax in the bed, they didn't have to be out and running instantly today, so they could take their time to start the day. His brother was still sleeping, perhaps he hadn't managed to fall asleep quite as fast as Jackson had last night.
Jackson stood up, put on his jeans and plaid shirt, trying to make as little noise as possible, then walked over to the windows. A few birds were beginning to herald the new day, the sun still working its way up into the sky.
He stood there watching and listening; he felt a bit odd, as he was usually awake a good hour earlier than this, if not even earlier. He wasn't really focusing on anything in particular, he just stood there watching the sky slowly grow brighter.
He heard a sound behind him. He turned and saw his brother sitting up in bed, stretching a bit, yawning and rubbing at his eyes.
"Hello, Thurston, finally waking up, I see." His brother nodded as Jackson continued, "I'm going to grab a shower, see you in a bit."
He grabbed a towel from a pile of them next to the TV, which sat on the top of the hotel room's combined dresser and cabinet, then headed into the washroom, dropping the towel on the edge of the sink. He turned the shower on, adjusted the water temperature for a moment, then stepped in, closed the door and began lathering himself. He lost himself for a short while as he cleaned himself, only coming out of it when he ended up with a bit of shampoo in his eye. If there was one thing he didn't like while bathing or showering, it was getting shampoo in his eye, trying to rinse it out to relieve the irritation didn't always work and it often left him wanting to swear up a blue streak.
He finally cleared out his eye enough that he could see again, closing it tightly, he rinsed the shampoo out of his hair, then turned off the taps. He stepped out of the shower, grabbed the towel and quickly ran it through his hair before drying himself off and dressing again.
He sat down on the end of his bed as Thurston stood up, grabbed a towel and headed into the bathroom. Things must have gone a bit better for him, as he wandered out again about ten minutes later, still drying himself, then picked up his clothes and put them on.
Jackson checked the time again, 8:10 AM. "We need to get some breakfast somewhere, the money place opens at 9 AM, bro."
The men donned their jackets, then made sure they had their key cards before they left the room. They headed down to the main floor, walked through the lobby and out to the van; unlocking it, they buckled themselves in, Jackson started the engine and headed for McDonald's®.
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19. Saturday, December 21, 2013 8:25 AM GMT McDonald's near N Grafton roundabout, Milton Keynes
They pulled into the parking lot beside the McDonald's®, hopped out, locked the van and entered the restaurant; Thurston grabbed a table, took his jacket off and dropped it on a seat, then walked over to the counter. Both men ordered the same thing, two Sausage McMuffins® with egg and a large black coffee, paid, then moved over to the table and sat down before they unwrapped their food and started eating.
The Sausage McMuffins® with egg didn't last long, but that was no surprise. The men relaxed for a little while as they drank their coffees.
Jackson finished his coffee, checked the time and warned his brother they needed to head over to the Money Shop. Thurston finished the rest of his coffee, the two men dumped the trash in the bins near the entrance and exited the store.
Unlocking the van, Jackson and his brother stepped into it, buckled themselves in and Jackson started the engine. A moment later, he checked the street, then turned into the traffic and started driving toward the money store.
**********
20. Saturday, December 21, 2013 08:35 AM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Battersea, London
Elspeth had been awake for about ninety minutes now, she and Vanessa had eaten breakfast just after 7 AM. There wasn't anything that absolutely needed to be done at the moment, so they were relaxing over cups of tea when Elspeth remembered that she had yet to go out and send the £15,000 to Jackson so the men could get the rest of the furniture for the house.
Elspeth was wearing a houndstooth suit with a cream blouse, nude pantyhose, and a pair of off-white shoes, Vanessa was dressed in a pale pink dress with cream collar, cuffs and hem, nude pantyhose and a pair of white 3" spike heels.
Elspeth entered her bedroom, opened her laptop which was on top of her dresser, turned it on and checked for parking near Marble Arch.
Having found what she wanted to know, she turned the laptop off again, told her sister that she was going out for a bit, and would be back in about an hour, then took her purse with her and set it down on a small table next to the hall closet; she opened the closet, grabbed her jacket, put it on, picked up the purse, walked down the stairs, let herself out of the house and locked the door before she walked over to the car.
She opened the garage, unlocked the car, settled into the driver's seat, buckled in and started the engine; taking the garage remote off the dash of the car, she set it on the seat for a moment, then carefully backed out before using the remote to close the door again. She checked the street behind the car, it was clear; she backed out into the street, then turned and headed into central London.
**********
21. Saturday, December 21, 2013 09:05 AM GMT NPC Car Park, Great Cumberland Place, London
It had taken her almost thirty minutes to pass by the Money Shop off the north side of the circle at the northeastern corner of Hyde Park. She hadn't known it until now, but that circle has four different names for different sections of it, the part known as Marble Arch starts just where the A5 / Edgware Road connects to the circle. She finally reached the car park closest to where she needed to be. She smiled as she turned into the little lot and grabbed a ticket; there were two spaces left, she slipped into one, exited the car, locked it up and headed for the shop.
She left the car park, turning south on Great Cumberland Place, noting that she needed to walk 2.5 blocks down to March Arch, then turn toward Edgware Road. The next several minutes were spent slowly moving down the street, she had to wait at both corners to cross, but that wasn't too much of a hassle. She reached Marble Arch, turned the corner and spotted the sign for Money Shop a short way down the street.
She entered the shop and stepped up near the counter; there were no customers, so she was called to the counter right away. She told the clerk that she needed to send £15,000 to someone at the store in Milton Keynes. The next few minutes were spent setting up and then processing the money transfer, she hoped it wouldn't take too long. While she waited, she called Jackson to let him know.
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22. Saturday, December 21, 2013 09:22 AM GMT The Money Shop, Milton Keynes
Jackson was pacing pack and forth across the width of the shop, slightly annoyed that the money hadn't been sent yet. He was just reaching the point where he figured she had been feeding him a line about sending the money when his cell phone rang.
He didn't check the number, just accepted the call. "Hi, Jackson Marcham, who is this?"
"Hello, Jackson, this is Elspeth, you should realize by now, as often as I've told you, it doesn't take much effort to be polite and civil."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "I apologize, Elspeth, I was worried you wouldn't send the money."
Elspeth shook her head and tsked at him. "Jackson, you should know better than that, I ALWAYS pay promptly. Anyway, I too am sorry, I was distracted last night thinking about the house up there and what we'll be doing with it, I completely forgot about sending the money."
He nodded, then said, "Okay, so I'm assuming you're sending it now?"
"That's right, I'm just waiting for it to go through." The clerk nodded to her, signalling it was on the way. "They just sent it, Jackson."
"Thanks, Elspeth, I'm sorry about being a bit short with you. We'll be going to the furniture place once the money is in hand."
"Okay, and thanks for sorting out all the furniture, Jackson."
"Speaking of furniture, do you want us to get a nice dresser for your bedroom there and for your sister's?"
"If you have enough and it doesn't leave you short, sure. Thanks again, have a good day."
"You, too, Elspeth." He ended the call and turned to his brother. "She sent the money, we should have it fairly soon."
The clerk tapping on the plastic wall separating them from the work area caught the men's attention. "Is one of you Jackson Marcham?"
"That would be me," Jackson replied, stepping close to one of the slots.
"I need you to sign this, and this. You'll have the money in a moment."
Jackson quickly signed next to both places marked by an X, and slipped the pages back though the slot. Now to be patient while waiting.
**********
23. Saturday, December 21, 2013 09:26 AM GMT The Money Shop, Marble Arch, London
Elspeth verified that the money transfer had been sent, then turned and left the shop, walking back up to the car park.
Just over ten minutes later, she unlocked the car, hopped in, buckled up and started the engine. She waited a moment, then slowly drove to the exit lane, handed her ticket to the person in the booth with a ten pound note, accepted the change, and moved slowly toward the street.
She thought the £7 charge for short term parking was insane, but compared to £24 or more for full day parking, she could live with it.
She turned south onto Great Cumberland Place, turned onto Marble Arch, then around the corner and onto Park Lane southbound, with the eastern end of Hyde Park rolling by off to her right. The drive home was a bit faster, she pulled into the drive, then the garage at 10:07 AM.
After locking the car and closing the garage, she unlocked the entrance to the flat, climbed the steps, took off her jacket, hanging it in the hall closet. Dropping her purse on a small table next to the closet, she checked the living room, finding Vanessa watching the TV.
Elspeth turned and went into the kitchen to put on the kettle, she wanted to relax over a cup of tea.
**********
24. Saturday, December 21, 2013 09:32 AM GMT The Money Shop, Milton Keynes
Jackson smiled as the money was pushed through the slot, he quickly picked it up, folded it in half and stuffed it in his jeans pocket.
He turned to Thurston, "Hey, time to go, I have the money." Thurston stood up and the two men walked out of the store.
Unlocking the van, they climbed in, buckled up and Jackson started the engine. "We're going to that DFS furniture place, the one that had the matching or nearly so wardrobes and dressers to put in the order for everything we need to set up the rooms in the house. The only thing that's going to be a pain in the arse is having to move all the furniture when it's delivered, maybe they'll help us out with that, who knows?"
Thurston nodded as they turned onto Elder Gate, heading south to Avebury Blvd., east toward the roundabout at V6, south on V6 to the S Grafton roundabout, then west again on Childs Way over to Snowdon and down Snowdon Dr until they saw the signs for DFS.
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25. Saturday, December 21, 2013 10:10 AM GMT DFS Store, Milton Keynes
They found a parking spot not too far from the entrance, locked the van and headed into the store. They walked around for a few minutes, eventually finding the area displaying various bedroom furniture pieces. They looked around for a clerk, spotting one down by the beds.
They walked down the aisle, eventually reaching the clerk, who was helping someone else; a moment later, that person wandered off.
Jackson smiled and spoke, "Hi, I want to place a cash order for a fair amount of furniture, wardrobes, dressers, night tables."
"All right, are there specific types you want? An assortment, or same pieces for each type of furniture?"
"Well, the people we're buying for may be opening a bed and breakfast or something like that, we're just getting things for them. Specifically, we want ten of the Fremont six door wardrobes, 20 of the Fremont 6 drawer chests and 20 of the Fremont 3 drawer bedside chests."
"Do you mind if I get a manager? As you're looking to buy that much, I'll ask if we might be able to arrange a small discount."
Jackson smiled again, "Sure, we can wait a few minutes. Thanks."
The clerk wandered off to get the manager. Jackson and Thurston stood quietly until the clerk returned with another person. "Hi, this is Peter, one of our managers, I mentioned how much you guys want to buy and he said he wanted to speak to you directly."
The manager offered his hand, Jackson and Thurston both shook it, then waited for him to speak.
"Well, I heard you're looking to buy quite a few items, I think we can arrange a 10% discount, when do you want the items delivered?"
"If we buy today, would you people be able to deliver some time on Monday?" was Jackson's reply.
"We should be able to. You're lucky, we can just cover the wardrobes you want, the other items are no problem at all."
"Sounds good to me, so where can we sort this all out?" Jackson asked.
"Follow me, please," the manager replied, as he walked toward the cash registers at the entrance to the store. The manager paged to have a clerk come ASAP to their location; a couple of minutes later, a young woman approached them. "Hi, Peter, what's up?"
"These folks want to buy a lot of items, and since they're doing that, I decided that we could give them a small discount. I need you to ring up the sale, then I'll take over and put the discount code in. Here's what they want on their order."
The girl scanned the list, put in her code to open the cash, then started entering the details, ten wardrobes at £879 each, twenty dressers at £329 each, and twenty bedside chests at £199 each, ending with a total of £17,360.
Jackson spoke up at this point, "Oh, I almost forgot, add two of the Chateaux Bedroom seven drawer chests, please."
The clerk added in the cost for the two new dressers, giving a new total of £18,558.
The clerk stepped aside, the manager replacing her, tapping in a code for the discount, then he said, "Your total cost is now £16,702.20; we'll be delivering a large number of items, so a delivery charge of £200 on that, we'll call it a flat £16,900 for items and delivery."
Jackson nodded, a broad smile spreading across his face. That would leave them about £700 for any extra expenses. "Sounds great."
"Will that be cash or credit card, sir?" the clerk enquired, having taken her place back at the register to finish it all.
"Cash, thanks," Jackson responded as he pulled out the pile of bills from his jeans pocket and counted out the amount.
The clerk watched as he counted out the £100 bills to the correct amount, then counted the money herself and completed the transaction.
"Thank you very much, gentlemen, we're happy to have your business. Have a great day!"
Jackson grinned as he stuffed the remainder of the cash back into his pocket, and he and his brother exited the store.
**********
26. Saturday, December 21, 2013 10:14 AM GMT Outside DFS Store, Milton Keynes
Jackson unlocked the van, the two men climbed in and buckled up; Jackson started the vehicle as his phone rang.
"Hello, Jackson Marcham speaking, who may I ask is calling?"
"Hello, I'm making a delivery for Linthorpe Beds, but there's no one at the address here."
"Oh, sorry about that, we've been sorting out other things in Milton Keynes; if you can wait, we'll be there in about fifteen minutes."
"About fifteen minutes? All right, we'll be here, see you soon."
Jackson turned to his brother and grinned, "The bedding is waiting for us at the new house, let's go deal with it."
**********
27. Saturday, December 21, 2013 10:35 AM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Jackson pulled into the drive of the new house at 10:35 AM, a large delivery truck was parked off to one side.
The two brothers stepped out of the van, Jackson locking it, then walked over to the two guys standing by the delivery truck.
"Hiya, I'm Jackson, this is my brother Thurston, I see you brought all of the bed stuff for us."
"Yeah, we did. I'm John, this is Bob. These things aren't all that heavy, but they can be a bit awkward."
"Well, if we did it alone, it would take longer; with four of us, it would go quicker, that's for sure."
"Ahhhh, well, technically, we're only supposed to deliver the items, but yeah, you're right. We'll help."
The next hour or so saw the four men hauling the various bed frames and mattresses up to the rooms scattered all over the house. At 11:45 AM, the last mattress was dropped on top of the last bed, in the sixth attic room. The four men stood there, just chilling.
Jackson turned to the delivery guys and shook their hands, followed by his brother. "Thanks for the help, guys, that wasn't easy." He then dug into a pocked, having decided to be nice to the guys, and handed John £100. "That's for both of you, have fun this Christmas."
The two delivery men, pleasantly surprised by the gift, waved at the brothers and left the house. The truck rumbled off a few minutes later.
**********
28. Saturday, December 21, 2013 11:55 AM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope
Jackson and his brother had gone down to the cellar, taken a quick look, then decided it could wait until after lunch. As they were heading out the door to the van, Jackson locking the house up, he mentioned having heard of the Slug & Lettuce pub in Milton Keynes.
Unlocking the van, the brothers jumped in and were soon ready to chase some lunch. "Anywhere with food works for me," said Thurston.
Jackson laughed. "Then I guess we're off to the Slug & Lettuce!" He started the engine, turned the van and left the property.
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29. Saturday, December 21, 2013 12:25 PM GMT Slug & Lettuce Pub, Milton Keynes
It had taken them a bit longer than they thought it would to get to the pub, having to go back and forth didn't help much.
The two men stepped out of the van, Jackson locking it, then they entered the pub, looking around for a moment. They spotted a table off to one side of the pub, and seeing no one at the entry, they walked back to the table and sat down.
They had been sitting there for a few minutes when a woman approached the table. "Hello, gentlemen, what would you like?"
Jackson asked for a coffee, Thurston agreed, and both men asked for a menu. "I'll bring that in a moment, gentlemen."
They waited semi-patiently, the woman returning with two mugs with individual creams on the saucer, a pot of coffee and two menus tucked under her arm. She poured the coffee for them, pointed to the sugar on the table and set a menu in front of each of them, then left.
Both men liked their coffee black with sugar, so they added sugar as desired, leaving the individual creams on the saucer. They sat there, enjoying the freshly brewed coffee, looking through the menu. Jackson thought the beef and double Gloucester pie would do for him. Thurston nodded, figured he would likely order that as well and mentioned that they could split a plate of nachos. Jackson agreed.
When the woman returned, they placed their order and returned to drinking their coffee.
"The fun work starts once we get back to the house," Jackson opined, "all that drywall that has to be done."
Thurston nodded. "Yeah, but compared to some jobs we've done, this is a small one, we should be able to finish it some time tomorrow."
"You're right, remember the time we ended up working for that one guy and had to drywall the whole six bedroom house? Ouch!"
Thurston stated, "At least there's only two electrical outlets down there, one at the bottom of the stairs, the other at the back end."
"Yeah, I was expecting that space to be used as a laundry room or workshop space, didn't see much of anything down there."
Thurston chuckled, replying, "Not our problem, I guess, all we have to worry about is getting that drywall installed."
Jackson shook his head, thinking for a moment, "The studs were already there, it seems odd they never did anything down there. Whoever had the place must have been thinking about using the space for something or other, but they left it pretty much bare bones."
Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of their food, the meals placed in front of them, the nachos in the middle of the table.
The smell coming from the pies was causing the men to salivate, and the nachos were tempting their fingers to go walking. Both men picked up their fork, cut a piece from the pie and tasted it; they turned to each other and both said "Wow!" only a split second apart.
After that, there was no conversation, just the steady demolishing of the pies and the occasional grab of some nachos by sneaky fingers.
The woman wandered by again, carrying a fresh pot of coffee; both men asked for refills which she poured before moving on.
Another twenty minutes passed before the two men stopped eating, rubbed their stomachs and leaned back in their seats, totally stuffed. Their plates had been cleaned quite thoroughly, only a few traces of gravy showing, and there were maybe half a dozen nachos left.
Thurston groaned, "If I eat even one more bite, they'll have to roll me out of here, but damn, that was some bloody good food!"
Jackson was in no better shape than his brother and nodded his agreement. "Awesome food!" was all that he could say.
The woman wandered by yet again, coffee pot in hand, noticed them leaning back in the seat and grinned. "Two satisfied customers, I see."
The men nodded, Jackson asking her to bring the bill. She said she would and continued on her rounds with the coffee pot.
She returned a few minutes later and placed the bill on the table; Jackson dropped £40 on the little tray, she picked it up and left. She was back fairly quickly with the change. Jackson left the five pound note there after pocketing the rest. The men stood up and slowly walked out.
**********
30. Saturday, December 21, 2013 1:30 PM GMT Outside Slug & Lettuce Pub, Milton Keynes
As they climbed into the van outside the pub, Jackson growled, "I don't think we're going to be doing anything for an hour or so."
Thurston nodded, "That was one darn good meal."
Once they were both buckled in, Jackson started the engine, backed out of the little lot by the pub, and drove down Midsummer Blvd; turning left at Secklow Gate, he followed that down to Avebury Blvd., turned west on Avebury going over to V6, then turned north on that street and followed it out of the city. After wandering around the backroads for a while, and two wrong turns, they eventually reached the house.
They stepped out of the van still moving slowly, Jackson making sure to lock it, then headed into the house. They needed to relax a bit after that meal, so they walked up to one of the kids' bedrooms on the first floor, sat down on the bed and just chilled.
About 45 minutes later, they were feeling a bit more alive and ready to get on with the work. They headed down to the cellar.
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31. Saturday, December 21, 2013 2:40 PM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
They entered the cellar, making their way to the drywall sheets stacked at the back of the cellar. The wall studs were set every 16 inches except for one part on the inner wall that ran right up to the steps. The last two studs toward the back there were about 18 inches apart.
They had forgotten about the wine racks. Since they were empty, they each took one up to the ground floor setting it against a side wall of the kitchen, then Jackson came up the stairs again with the third one in his hands and set it with the other two, then they went back down.
The short wall at the back end of the cellar wouldn't be a problem; the longest wall was fine as well, the studs on both were 24 inches apart. The hardest part of the job would be doing the wall going up the stairs, but all in all, it wasn't going to be very difficult.
They had decided to place the sheets vertically, even though that wasn't standard practice, as the ceiling here was not quite 81 inches high. Whoever had originally built the place was darned good, they couldn't find a deviation in height anywhere greater than 1/8". Jackson measured each board, then cut off enough of the length to ensure that each piece would sit snug from ceiling to floor.
Thurston had pulled out the adhesive and was running it along several of the studs, Jackson picked up one of the drywall sheets, waited until his brother had capped the adhesive and set it down out of the way, then handed the sheet to him, pointing to the inner wall close to the stairs. Thurston took the sheet, carefully laid it across four studs, then held it as Jackson tapped in several drywall nails to hold it in place.
They proceeded to work their way along the wall, using the adhesive, holding a piece in place, putting in nails to secure it, until they reached the last part of that wall, which was about three feet wide. They had been marking the stud locations as they went along so they knew where to put the screws in, and Jackson used a tape measure to get measurements for the next piece.
He cut it a wee bit wider than the actual measurement, then waited while Thurston used the adhesive on the studs. Jackson pushed the piece into the space, then checked to make sure it was snug from top to bottom before hammering in nails to secure it all.
With that wall ready, they plugged in the power screwdriver, tested it, and were pleasantly surprised when it worked. They set screws in the studs to further secure the drywall sheets, spacing the screws about every eight inches along the studs.
They moved the leftover drywall sheets to the wall they had already prepped, then worked on the back wall, three pieces upright filled it darn near perfectly. although they had to cut out a small piece to fit the drywall around an electrical socket. The longest wall was next, the actual placing of the drywall didn't require a lot of time, it was just a series of movements in a particular order, repeat as needed. Here, too, they had to cut a small piece out for an electrical socket. The hardest part of placing the drywall was about to start, the area going up the stairs.
The first piece on the last wall wasn't a problem, that would come with the other pieces for that wall. Jackson didn't particularly like having to cut chunks out of the board to rather specific measurements, but there wasn't anything to be done about it.
Once the middle piece for that had been cut, Jackson carried it over and set it in place; it fit well enough, although there were tiny gaps here and there. He removed it, waited while Thurston used the adhesive, then held it in place as Thurston tapped in the nails.
The next piece was even more fun. To keep the top level with the other two pieces, they needed to cut a lot more off, precise measurements were needed, so Jackson measured, made little notes, and went to work cutting the board down to the required measurements.
They set this one in place, then looked at that wall again. The last part of the work today would be placing the drywall above the pieces already in place, to fill the part of the wall from the sloping ceiling down to the pieces they'd finished. This took a bit of standing on various steps to get measurements, then calculating what cuts were needed. It took another thirty minutes, but all the walls were finally covered.
The work had kept the two men busy, so they hadn't kept track of the time at all. Jackson pulled out his cell phone, took a look and was quite surprised to find that it was almost 9 PM, they'd been working steadily for over six hours.
Jackson grabbed the mesh tape and spent the next twenty minutes covering all the seams between separate pieces. Thurston had watched as Jackson did that, knowing it was easier for one person to do it rather than have two people crossing paths and getting in the way.
Once that was done, Jackson called it a day. "Thurston, bro, it's 9:15 PM, all that's left now is doing the joint compound layers, and after that, if we're up to it, we can do a layer of drywall primer/sealer. I don't think they care if this space isn't painted up all pretty."
Thurston looked over at his brother. "Yeah, I agree, I doubt they'd give a darn."
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32. Saturday, December 21, 2013 09:20 PM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
The brothers walked out the front door. Jackson locked it, then they walked to the van, entered it, buckled in and Jackson started the engine, saying "I'm hungry enough, I don't really care what I eat, just as long as I get enough to revive me a bit after all that work we just did."
Thurston was in complete agreement with his brother. "How does Burger King® sound? A couple Whoppers® and fries would do nicely."
Jackson thought for a moment, then said, "What the heck, their burgers aren't the best, but they beat McDonald's® hands down."
Jackson turned the van around and left the property, taking the back roads into Milton Keynes.
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33. Saturday, December 21, 2013 09:40 PM GMT Burger King® @ intu Milton Keynes, Milton Keynes
After parking in one of the spaces in the parking area this shopping centre had, the two men used the stairs to head up to the shops. Once they were up at the level of the shops, they wandered around for a few minutes before Jackson spotted the Burger King® shop.
Entering the shop, they joined the line. Several minutes later, a cashier called them and they moved up to the counter. "Two double cheeseburgers for me, regular fries, and a root beer, please." Thurston ordered the same.
"You can each get one of those double cheeseburgers as a meal deal, £2.99, and the second double cheeseburger for £1.49."
Both men agreed, there was absolutely nothing wrong with saving some money if the chance arose.
"Okay, then, two double cheeseburger meal deals, and two double cheeseburgers, that will be £8.96, please."
Jackson pulled the money out of his pocket, extracted a ten pound note, and handed it to her. "If there's any change, keep it, please."
"Thank you, gentlemen, have a good evening."
They had to wait for about five minutes before they received their food and two cups for their pop. They filled the cups up with root beer, then they walked toward the front of the restaurant, finally finding a bench table about halfway there. They placed the food on the table and sat down, Jackson on one side of the table, Thurston on the other. They unwrapped their burgers and dug in.
For each of them, the first burger was gone in just a few minutes, they didn't start to slow down until they unwrapped the second one. They took their time somewhat on the second, grabbing a fry here and there, drinking some pop, but it made little difference. They hadn't even been seated for fifteen minutes, they had both eaten their burgers and most of their fries, their cups of pop were still about half full.
They sat there reminiscing about jobs they had done in the past, some places they had been, reliving some good memories. When they finally finished their drinks, Jackson carried the tray to the trash bins and emptied it, then they walked out of the shop.
It took a few minutes for them to find the stairs, then they headed down to the parking area and the van.
After the van was unlocked, they hopped in and buckled up; Jackson started the engine and they were on their way to the hotel.
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34. Saturday, December 21, 2013 10:15 PM GMT Ramada Inn, Milton Keynes
Arriving at the hotel, they left the van, locked it and walked through the lobby, heading up to their room on the second floor. When a security person approached them, Jackson and Thurston pulled out the room keys and continued on their way.
Inside the room, they realized it had been a long day, both wanted to sleep. They stripped to Ts and boxers and were in bed a minute later.
**********
35. Sunday, December 22, 2013 7:50 AM GMT Ramada Inn, Milton Keynes
Jackson woke up without using the alarm for the second day in a row. The sky was starting to lighten, the sun not yet over the horizon.
He got up, grabbed a towel and walked into the bathroom. He hopped into the shower, coming out again about ten minutes later, no shampoo in the eye today, at least. He noticed that Thurston was just waking up as he picked up his clothes and got dressed.
Thurston stood up, grabbed his own towel and headed for the shower; he also was finished about ten minutes later, and quickly dressed.
Both were impatient, wanting the work to be finished, and hungry, they would need fuel for the work they would be doing.
Both of them made sure that they had their keys, then they left the room, and a few minutes later, the hotel.
**********
36. Sunday, December 22, 2013 8:25 AM GMT McDonald's near N Grafton roundabout, Milton Keynes
Like the day before, they went to McDonald's® for breakfast. They returned to the one they had visited yesterday. They each ordered two Sausage McMuffins® with egg, hash browns and a medium coffee and paid. They found a table, sat down and unwrapped the sandwiches.
Again, like the day before, the Sausage McMuffins® with egg didn't last long. This time, the men relaxed over the coffee and hash browns.
Thurston thought for a moment, then said, "We should pick up the drywall primer/sealer, I don't think we got that the other day."
"There's a couple of Wickes stores around here, they sell sealer, but I don't think they open until 10 AM today, maybe later."
Thurston replied, "We can go to the house and start doing the joint compound layers, I just remembered that we're going to need to let each layer dry for about 24 hours before we can do the next one. With the setting type we got, that means at least two days before sealing."
Jackson nodded, "Sounds like a plan to me. I guess that means we'll need to stay at the hotel for an extra day, maybe two." They finished their food, emptied the trays into the trash bin and left the restaurant.
He unlocked the van, they jumped in, buckled up and Jackson started the engine, then headed away from the McDonald's® parking area. They needed to go down Elder Gate to Silbury Blvd., take Silbury Blvd. over to V6, then they were on the way out of the city.
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37. Sunday, December 22, 2013 9:11 AM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
After parking the van near the front door, the men got out, locked it and headed into the house, then down into the cellar. They checked the joint compound, it was the setting type with a set time of 180 minutes. Jackson commented, "That should give us plenty of time to use what we prep, the problem is we don't want to prep too much or we could end up wasting it. Better to have too little, and make more if needed."
Thurston replied, "I remember seeing some big pots in the stuff we hauled out yesterday, we could use a couple of those for mixing it."
Jackson nodded, "Would you mind going out there and grabbing those? Grab something we can use to stir the stuff, too."
Thurston shrugged, turned and headed up the stairs. He was back a few minutes later with three large pots and a cracked wooden spoon. He dropped the pots on the floor and the spoon in one of the pots. "I hope these are satisfactory."
Jackson was looking at the ceiling. "We still have over a dozen drywall sheets, I'd say do the ceiling, but with no studs I doubt it would work. Oh, well, the sooner we get the first layer of this joint compound done, the sooner we can chill for the rest of the day."
The two men took their coats off and set them out of the way around the corner at the top of the stairs.
They put some water in one pot, brought it down, mixed in some of the joint compound and stirred it until it was ready. The two men set out different sized drywall knives, picked up 6 inch ones and started working on covering the tapes over the seams. They took their time, trying to make sure to spread it in a nice, even coat, yet keep it as thin as possible while covering everything.
They worked their way around the room, seam by seam. In each corner, they applied the joint compound on both sides, then ran a strip of paper tape down the corner, running the drywall knife firmly from top to bottom on each side to ensure a firm fit. The mix they had prepped ran out about halfway through the job, so they mixed some more and continued to cover all the seams.
They weren't worried about doing an absolutely perfect job, a reasonably well done one would be sufficient.
When they finished covering the last seam, they both sighed in relief, they'd been bending and/or stretching for more than three hours.
**********
38. Sunday, December 22, 2013 12:35 PM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Both men headed up to the kitchen and spent a few minutes washing their tools and their hands, removing small bits of the partly dried compound. After scrubbing their hands as thoroughly as they could, they went back down and used a sheet to dry them off.
The work was done for the day, well, for this day, at least. Now they had to decide what to do with their free time.
Jackson leaned against one of the kitchen counters, he'd been thinking about the reason they were doing the work down there. "You know, Thurston, the women want to have several cages down there, somewhere they can put the kids when they first bring them here. I suppose we both have the ability to build some basic frameworks for stuff like that, but if they want good work, they need to have the best worker, right?"
Thurston nodded, thinking himself. "Are you thinking of that guy, Purdles or whatever his name is, that makes cages for hunters?"
Jackson replied, "Yeah, I've seen a few items he's made, he usually does ones with bars, but he's made solid ones as well. I think I might have his card in my wallet, let me take a look." He pulled his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans and started sifting through several cards. A few minutes later, he grinned and said, "Yup, I thought I still had it. I need to let Elspeth know about this guy, I guess I should call her."
Thurston grabbed his jacket and put it on. "Okay, Jackson, I think I'll go outside and get a bit of fresh air, let me know when you're done."
**********
39. Sunday, December 22, 2013 12:54 PM GMT Pindle Manor, Pindle End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Jackson set the card with Purdleston's info on it on the kitchen counter and dialled Elspeth's number; it rang twice before she answered.
"Hello, Elspeth Parks speaking, who may I ask is calling?"
"Hi, Elspeth, it's Jackson. I think I may have solved a problem you have at the moment."
"Hi, Jackson. You have? What on earth would that be?" Elspeth was getting excited, she wanted everything to be ready by the New Year.
"Yep, you said to me the other day that you need several cages for your abductees."
"Yes, I did say that, I want to have at least four, more than that would be even better."
"Well, I know someone who can probably make as many as you want, and do a darn good job of it. His name is Ray Purdleston, he's made heavy duty cages for hunters for the last ten years or so, solid cages would be a snap." He read off a phone number. "Write that down."
Elspeth nodded, saying at the same time as she scribbled the info on a scrap of paper, "Doing that now, I'll call him in a bit."
"Yeah, like I said, he's made stuff like that for years."
"Oh, Jackson, just how much space is there in the cellar? And where would be the best spot to put the cages?"
"Well, starting from right beside the stairs, it's 27'4" to the back wall. Make each cage three feet wide max, you could put nine in a row."
Elspeth rarely used crass words, but now she was ecstatic. "Damn! Nine, huh? I was figuring four would be good, but nine is fantastic!"
"Okay. Just to let you know, we did the first coat of the joint compound, we'll do another tomorrow, and the primer/sealer on Tuesday. The only thing that might slow it down at all is if it doesn't dry completely that fast, we might have to wait a bit longer each time in that case."
"Hopefully you won't have that problem. Thanks for the info, Jackson, I'd better call him before I forget."
"All right. I'll call some time tomorrow to let you know what's going on. Bye." Putting on his coat, he went out to join his brother.
**********
40. Sunday, December 22, 2013 1:10 PM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Elspeth was so happy, she was just a hair away from bouncing around the flat. The excitement wasn't helping, she suddenly had to run to the loo; she closed the door, dropped her phone on the back of the sink, dropped her skirt and knickers, and sat down in the nick of time.
When she was quite sure that she was finished, she wiped herself, and made herself presentable again. She washed and dried her hands, then headed back out to the kitchen and dining area, phone in hand. She sat down at the table and dialled the number she had received.
It rang a few times, then someone answered the call, "Hello, Ray Purdleston speaking, who is calling?"
Elspeth responded, named herself, then informed him as to how she managed to have his phone number.
"Ahhhh, Jackson. Yes, I remember him, he does odd jobs for cash. I gave him one of my cards, that must have been three years ago?"
"Yes, well he told me that you might be able to do some work for me. I need nine solid cages, three feet wide maximum, four feet long, three feet high. The door needs to be solid, with an inset square of plexiglass, and a piece at the bottom that can be pulled out. These would also need to be in parts, and assembled here, as the entry to where they would be placed is about 30 inches wide."
"Hmmmm... I can do it, I would need about two weeks, maybe a bit longer. What would they be used for?"
"I plan on getting several large dogs, and to have them trained to protect myself, my sister and our new property."
"All right. As I said, two weeks minimum to make them. Cost will be £30,000. That is acceptable?"
"Certainly, I can either write a check now, or pay you in cash when the cages are completely built. Money is not a problem."
"Excellent, I will get started on them tomorrow, and I will call you when the parts are ready to be fully assembled."
"Thank you, sir, I hope you have a good day."
"Same to you, ma'am. Bye now," as he ended the call.
**********
41. Sunday, December 22, 2013 1:15 PM GMT Pindle Manor, Pindle End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Jackson had joined his brother outside and the two had been standing in the cool, fresh air for about fifteen minutes.
Thurston looked over at Jackson, "I've been thinking, I doubt there's much going on today, the only thing that I could come up as a sure bet would be one of the theatres, we could watch something, when it ended, wait for something else to start, then watch that."
Jackson laughed. "Yeah, that's possible, but why? If we want to spend money to watch films and stuff, we have pay per view in our room. There's likely more available there than we could get at a theatre, even one with several shows running."
"Yeah, that's true. Well, it was just an idea."
"I gave Purdleston's info to Elspeth, I suspect she's already called him about the cages."
"Probably, I guess we're heading back to the hotel eventually? Should we get lunch somewhere first?" Thurston asked.
"How about KFC? I could murder a bucket right now, heck, we could get two with some sides, and keep the leftovers in the bar fridge."
"Sounds good to me, no reason to stay here right now."
"Okay, let's go then," as he unlocked the van and jumped up into his seat, Thurston joined him a moment later.
Jackson started the engine and headed off the property for the last time that day.
**********
42. Sunday, December 22, 2013 1:35 PM GMT Ray Purdleston's Workshop, Herongate, Brentwood
Ray unlocked the door to the large workshop behind his shabby four bedroom house on the edge of Herongate and grinned. He hadn't had a decent bit of work to do for a few weeks now, and he'd just been asked to make NINE heavy duty cages for someone. He'd thought it amusing when she tried to say the cages would be for large dogs, but whatever she actually would use them for didn't really matter to him.
He had told her that he would likely start the next day, but he found he couldn't wait that long, he'd been waiting for a decent job like this. He looked around the large workshop, converted from an old barn that was part of the property when he obtained it ten years before.
Ray was a big man, crewcut length greying hair, 51 years old, 6'5 in stocking feet and just under 260 lbs., most of it good, solid muscle. He was dressed in a pair of heavy jeans, a XXX size plain t-shirt and a XXX lightweight lumberjack jacket.
He'd started out working with wood and steel just after his twelfth birthday, after discovering the two shops only a few doors apart from each other just a ten minute walk from his home in East London. Both had closed down for good before he turned twenty, but he had spent many an hour in each of the shops before that, listening and learning, working one weekend with the master carpenter, the next with the steel smith, and dropping in for an hour or two of an evening whenever he found himself with a bit of free time on his young hands.
He had taken a year off after his A levels were done, deciding he wanted more hands on experience with the two masters. He wept when the carpenter died that fall from lung complications, and when the steel smith lost his property when his wife divorced him the next spring.
By then, he himself was pretty handy in either craft, and when he put an ad up looking to continue his training in both crafts, he was expecting to likely be hired for one, but not both. Well, that was where things took an interesting turn for him.
About a week after posting the ad, he got a reply, asking him to call after 6 PM, and to ask for either Robert or Thomas. He was curious, and so that evening, he called the number they had left, was put through to Robert, who made the following proposition: He, Ray, could come up to where they lived just outside Manchester, and apprentice to both of them for the next five years to get his accreditation.
Ray jumped at the opportunity. His parents knew that he wanted to work with both materials and had watched him over the years, so when he told them that he could get full accreditation for BOTH in just five years, they told him to follow his dream.
That was all Ray needed to know, he packed his belongings and clothes into two cases and was off in the ten year old Ford the next day.
Those five years had gone by so fast, he received his master's certificate in both trades, and opened his own shop for both trades. For the next fifteen years, he had worked industriously, building a name for himself due to the care and effort he put into every piece he made.
Then, not quite eleven years ago, some hunter, he couldn't remember who it had been, had him make two high quality steel bar cages. The price offered had been much better than what he usually charged for his best pieces, and he gradually lost interest in his usual work.
About a year after that, he'd moved to his present location, where he switched over to making cages for hunters and others. The new business, although jobs were not constant, still kept him well off enough that he could live with the idle times now and then.
Ray shook his head, shrugging off the thoughts of how he had come to this place, and smiled. "Time to get to work again."
**********
43. Sunday, December 22, 2013 1:40 PM GMT KFC, Erica Rd., Wolverton, Milton Keynes
Jackson and Thurston had gone into Milton Keynes using the back roads, which were more familiar the more they used them; eventually they reached V6, then turned onto Monks Way, passing by the concrete cows that make Milton Keynes famous, and stopped at the KFC.
They stepped out of the van, locking it, then entered the KFC shop, striding toward the counter. They were stopped short by the fact there were a few people already at the counter and a small line-up, so the two men joined the line and waited to be served.
Several minutes later, just as the two men were beginning to become impatient, their turn to order came. They stepped up to the counter together, Jackson spoke up, "Two family feasts, ten pieces each, please, root beer for the pop, four regular popcorn chicken boxes. Hmmm... wait a minute, add in one deluxe boneless feast with twelve fillets and four honey garlic dip pots, root beer for the pop again, please."
The clerk entered the order in, told Jackson the price; he shrugged and handed her three £20 notes, she gave him his change. The two men wandered down the counter to wait for the order to be processed; when it was ready, they grabbed the bags and left the store.
**********
44. Sunday, December 22, 2013 1:55 PM GMT Ray Purdleston's Workshop, Herongate, Brentwood
Ray had found a few pieces of steel in the thickness he wanted in the storage area of his workshop. The four pieces he found were a bit bigger than the three foot by 1.5 foot size he needed for the back pieces of the cages, so he figured he could prep them now.
He laid out a large piece of one inch think plywood on the floor, carefully shifted the first steel plate until it was over the plywood, then lowered it until it was lying on the plywood; he shifted it one way, then another so that it was roughly centered on the board.
He took out a measuring tape, made marks on the sheet, then drew lines to show where to cut. Placing his power saw on the floor next to him, he put on a heavy vest, a pair of custom sized work gloves, a pair of heavy duty safety glasses, a face shield and ear protectors.
There was a steel work table just behind him, where he usually placed his power saw and a few other items for quick access. Resting against the leg of the table closest to him was a fire extinguisher, he figured he wouldn't need it, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
He picked the saw up, turned it on, checked the blade was turning correctly, then slowly lowered it to the line he had marked on it that ran the length of the sheet. He carefully and slowly worked his way along that line. He was glad to have a set of blades specifically for cutting metal; even with that type of blade, this was a fairly slow process, it was a good fifteen minutes before he reached the end of the line he'd drawn due to the thickness of the sheet. He then turned and repeated the process along the shorter side of the sheet.
Once the cutting on that sheet was done, he turned off the saw, set it aside and went to sit down in the workshop's office; from there, he could see almost all of the workshop except for the section that was beside the shorter inside wall of the office, which had no window.
He picked up a magazine featuring several of the construction trades, and spent some time reading an article or two. When thirty minutes had passed, he went back out into the main room, carefully picked up the now smaller sheet and set it against the inner side wall of the office. He shoved the scrap pieces off of the plywood board and checked the board was still big enough to be useful for the next piece.
Over the next three hours, he repeated the process with each of the other three pieces of steel, stacking each one with the first. The only change in the routine came when he removed the first plywood board and set a new piece down after finishing the second steel sheet.
He didn't mind doing stuff like cutting pieces to the size he needed, but he was glad that he wouldn't need to do that with the sheets he would be ordering in the morning. The company he would buy them from would cut them to any size he wanted, saving him some work.
**********
45. Sunday, December 22, 2013 2:05 PM GMT Ramada Inn parking, Milton Keynes
After leaving the KFC, they had unlocked the truck, jumped in, buckled up, and once the engine was running, Jackson drove to the Ramada Inn parking. They left the van, locked it, then entered the hotel, managing to get over to the stairs without any hassle. The two men trotted up the stairs to the second floor, turning toward their room; Jackson used his key, they entered, took their jackets off and sat on the beds.
Jackson took a quick look around the room; there were two arm chairs, one on each side of the room, he pointed to one and then to the countertop the TV was sitting on. Thurston nodded, grabbed the one chair and brought it over, Jackson brought the second one.
Dropping the two chairs a bit off to either side of the TV, each of them grabbed a bucket, set it on their laps and opened it. Jackson reached down for the TV remote, turned the TV on, accessed the pay per view and picked out a movie they both wanted to watch. The movie wouldn't be starting for another five minutes or so, so the two guys reached into their buckets and started in on the still hot chicken.
Several minutes later, the movie started, and except for looking down to grab another piece of chicken, they were glued to the screen. About halfway through the movie, Jackson reached into his bucket and came up empty, he'd eaten the whole darn thing! A quick look over at his brother made it clear that he was in the same predicament. That's when they remembered the fries and other items.
They were slightly annoyed about the other food items being cold, then Jackson noticed the microwave. He laughed out loud, they had been in the room twice before and they had apparently either not seen the microwave or had overlooked it as part of the decor. They each tossed in a couple of the individual fries packets, then waited for the microwave to finish before reaching in to grab the rather hot fries.
Both of them hopped around the room for a moment, then Jackson grabbed a towel, sat down and placed his reheated packets on it. Thurston noticed a moment later, grabbed one of the other towels and also sat down. They both continued to watch the movie.
When the movie ended, they put the empty bucket by the trash can, then put the remaining food into the mini fridge for later.
They picked another movie to watch, settling down in the chairs again as the new movie started, each with a bottle of pop beside him.
**********
46. Sunday, December 22, 2013 10:50 PM GMT Room 205, Ramada Inn, Milton Keynes
It had been a long afternoon and evening of doing very little at all, except for eating now and then and the occasional bathroom breaks. They had watched a total of four movies, with short gaps between them, finished the food and had demolished two of the three bottles of pop.
Jackson yawned, which of course set off his brother; when they realized what time it was, they decided they needed some sleep.
In a little less than five minutes, both men had used the washroom, stripped down to their Ts and burrowed into their beds.
**********
47. Monday, December 23, 2013 09:15 AM GMT Ray Purdleston's Home, Herongate, Brentwood
Ray had been awake for about an hour; he'd had a full English breakfast and was now sipping at his second cup of tea.
He looked at a piece of paper lying on the table next to him and tapped in the number on the cordless phone. It started ringing.
He supposed they must be busy there, or the receptionist wasn't there to take incoming calls, all he could do was wait. After another minute or two, he finally heard someone answer somewhat raggedly, "Hello, Steel Express Maidstone, how may I help you?"
"Hello, thank you for answering my call. I'm looking to buy three of the 4000mm by 2000mm by 12mm steel plates, plus four of the 3000mm by 1500mm by 12mm steel plates; the big ones will need to be cut into pieces 1219mm by 915mm by 12mm, and the smaller ones will need to be cut into pieces 915mm by 458mm by 12mm. I also need to know when all of this can be delivered, please."
"Please hold on a minute, I'll transfer you to the sales department."
Ray sat, waiting for a minute or two before a new person spoke, "Hello, Steel Express Maidstone sales department, how may I help you?"
He stated what he was looking to buy, the need for the pieces to be cut and requested to know when it could all be delivered.
"Please give me a moment, sir, I'll look everything up," she replied. A couple of minutes went by, then she spoke again, "You want three 4000mm by 2000mm by 12mm, to be cut into pieces 1219mm by 915mm by 12mm, and four 3000mm by 1500mm by 12mm, to be cut into pieces 915mm by 458 mm by 12mm, correct? And you wish to know when we could be able to deliver all of it?"
"Correct on all counts, ma'am."
She named a price for all of the pieces and the delivery cost; he wasn't surprised, informed her he was quite willing to pay by credit card, and when requested, gave the necessary information. She informed him a minute or two later that the payment had been accepted.
She then told him that, since the the materials were on site, he would likely receive them the next day, but no later than Thursday.
He thanked her for her help, said goodbye and hung up. He then realized she had said Thursday because Wednesday was Christmas.
**********
48. Monday, December 23, 2013 08:35 AM GMT Room 205, Ramada Inn, Milton Keynes
Somewhere nearby in the hotel, someone was screaming at the top of their lungs. The noise dragged the two men from their slumber. Jackson sat up in his bed, shook his head and looked over at his brother. "Do we want to stay here while whoever it is keeps screaming?"
"Hell, no!" was the reply from Thurston as he shook off the covers, stood up, grabbed his clothes and quickly dressed.
Jackson took him at his word; he also threw off the covers, picked up his clothes, dressed himself and grabbed the last bottle of pop.
They could still hear the screaming, then they heard something shattering; grabbing their coats and room keys, they fled down the stairs.
They noticed a clerk at the desk as they entered the lobby. "Something's happening on the second floor, you might want the police."
The clerk looked up toward the second floor, "Thanks, security went up in the elevator just as you guys came down the stairs."
"Lady, we heard something being smashed up there. I was being very serious when I said you might want to have the police here."
"Oh, I didn't know that, thanks." The clerk picked up the phone, dialling the Newport Pagnell station of the Thames Valley Police.
The men heard the clerk say as they walked out the door, "I'm calling to report a disturbance in the hotel here..."
**********
49. Monday, December 23, 2013 08:47 AM GMT Ramada Inn parking, Milton Keynes
As they hopped into the van after unlocking it, Thurston remarked, "I hope no one ends up hurt with whatever was happening there."
Jackson buckled in and started the engine, "Nothing else we can do, at lease we let her know there was something happening."
He shrugged and steered the van toward the McDonald's® closest to the house, it seemed to be their place for breakfasts here.
**********
50. Monday, December 23, 2013 08:59 AM GMT McDonald's near N Grafton roundabout, Milton Keynes
When they arrived at the McDonald's, they locked the van and headed in, there was no line-up, so they went right up to the counter and each man ordered the same as the day before, two Sausage McMuffins® with egg, hash browns and a medium coffee. Jackson paid.
Once he had been given his change, they found a table, sat down, unwrapped their sandwiches and started eating. There wasn't a lot to talk about; if they were lucky, the coat of joint compound they had done the day before would be dry, and they could do the second coat. If they weren't lucky, they might need to wait a few hours, or maybe another day to do that second coat.
As it had been for the previous two days, the food didn't take very long to disappear, the coffee only lasting a minute or so longer than the food. Once everything was finished, the two men took the trays over to the bins, dumped the scraps in there and walked out the door.
Jackson unlocked the van, they jumped in, Jason started the engine, then buckled up seeing Thurston already had his seat belt on. As he turned out of the McDonald's® lot, he mentioned to Thurston that they needed to pick up the sealer for the cellar.
He drove down Elder Gate all the way to where it connected to Childs Way, turned east, used the S Grafton roundabout to reverse direction in order to make the turn onto Snowdon Dr., then followed Snowdon Drive down to the Wickes store.
Thurston decided to remain in the van this time, as he doubted it would take more than then minutes to get the sealer and return.
Jackson agreed, left the heater on, then headed into the store. As expected, not quite ten minutes later, he returned with the sealer.
Jackson revved the engine a bit, buckled himself in again, then turned around, and after checking traffic, headed north on Snowdon Dr. A few minutes later, they were heading up the V6, following their usual route of the last day or two up to the house.
**********
51. Monday, December 23, 2013 9:26 AM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Jackson parked the van close to the front door of the house, the two men hopped out of the van, Thurston grabbing the sealer just before Jackson could lock the van. They unlocked the house, then headed down into the cellar, Thurston dropping the sealer at the bottom of the steps. Jackson then walked around the cellar, touching the wall at several points where they had been working the day before. Thurston removed his jacket, dropping it by the sealer next to the steps. Jackson noticed, and his coat soon joined Thurston's.
He nodded to himself, smiling as he turned to Thurston, "It feels dry to me, looks like we can do the second layer."
Their tools were there, waiting to be used. Thurston mixed some of the compound, and the two set to work.
**********
52. Monday, December 23, 2013 12:31 PM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
The work had gone a bit faster than the day before, it seemed there were less wasted movements and such.
Once again, the two were a bit tired, more from the bending and stretching than anything else. A good meal would offset that.
Thurston remarked, "As much as it might be easier to stay up here so we can finish tomorrow, I want to sleep at home."
Jackson turned to sniff at his own shoulder, "Yeah, I agree, showers help, but we've been in these clothes since Friday. Ewwww."
Thurston nodded. "I'm not terribly fussy, but three full days in the same clothes is more than enough for me."
"Okay, do we want to hit somewhere in Milton Keynes for food or wait until we're back home in London?"
"Wait until we're back in London, I'm fine for now."
"All right," Jackson remarked, "we should return the room keys to the hotel, should have done it on the way out earlier."
"Oh, damn, you're right, let's wash up, then get back there and hand the keys in."
The two men took the knives they'd used, and the pot, upstairs; they washed the items out thoroughly, then their hands, before returning to the cellar to put the pot and drywall knives by the other tools, then picked up their jackets and left the house, locking it up.
**********
53. Monday, December 23, 2013 12:55 PM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Jackson and Thurston were just about to leave when Jackson's phone rang. He pulled it out and accepted the call.
"Hello, Jackson Marcham speaking, who's calling?"
"Hi, this is Paul Bark, I'm a driver for DFS, I'll be at your gate in about five minutes, I've got a truckload of furniture for you."
"All right, Paul, we'll be waiting. You're lucky, we'd forgotten about the delivery and were about to leave," Jackson chuckled.
Jackson quickly unlocked the van, then moved it out of the way so the delivery truck could get close to the front door.
They heard a horn sounding something like "blaaaat" by the front gate, and looked up just as the truck arrived. It took a bit of careful maneuvering, but about ten minutes later, the back of the truck was as close to the front door as it could get. Paul opened it up.
Jackson and Thurston stared at the furniture in the truck, this was going to take quite a while.
**********
54. Monday, December 23, 2013 1:50 PM GMT Pindle Manor, Pindle End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
They had been working for just under an hour, and they had cleared maybe a third of what was in the truck. Both men were already feeling sore, they didn't often haul furniture up and down stairwells, and they had already done a fair bit of work that day.
They took a short break, about ten minutes, to regain their breath and hopefully energy, then it was back to the grind.
**********
55. Monday, December 23, 2013 1:57 PM GMT Ray Purdleston's Home, Herongate, Brentwood
Ray had taken down Elspeth's phone number when they had made the arrangements for the work he was going to be doing. Checking the number again, he tapped it in on the cordless phone, and waited while it rang several times. Just as he was thinking that it would go to voicemail or something along that line, Elspeth accepted the call, "Hello, Elspeth Parks speaking, who may I ask is calling?"
"Hello, Elspeth, this is Ray Purdleston. I put in an order this morning for the steel pieces I'll need to make your cages. If I'm lucky, they might deliver them tomorrow, otherwise, it will be Thursday before I will be able to start working on the cages."
"Okay, thanks for letting me know, I hope that didn't set you back too much."
"Those plates aren't cheap, but they're solid and the end result will be worth the cost. Materials are part of what I charge for work."
"Thanks again, Raymond. Please let me know when you are ready to deliver the cages to me."
"Understood. I'll call you again when they're ready. Bye," he replied, then he waited a second or two before terminating the call.
**********
56. Monday, December 23, 2013 4:07 PM GMT Pindle Manor, Pindle End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
They had just hauled the last piece of furniture, one of the king size bed frames, into a room intended for Elspeth or Vanessa.
Just as they staggered out the front door, they heard the delivery truck as it turned onto the road and headed back into the city. They stood there, just outside the house, in their jeans and plaid shirts, sweating as if the day were much, much warmer.
A bit over ten minutes passed before either of them felt even semi close to normal; they donned their jackets and jumped in the van. Jackson started the engine, they both buckled up, and Jackson turned and headed out the gate, their destination being the hotel.
**********
57. Monday, December 23, 2013 4:38 PM GMT Ramada Inn, Milton Keynes
Jackson told Thurston to stay in the van as Thurston handed over his room key. "I shouldn't be too long, I hope I don't have to pay again."
He headed into the hotel, walking over to the reception desk. The same clerk that had been there earlier was there now.
"Hi, my brother and I were so distracted by whatever was happening up there when we left earlier we forgot to return our room keys."
"I'm sorry, sir, but check-out time was at 11 AM. Not returning the keys means we have to bill you for an extra day."
Jackson grumbled as he reached into his jeans to get some cash. He paid the bill, receiving some change. "Have a good day, miss."
He turned and almost ran out the door, hopped into the van, buckled in and turned the van toward the nearby street that passed under the motorway. Circling around the back of the services on the southbound side, they eventually were able to join the southbound lanes.
**********
58. Monday, December 23, 2013 6:30 PM GMT Jackson & Thurston's Home, Badgers Road, Badgers Mount, Kent
Jackson parked the van in the short drive beside the tiny house he and Thurston had shared for the last nine years. It had two small bedrooms, and a combined kitchen and dining area which was separated from the tiny living room by a very thin wall.
The two men took off their jackets, hanging them in the small hall closet near the front door.
An old, somewhat battered card table sat in the middle of the kitchen and dining room space, chairs on two of the four sides. They most likely could have found something better than the card table, but neither one of them had really cared enough to even bother looking.
Thurston pulled out one of the chairs, dropping onto its seat with a loud thunk. "Coffee would be nice right now."
Jackson turned around and growled, "Of course you sit down the second you're in the door, and I end up doing the work. Bloody bugger!" He shook his head as he turned back toward the counter; he grabbed the 12 cup coffee pot, filled it and poured the war into the machine. He then dropped a paper filter into the filter basket, opened the fridge, pulled out the can of coffee grounds, and added enough to make it strong.
Jackson turned back to his brother, dropping his cell phone on the table. "Since I'm busy, you can decide what we'll have for supper."
"All right, all right," Thurston grumbled. He looked around to see if there were any flyers advertising discounts on meals. He didn't see anything, so he asked his brother what he wanted, getting a growled, "Anything, as long as it's edible!" in response.
Thurston shook his head, that sure wasn't helping. How was he supposed to decide what the heck to get? After looking around the room again to see if there were any flyers present, he shrugged, then said, "How about we go to the Carvery? It's local and the food is good."
Jackson just stood there, wondering if his brother had been replaced by a changeling, doppleganger or something just as odd.
"Arrrrggghhhh!!!!!! The coffee is just about ready, and you suggest we go to the Carvery. Righty-o! I'll just turn this off now."
Suiting the action to his words, he turned off the coffeepot, stormed over to the hall closet and grabbed his jacket.
**********
59. Monday, December 23, 2013 7:15 PM GMT Toby's Carvery, London Road, Sevenoaks, Kent
The two men entered the Carvery, waited for a minute or two just inside the door, then were shown to a table.
Thurston decided on the gammon, and Jackson chose the beef. They ordered chicken wings, cheese bites and meat balls from the tasters.
The tasters arrived a few minutes later, and the two men munched from one or another, tasting them all. They didn't come to the Carvery or go anywhere else all that often, in fact, this was the first time in a fair while that they had been flush with cash.
They'd managed to eat a fair amount of what was in the three tasters when they found themselves being served the main course.
Both men took a quick sniff of the food in front of them, then they picked up their utensils and cut out that first lovely bite.
Twenty minutes or so passed as they worked their way through the food on their plates, then they picked at the last of the tasters.
When they realized the last scrap of food was gone, they dropped their utensils, wiped their faces with a napkin, and chilled for a moment. The young person who had taken them to the table earlier, saw they were finished, and brought the bill over, handing it to Jackson.
Jackson looked at the total for the meal, placed £25 on the small tray and told the girl to keep any change.
The brothers stood up, donned their coats and walked out into the crisp winter evening.
**********
60. Tuesday, December 24, 2013 07:53 AM GMT Jackson & Thurston's Home, Badgers Road, Badgers Mount, Kent
Jackson woke up, for once he had been sleeping in his own bed. The sky was slowly lightening, but the sun had not yet fully risen.
He lay there for a few minutes, thinking about how nice it had been for the last few days to not have to worry all the time about money. Sometimes he and/or Thurston had work on a semi steady basis, sometimes they didn't, but life had not been dependable for them.
Eventually, he got out of his bed, left his room, grabbed a towel from the linen closet next to the bathroom and went to have a shower.
He came out a little over ten minutes later, drying his hair as he exited from the bathroom, to see Thurston standing there yawning. He walked around Thurston, entered his bedroom, and grabbed a pair of heavy jeans, t-shirt and a plaid shirt like he'd been wearing for the last few days. Pulling some socks and a pair of Y-fronts out of the small dresser, he quickly dressed, then padded out to the kitchen.
They'd had to reheat the coffee that had been just short of being fully perked the day before; it wasn't the best they'd had by a long shot, but it sure wasn't the worst, either. If the truth were to be told, a pot of coffee rarely lasted more than an hour or two in their house.
He looked in the fridge to see what they had available for breakfast, and found some bacon, four breakfast sausages that were one day past the 'eat by' date but still smelled okay, four eggs and three medium sized potatoes, he could cut those to make home fries.
As Thurston exited the bathroom, he was sorely assaulted by the smells coming from the kitchen only a few feet away.
"That smells damn good, bro, I'm guessing the last of it will be ready by the time I get dressed?"
Jackson nodded, flipping the sliced potatoes, the sausages, bacon and eggs all sitting on a large platter on the counter by the stove.
Thurston almost ran into his room, grabbed the first clean pair of socks and undies he could find, same for jeans, t-shirt and plaid shirt, and threw it all on as fast as he could. This didn't quite work out as planned, he put the plaid shirt on, then tried to put on the t-shirt, only to realize he had it backward. It took another minute or two before he managed to correct it and was dressed properly.
The potatoes would be ready in about a minute; Jackson tossed the platter with the other food into the microwave to warm it up. He then reached into one of the cupboards over the kitchen counters, pulled down two plates and split the bacon, sausages and eggs between the two. Turning back to the stove, he turned off the burner, shifted the frying pan over to a cold burner, and served the potatoes.
Thurston entered the kitchen just as Jackson set the two plates on the table. Jackson had been focusing on making the food to the point that he had forgotten that the coffee in the pot was cold. He poured what remained into two mugs and warmed it up in the microwave.
When the microwave had finished, he placed the mugs on the table, then grabbed sugar and milk and set them on the table.
Finally, he could sit down and relax for a little while; the smell of the food while he had been cooking had been making his stomach rumble. He wasted no time at all, he speared a sausage and had bitten off half of it before he even realized it.
A chunk of egg followed that soon enough, and he was barely aware of his brother sitting there eating his own food. He noticed the mug off to one side, put a bit of sugar and milk in, stirred it and drank a good quarter of what was in the mug.
The food was gone from both plates within ten minutes, both men sat back and enjoyed the rest of their coffee.
**********
61. Tuesday, December 24, 2013 08:50 AM GMT Jackson & Thurston's Home, Badgers Road, Badgers Mount, Kent
After cleaning up the kitchen space, Jackson and Thurston donned their jackets, then headed out into the early winter morning. Jackson unlocked the van as usual, and after they were buckled in, he started the engine, looked behind, then edged out into the road.
They took the A224 northbound all the way up to the A20, where they turned west; the sun wasn't all that bright, with it being the early days of winter. Eventually, the A20 joined the A2 and they continued north and west into the heart of London. The A2 turned into the A201, then a few minutes later they shifted over to the A302, heading for Westminster Bridge.
Jackson wasn't really sure as to why he had decided to go through the heart of London today, the river and the sight of Big Ben on the west side make it worthwhile. He continued down Birdcage Walk, then turned onto Spur Rd. so they could drive past Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial. Constitution Hill was next, then they turned into the circle that was Duke of Wellington Place on the south and west, and Piccadilly on the north, before turning onto the northbound Park Lane.
From there, they followed almost the identical route Elspeth had taken a few days before. The only difference was that they didn't go as far as Marble Arch; instead, they turned onto the A5, following that all the way up to the N Circular Rd. and the access to the M1.
Now that they were on the motorway, the miles began to flow by at a somewhat faster pace.
**********
62. Tuesday, December 24, 2013 10:20 AM GMT Junction 14, M1 Motorway, Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes
Jackson turned off the M1 here, following the A509 over to V6, then turned north, turning onto Patriot Dr. so they could hit the Trade Point store, as they needed to get a roller sleeve, a roller with a bit of reach and a tray.
Jackson decided to go in by himself, Thurston being content to wait in the van. It took Jackson several minutes to find the items he wanted, then he had to wait in line for a few minutes. Once he had paid, he carried the items out to the van and they were off again.
Ten minutes later, they were parking at the house. They jumped out, Jackson locked the van, unlocked the front door and in they went. They carried in the items that Jackson had just bought, dropping their jackets on the kitchen counter before going down into the cellar.
Jackson made a quick tour around the space, checking the locations they'd worked on to see if they were dry. He gave a thumbs up to his brother, who took that as a signal to open the can of sealer, pour some into the tray and start working around the room.
They traded off about every half hour; this took a bit longer, as they were covering all of the drywall, not just the seams and corners. Bit by bit, changing back and forth, they made progress, eventually finding themselves doing the wall going up the side of the stairs. They had had to add sealer to the tray twice during the process, but that had hardly slowed them down at all.
Jackson ran the roller along the last bit of wall, then slumped, almost falling into the wall that had just been done. He laughed as he remembered a time or three, doing similar work, where he hadn't managed to catch himself in time and had been painted himself.
He wandered back down the stairs, dropping the roller into the tray and pulled out his phone to check the time, 2:17 PM.
He walked around the cellar space, looking at the walls; as far as he could tell, it looked okay. "I think we're done, bro. Thank God."
Thurston nodded and took a moment to stretch his whole body; Jackson was a wee bit sore, and a stretch felt darn good to him as well.
"Well, let's clean ourselves and these things up, and leave them for Elspeth to store somewhere. Then I'll call her, tell her we're done."
**********
63. Tuesday, December 24, 2013 2:35 PM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
They had just finished cleaning the items they had used, scrubbing their hands as thoroughly as they could helped to remove most of what had ended up on their hands as they worked. They used an old bed sheet to dry their hands off, then leaned against the counter to relax.
Jackson pulled out the phone again, dialling Elspeth's number, then waited as the phone rang four or five times.
"Hello, Elspeth Parks speaking, who may I ask is calling?"
"Hi, Elspeth, it's Jackson, we just finished doing the sealer, that's our work done; we'll be heading back to London in a little while."
"Thank you, Jackson, the two of you have made it a much better possibility that we will be ready early in the new year."
"That's good. So I guess you're just waiting for the cages to be prepped, brought up here and finished?"
"Yes, that's right. Oh... I just realized there's one more thing that needs to be done, but it can wait until after Christmas."
"All right. Well, I hope you girls have a good Christmas, Thurston and I will likely just relax at home, since the work is all done."
"Well, if you want, you boys could come over around mid-afternoon tomorrow, I'll be serving a small turkey dinner at 3 PM."
"That sounds great, Elspeth, we'll see you then. Have a good evening."
"Bye now, see you tomorrow," Elspeth replied just as Jackson ended the call.
**********
64. Tuesday, December 24, 2013 4:50 PM GMT Jackson & Thurston's Home, Badgers Road, Badgers Mount, Kent
Driving through London in the midst of rush hour was sheer insanity, but the most direct route home was the one they took that morning. Traffic hadn't been too bad on the motorway, but on the city roads, it seemed every third or fourth street, the traffic was stalled. They had been crawling through the London traffic for almost 90 minutes, the two men were happy as they finally turned into their drive. They were home!
After they made sure the van was locked, they entered the house, barely managing to remember to hang up their jackets. A cup of freshly brewed coffee was about as much as either one wanted at that point, other than to spend the evening just relaxing.
Thurston checked the coffeepot, empty, drat! He chucked the used grounds into a bag for disposal with other organics, then set about preparing a new pot; once the filter was in, and the grounds and water had been added, he turned it on and the two men waited.
When the coffee was ready, they each poured a mug, added some sugar and milk, and headed into the living room. Jackson turned on the old stereo system, spinning the FM dial until they found a music station both liked, and they settled down to a quiet evening.
**********
65. Wednesday, December 25, 2013 8:10 AM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Elspeth and Vanessa had been awake for a while now and had cleared the breakfast dishes they'd used. Elspeth had just put the turkey into the oven, stuffing inside it, she would be slow roasting it. The two women sat at the kitchen table, each with a cup of tea in front of them.
They didn't make a big fuss of the holiday, just an exchange of a small gift and the Christmas dinner each year satisfied them both. The big difference this time would be that they had invited Jackson and Thurston to join them for their Christmas dinner.
**********
66. Wednesday, December 25, 2013 11:30 AM GMT Jackson & Thurston's Home, Badgers Road, Badgers Mount, Kent
Jackson and Thurston had slept in quite late today, largely because they had been watching Christmas shows until after 1 AM. They both staggered out of their bedrooms around 11:30 AM, Thurston managed to get into the shower first, Jackson followed once he was out.
Thurston made a new pot of coffee, which Jackson could smell as he stepped out of the bathroom.
Since they would be eating in about three hours, the two men satisfied themselves with bowls of cold cereal and milk. Other than that, they would have to survive on coffee for the next three hours or so. "You can't starve in just a few hours, can you?" Jackson mused.
Thurston shrugged, content to sit over his hot coffee for the moment.
**********
67. Wednesday, December 25, 2013 12:15 PM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Elspeth had just checked the turkey for what seemed like the dozenth time to Vanessa, and had basted it again.
Vanessa had gotten bored of watching Elspeth flitting around the kitchen hours ago, and had moved into the living room, turning on the stereo to listen to Christmas music playing on one of her favourite stations, but she could STILL hear Elspeth flitting around. It was driving her nuts.
**********
68. Wednesday, December 25, 2013 2:00 PM GMT Jackson & Thurston's Home, Badgers Road, Badgers Mount, Kent
Jackson and Thurston were deep into their fourth mugs of coffee when Jackson said that they should be getting ready to go soon, as traffic in the city would be pure murder, EVERYONE would be going to visit people they knew at some point today.
They drank the last of their coffee, then changed into their second best suits and put on their winter jackets on the way out the door. As Jackson had said, traffic was godawful today, yesterday was a cakewalk in comparison. It was a rather slow journey toward Elspeth's place.
When they were about halfway there, Thurston spied a market that was actually open, and suggested they get chocolates for the women. Jackson thought that sounded like a nice idea, so they locked up and went in to see what they might have.
It may have been their lucky day, they weren't sure, but there was one large package of chocolates left on the lightweight racks. Thurston grabbed it, seeing someone else entering the store behind them, and carried the package over to the counter.
"Seventeen pounds for a package of chocolates? What the heck are they made of, gold?" Jackson grumbled.
**********
69. Wednesday, December 25, 2013 2:20 PM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Even sitting in the living room listening to music had been too much for Vanessa, eventually she had gone into hiding in her room. Vanessa took the opportunity to change into a nice seasonal looking dress, then put on black seamless tights and 3.5 inch black spike heels.
Elspeth was contentedly wandering around the kitchen and dining room, fussing at this and that, checking the turkey every so often. Elspeth wasn't usually this much of a fusspot, but Christmas dinner to her was something special, she wanted it all to be absolutely perfect. She had added the vegetables and potatoes to the broth surrounding the turkey a while back, and the smell from the oven was scrumptious.
Seeing that the food was doing just fine, Elspeth changed into a bright green dress, black seamless tights and black three inch spike heels.
**********
70. Wednesday, December 25, 2013 2:45 PM GMT S Circular Rd. @ Muncaster Rd., Barrowsea, London
Jackson handed his phone to his brother, "Call Elspeth and tell her we'll be there in a few minutes."
Thurston dialled the number and waited, the phone was answered on the second ring.
"Hello, Elspeth Parks speaking, who may I ask is calling?"
"Hello, Elspeth, it's Thurston, we'll be arriving at your place in a few minutes, see you soon."
"Okay, bye now."
**********
71. Wednesday, December 25, 2013 2:51 PM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Jackson knew where Elspeth and Vanessa lived, he'd had to go there a few times in the past.
The garage door was closed, he knew Elspeth and Vanessa were home, so the car was in the garage. He parked in front of the garage.
Jackson and Thurston stepped out of the van, Jackson locking it, then they walked to the entrance to the flat and knocked on the door.
Loud thumps in a fast staccato pattern preceded Elspeth's opening of the door. "Come on in, guys, Merry Christmas."
**********
72. Wednesday, December 25, 2013 2:55 PM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
"Vanessa, come on out, our guests have arrived!"
"All right, all right, I'll be out in a minute!"
"Take a seat at the table, guys, I'm going to take the turkey out now, doesn't that just smell sooooo heavenly?"
Both men took off their coats, hung them in the hall closet, washed their hands, dried them and sat down at the kitchen table. They agreed that the turkey smelled wonderful, they were having a hard time holding back, that turkey smelled too good to resist!
Vanessa wandered into the kitchen, set out plates and flatware, then took a seat at one end of the table.
A cutting board had been placed in the middle of the table; Elspeth pulled the turkey from the oven and set the pan on the board. She opened a drawer under the counter edge, pulled out a large knife and a large two prong fork, and asked Thurston to cut the turkey.
Thurston nodded, taking the utensils from her, and proceeded to cut chunks from the turkey and distribute them around the table, After serving himself, he sat down in his chair, took a good, long sniff of the bird and came within a hair of trying to eat it with just his teeth!
Elspeth laughed, grabbed a spoon and placed some potatoes and vegetables on each person's plate. "Merry Christmas. Dig in!"
The next 45 minutes was spent savouring the delicious meal and chattering about semi-recent events.
After they had all eaten their fill, they adjourned to the living room and watched some Christmas shows, including Miracle on 34th Street and A Christmas Story. It was going on 10 PM when Thurston remembered the chocolates; he excused himself for a moment, went out to the hall and picked up the box of chocolates, then returned to the living room. "Merry Christmas, Elspeth, Vanessa, I hope you enjoy these."
Jackson nodded, adding his good wishes for a Merry Christmas to his brother's as Elspeth opened the box.
"Thurston, Jackson, thank you very much, it's nice that some boys remember the love women have for chocolates!" Elspeth giggled like a young girl as she passed the box of chocolates around, each person taking one or two.
They all enjoyed the chocolates, sometimes men can like them as much as women do.
Just after 10:15 PM, both Thurston and Jackson began to yawn, then apologized. "We should head home now, it's a long drive."
"Will you two be okay to get home?" Elspeth asked.
"We should be fine," Jackson replied, "we were in worse shape on Monday and drove back here from your house up there."
Thurston nodded. "Don't worry, if I see him getting overtired, I can take over the driving if it becomes necessary."
"Then have a good night, boys, Merry Christmas, and if we don't see you before then, Happy New Year."
Vanessa added her well wishes as the two men put on their coats and started down the steps.
***********
73. Thursday, December 26, 2013 1:35 PM GMT Ray Purdleston's Home, Herongate, Brentwood
The cordless phone rang as he was walking from the workshop back to the house.
"Hello, Ray Purdleston speaking, who is calling?"
"Hiya, this is Bobby Burke, I'm delivering an order you made recently with Steel Express?"
"Oh, yes, the gate should be open, you'll need to go all the way back to my workshop, it's a big red and silver barn."
"We just turned into your drive, we're going past the house now, ahhhh, yes, I can see the barn."
"I'm at the house, I'll be with you in a moment."
Bobby parked the truck near the main entrance to the barn. This truck had doors on the sides, he opened a set, revealing the steel plates.
Bobby's partner, Tommy Corvis, stepped down from the truck and walked over to stand next to Bobby.
Several minutes went by before Ray walked around the end of the truck and waved to the two men standing there.
Both men had to look up a bit as Ray approached, Bobby spluttered, "Damn, you're one big sumbitch!"
Ray nodded, "That I am, gentlemen. So these are the sheets I ordered?" as he pointed at the two stacks inside the truck.
"Yep, 24 sheets 1219mm by 915mm by 12 mm, and 16 sheets 915mm by 458mm by 12mm, right?"
"Correct, gentlemen. Shall we unload them?"
"We have a heavy dolly, we'll pick the pallet up with the sheets on it, wheel it in to where you want it, drop it there, then pull the dolly out and repeat for the other stack. Doing it this way will only take us a few minutes, compared to an hour or two if we offloaded by hand."
"All right," Ray replied as he led them into the workshop. "Put the stacks by the side wall of the room at the back."
Ten minutes later, the two stacks had been unloaded and placed, and the truck had rumbled off to its next stop somewhere.
Ray grinned as he set up a large plate and a smaller one, then put on all the safety gear and proceeded to weld the two pieces into one.
He spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening welding pieces together, some one way, some the reverse.
**********
74. Friday, December 27, 2013 10:45 AM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Elspeth finally got around to making a call she had been meaning to for a couple of days now, if not longer.
She had met the person she was calling many years before, and had been told of her skills at preparing subliminal messages.
She dialled the number, having retrieved it from the mishmash of paper slips with similar information on them in her locked desk drawer.
"Hello, this is Meg Postlethwaite, who is calling, please?"
"Hello, Meg, this is Elspeth Parks, although you might have known me as Elspeth Burrows at that time."
"Ahhhh, Elspeth, I do remember you, although it has been many years. So what brings you to call me now?"
"Do you remember telling me way back then about your ability to create top end subliminal messaging systems?"
"Yes, I do remember that. Are you implying that you need me to make something like that for you?"
"Yes, I do," here Elspeth explained what she would be doing.
"Hmmmm... taking boys and having them mentally influenced to think they are girls? Yes, I can do that, but it won't be cheap."
"Money isn't an issue, Meg, Momma and Daddy left us with a nice bit of cash when they passed on ten years ago."
"I understand. Just how many of these do you want?"
Elspeth provided her with some more info, giving details of how many items were needed and what needed to be in the discs.
"That's not overly complicated, I can have the lot ready for you by next Thursday."
"Thank you very much, Meg, Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year."
**********
75. Tuesday, December 31, 2013 07:53 PM GMT Ray Purdleston's Workshop, Herongate, Brentwood
Ray had been making steady progress over the last few days, he only needed to do six more pieces and then inform Elspeth that they would be delivered up to the house for final assembly. Each assembled cell would be an inch slimmer than Elspeth had set as a maximum width, but he felt that wouldn't be a problem, especially once he showed them how easy it would be to turn two pieces into three sides of a cell.
The doors had been a bit of work, especially considering the need for a lockable and removable piece in each actual door. Along with the fact of having to set hinge plates in one side piece for each cell, the hinges he had made actually had a locking mechanism. Once they were joined to the main body of the cell, the only way to remove them would be to use an oxy torch or something similar.
He truly did enjoy doing work like this, even though it meant that he couldn't put his 'signature mark' on any of the pieces. He didn't want any possibility that the cells, or any part of them for that matter, could be traced back to him.
**********
76. Tuesday, December 31, 2013 10:14 PM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Jackson & Thurston's Home, Badgers Road, Badgers Mount, Kent
Elspeth and Vanessa spent a quiet evening at home, they were watching the NYE celebration in London.
Down in the southeastern corner of the Greater London area, Jackson and Thurston were also watching the London NYE celebration.
The minutes slowly passed by, as the four people sat in their living rooms chatting.
Finally, there were just five minutes left, the four were on the edges of their seats, watching, waiting for the final countdown.
Then, it was upon them, "Ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four.. three... two... one..."
In the flat, Elspeth and Vanessa wished each other a Happy New Year as the fireworks went off.
Jackson and Thurston were doing the same in their small home a few miles away.
**********
77. Thursday, January 2, 2014 11:53 AM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Elspeth was enjoying a late morning cup of tea when her phone rang.
"Hello, Elspeth Parks speaking, who may I ask is calling?"
"Hello, Elspeth, it's Meg, I've finished the items you wanted me to make. Shall I bring them to you now?"
"Please do," Elspeth recited her current address to Meg, I'll be here waiting."
**********
78. Thursday, January 2, 2014 3:14 PM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Elspeth had felt somewhat tired after an early lunch, so she had gone into her room to catch some snooze time.
She was woken rather abruptly by her phone ringing, she wondered who would be calling her now?
She answered the call, "Hello, Elspeth Parks speaking, who may I ask is calling?"
"Hello, Elspeth, it's Ray. I've just finished the final piece, and loaded them all in my cube van."
"Then I suppose we'll need to go up to the new house tomorrow or Saturday, and assemble the cells."
"Saturday is better for me, I'm meeting someone tomorrow about a possible job."
"Okay, then, do you know where I live?"
"I know the general area, I have friends that live around there. What's your actual address?"
Elspeth gave him the info, then had him repeat it back to her to make sure he had it right.
"Okay, I'll meet you there around 10:30 AM on Saturday. I'll talk to you then, bye."
Elspeth returned his goodbye and ended the call.
**********
79. January 2, 2014 03:35 PM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Elspeth was becoming worried that something had happened to Meg when her phone rang again.
"Hello, Elspeth Parks speaking, who may I ask is calling?"
"Hello, Elspeth, it's Meg, I'm just down the street, I'll be there in a moment. The price is £15,000."
"Right, I'm heading down the stairs now with the money for you."
Less than a minute after she opened the flat door, a car pulled up into the drive, and out stepped Meg.
The two women chatted for a moment as Elspeth passed the envelope with the cash to Meg, and Meg passed a bulkier one over to her.
"The discs are in here?" Elspeth inquired. Meg nodded, turned and sat down in her car again.
"Just make sure that you don't lose those discs, that could cause problems you might not be able to handle."
"I understand. Take care of yourself, Meg, perhaps we may cross paths again."
"Goodbye, Elspeth. That is in the hands of the gods." She revved the engine, then backed into the street and drove off.
**********
80. January 3, 2014 11:30 AM GMT Jackson & Thurston's Home, Badgers Road, Badgers Mount, Kent
Jackson was relaxing in his living room when his phone rang. "Hello, Jackson Marcham speaking, who is calling?"
"Hello, Jackson, I have the discs with the subliminal messaging, and Ray is bringing the cells tomorrow to be fully assembled."
"Okay, I'm assuming you want Thurston and I there to help with the physical work?"
"Yes, the cell parts will need to be carried down there, then assembled and moved into place."
"All right, I'll let Thurston know. Where do we meet you and what time?"
"Around 10:30 AM by our flat. We'll all be heading up there together."
"Got it, we'll be there."
**********
81. January 4, 2014 10:23 AM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Elspeth heard a horn honking somewhere outside. Looking down from the living room window, she saw a cube van parked on the street. She nodded to herself, realizing that it had to be Ray with the half-made cells, so she walked down the stairs and opened the door.
Ray was standing there, in jeans and a long jacket, she beckoned him in; once he was inside, she handed him an envelope, "Your pay, sir."
He nodded and tucked the envelope into the V of a tight leather vest peeking out from the partially open zipper of his jacket.
"The half cells are in the cube van out there, once we're up there, it won't take long to put them together."
"Okay, Jackson and Thurston should be here soon, they'll be helping you with the heavy work."
Ray nodded and turned to leave the house. "I'll be waiting in my cube van."
**********
82. January 4, 2014 10:34 AM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Elspeth was just about to sit down in her living room when another horn sounded below. This time, she looked out a side window, and spotted Jackson's van sitting in her drive, parked right in front of her garage. If he stayed there, she couldn't leave, her car was in the garage.
She trotted down the stairs this time, and opened the door to find Jackson standing there.
He looked at her, "You might want a jacket and your purse, I'm assuming the cube van there is Ray's?"
"It is Ray's, yes. Give me a minute and I'll be ready, Vanessa is staying here, no need for her to go up there right now."
"Okay, I'll move my van back onto the street. See you again in a few minutes."
**********
83. January 4, 2014 10:41 AM GMT Elspeth & Vanessa's flat, Lavender Sweep, Barrowsea, London
Elspeth exited the house, walking to the garage, slowly lifting the door up, then walked into the garage and unlocked her car.
Once she was seated in the car, she dropped an envelope on the passenger seat, then started the car and backed out slowly, using the remote to close the garage door. Checking to be sure there was no traffic, she turned into the street, the three vehicle procession was on its way.
**********
84. January 4, 2014 12:19 PM GMT Pindon Manor, Pindon End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Elspeth entered the drive of the manor, followed by Jackson, then by Ray with the cube van containing the cell parts. Elspeth and Jackson left plenty of room for Ray to turn the big cube van around and slowly back it in toward the front door of the house.
Elspeth stepped out of her car, locking it, then walked to the front door, unlocked it and entered the house, heading up the stairs.
She had spent some time thinking about where to place the subliminal discs to be most effective. The main issue was having each part of the overall subliminal messaging system able to connect with the other parts, yet work independently when needed.
When examining the house shortly after she had bought it, she had noted spaces in all of the rooms that were odd, almost as if parts of the walls had been removed at some point to allow small items to be left in the 'holes'. They were perfect for placing the subliminals.
So now she wandered around the house, from bedroom to bedroom to converted bedroom, and slipped a disc in a player into each hole. The various discs would be run from an automated system which would be kept in her bedroom so that she could monitor the system.
Meanwhile, Ray, Jackson and Thurston were busy unloading the cell parts, laying them out around the cellar floor. It took them about thirty minutes to unload the cube van completely, then they had to put the various parts together to make a complete cell.
Ray showed them how to join the paired back half pieces to form a solid three sided open block; he then showed them how to attach a door to a completed block, passing them keys to make sure the cell doors would open and close correctly as needed.
Assembling the cells took about 45 minutes; moving them into position required all three men, and took over 90 minutes to finish.
Just after 3:10 PM, the three men looked at the line of cells running from beside the stairs all the way to the back wall.
**********
85. January 4, 2014 3:20 PM GMT Pindle Manor, Pindle End, Hanslope, Milton Keynes
Ray, Jackson and Thurston walked up the stairs and out of the house, into the weak winter sunshine.
Ray handed a small bag to Jackson, then got into his cube van, started the engine and drove out of their lives.
A few minutes after Ray left, Jackson checked to see what was in the bag, it was the rest of the keys for the cells
Jackson and Thurston stood near the front door, looking out past the gate at the quiet country lanes.
Another twenty minutes passed before Elspeth joined the two men outside the house.
She smiled at them, almost like a cat that has taken the cream, and told them she had a proposition for them. They could work for her and Vanessa, living in the coach house up here, and she would pay them a rather decent sum on a weekly basis. They would need to repair and make the coach house a suitable space for them to live, and after that, their job would be to maintain the property and outbuildings.
Or they could go back to their old lives, living sometimes flush, but often from hand to mouth. It was their choice to make.
**********
So... the die has truly been cast. Soon, lives will be changed as the plans of the women come into fruition.
Who knows what the soon-to-be victims will be forced to do? Who knows if they will ever have the chance to be free again?
As with many things, the fates of the children these women will claim lies in the hands of the gods. Only they know for now.
Comments
No Place to call Home
I like the story It looks interesting, I very small gripe, as it is based in the UK, Realtor should read Estate Agent, otherwise I like the beginning.
Looking forward to the next chapter
ELIZA
Next Chapter
I'm not sure when I'll be posting the next chapter for this one, I'm wiped out from finishing it.
I started this one nearly four days ago, and had to split the writing into three parts as I couldn't stay awake long enough to do it all at once. Suffice it to say that I spent at least 36 hours writing this, something I thought might be lucky initially to reach 5k words.
I also have another story that I am in the midst of writing, I'd like to finish that one some time soon.
Based on certain comments
Based on certain comments within the story, and things noticed within the various rooms, I am left wondering if the former owners just might have been in a similar business to what Elspeth and Vanessa are planning. Also very interesting that all three of the men understand what is going on with the modifications and cages being placed into the house; yet have no moral compunction to stop it. SHAME ON THEM.
Re: Shame on them
At no point in what I wrote here did I imply that any of these people were decent folks, they just SEEM to be.
I feel like my brain's about to explode, I got up about half an hour ago with an idea for yet ANOTHER story. Arrrggghhh!!!!! LOL
I already have two recent ones I'm working on, plus one I may never finish, but it looks like I'll be throwing another one in the mix.
Wow!
This is just the prologue? Should be interesting to see what happens, though I could see it being a while until we find out if this is representative of how long the story is. This couldn't have been quick to write.
Re: Wow!
You're correct, this was not quick to write, overall effort was about 38 to 39 hours work for about 24,250 words.
That "work" was spread over three different periods, averaging about 12 hours each, in between I was sleeping quite a bit, fourteen hours one day/night, fifteen hours another, twelve on a third. I usually sleep about ten to eleven hours at this time of year.
Just wondering - some constructive criticism
61. Tuesday, December 24, 2013 08:50 AM GMT
"They took the A224 northbound all the way up to the A20, where they turned west; the sun wasn't all that bright, it being the start of
winter, but it was bright enough Jackson dropped the visor down to cut the glare."
If you are moving north and west in the morning, the sun will be behind you, so what use does the visor have in this case ?
Thanks
I should have realized that myself. I'm fairly sure I was still half-asleep at the time, my coffee hadn't kicked in fully. I'll fix it.
Fixed now. I'm honestly surprised that I missed that, I read the whole thing before I actually posted it. *shrugs*
Not surprised at all
Looking at the time frame in which you wrote this, I would need a lot of coffee as well ;)
ok a good start
I hope you finish this one before I lose interest and move on ...
SJH