Day Twenty-Seven < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Twenty-Nine

The Disaster

The morning was chaotic as usual, but as soon as everyone was taken care of and ready for their days, Bennie and Marnie headed out to go inspect the new house. Oasis Springs wasn't far away, but they wanted to be able to take their time and look around.

After they left, Jaz checked in with Benji, who was in charge of babysitting while Bennie and Marnie were gone, to find out if it was still ok for her to go to her Saturday club meeting. Benji replied that he didn't really care (which he didn't), and told her to not get into trouble. Agreeing to the terms, Jaz headed out, as well.

In the other room, Phoenix had decided he definitely needed to stay inside, because one look in the mirror had proved he was stripey. He tried some orange juice, like his mother had suggested, but it hadn't helped. So he was just playing with the science table to distract himself.

Jaz arrived at the Oasis Springs park, and joyfully jumped right into playing with her friends.

Unfortunately, it turned out that they weren't the only club meeting at the park today. Billie Jang and her band of bullies had also showed up. Sighing, Jaz tried to continue playing and ignore her rival.

Jaz gave up on the space pirate play, and she and Colin did some cloudgazing, hoping that some distance would keep Billie away.

Billie, however, wasn't interested in staying away. She stomped over to Jaz, and point blank told her that Jaz and her friends were not welcome at this park. (To which Jaz almost laughed. She was sure Billie's new "club" had only picked this park because it was where the Adventurers had been hanging out for the last few weeks.) Jaz brushed her bluster off, and walked away, following Colin towards the park building.

Luckily, Billie didn't follow along, so Colin and Jaz had plenty of time and space to chat. He had more news about his parent's divorce, apparently "papers had been served" - whatever that means.

One of the first things Jaz told her friend was about the new house in Oasis Springs. She sorta regretted that it wasn't in Willow Creek, closer to Colin's own home, but at least they wouldn't be way out in Magnolia Promenade anymore. Colin expressed his misgivings about any house won at an auction, but Jaz felt that there couldn't possibly be anything terribly wrong with the house, or Bennie wouldn't have bought it.

By the end of the afternoon, Jaz and Colin had pledged to be best friends forever, and he waved goodbye, wishing her good luck in the new home. He had made her PROMISE to call him immediately with any more news of the house.

On the other side of Oasis Springs.. Marnie and Bennie got off the bus and walked through their new neighborhood, looking at the well cared for houses that lined the street with happy smiles. Unfortunately, they then rounded the corner.. and caught a glimpse of their new home.

"Well, the house looks nice.. if a little overgrown..." Marnie commented, and Bennie just grunted. He had seen pictures of the house in it's prime, but only knew that it had been abandoned for months. He was too sheepish to mention he had had no idea what sort of condition the house was in.

They stopped in the front yard, and Bennie pointed out that the yellow truck had come with the house. It wasn't running.. yet... but he planned on fixing it up so he'd have a reliable way to work each day. Forestalling any questions from Marnie, he turned and confidently walked in the front door after using his keys on the deadbolts and brushing aside the warning tape on the door.

The disaster inside could not be described in mere words. The floor was covered in filth, there were mice running around in broad daylight, and spiderwebs in every corner. It was clear the house had been host to a parade of squatters - both human and animal. Mutely, Marnie looked around and walked past him towards the master suite.

Sighing, she noted that the bed was actually in decent shape.. and there was a nice sized closet, too. Turning, she went to see what the bathroom looked like.

One look proved that the rest of the house wasn't going to get any better. Perhaps it was a good thing that the water wasn't going to be turned on until tomorrow, because she was sure that toilet was broken and would be spewing water everywhere.

Bennie wandered through the living areas while Marnie peeked into the laundry room and hall half bath. He noted the nice fireplace and the beautiful windows.

All that natural light from them and the roof windows through the rafters was actually very nice, he thought.

He then turned to check out the kitchen, which was clearly in worse shape than the rest of the house. Good thing he hadn't turned to notice the abandoned train cars and other detritus in the back yard. That was definitely going to have to taken care of before it would be safe for the kids to play outside.

There were even a bunch of locked containers out there, but he overlooked those easily, imagining a barbeque on the expansive back deck.

The junkyard was definitely more than he'd been expecting, though. He looked about guiltily, wondering why he hadn't asked more questions at the low low price, but there was no way he would ever admit that to Marnie. Marnie! .. Wonder where she'd gotten off to..?

Back inside, Marnie had taken in the full measure of the dining room and kitchen, and was steeling herself to look downstairs.

At least the stairs were in good condition? She thought, relieved.

She rounded the corner into a large family room with a partial kitchenette that had clearly been broken for quite a while.

She then started checking through doors. There was a full bath, a utility room, and three bedrooms. All in varying stages of a full-blown disaster.

Finished with her "tour", she headed back upstairs. She was trying not to be furious at Bennie for saddling them with this mess of a house, but somewhere in her head... she had the thought that the house was actually a nice house if you looked past the mess. Maybe they could turn things around.

Of course, she noted.. it would depend entirely on how long they had before move-in date, and how big a budget they had for people to help clean it up. She headed outside to find Bennie, and ask some rather pointed questions....

After their conversation, which had been.. interesting, since they were to move in officially on the first of the month (less than a week away) because the store would need to be vacated by then. Also, Bennie assured her that he would contact a pest control company for the vermin, and get a junk company to remove the stuff in the yard. Beyond that, however, cleaning up inside the house was going to be pretty much all their job, because any money he had spare after calling the junk people and the pest company would need to go towards the local flea market for furnishings. At the very least, they were going to need to buy appliances, since the ones they had belonged to the store apartment.

Marnie interrupted Bennie by reminding him that Benji's graduation was tonight, and they didn't want to be late. So they hurried to the bus, both lost in their own thoughts.

The entire family was attending the graduation, and it was a freezing night, so they all bundled up in their winter clothes. Fall was nearly over, after all, and Winter would set in very soon.

Everyone was here that he cared about. (That didn't include his family, of course.) While he was talking to his friends, he overheard Malcolm Landgraab talking about his dad's heart attack. Apparently Nancy was left taking care of an infant all by herself with just Malcolm still in the house. That certainly was a sad thing.. but perhaps Benji could figure out a way to profit from the information.

Turned out, it wasn't just people he cared about that were there, though.. as he spotted a very angry Cade walking away after the ceremony.

Sighing happily, Benji looked over his successful club, and caught his girlfriend's eye through the crowd. She ran over, and wrapped him in an embrace.

It had been so long since he'd been able to actually spend time with her with helping with his siblings and his push to get his grades back up, so seeing her again was a huge reward. She congratulated him with a heated kiss, and Benji tried not to lose his head. He had important things to tell her.

He told her about the new house (of course he had no idea of the disaster that it was in), and he mentioned that he would be coming into quite a bit of money in the next week. He grinned slyly, and, showing her a simple ring, asked her if she'd be interested in moving to the city with him. He was sure he was going to be able to afford an apartment for them.

Squealing, she agreed and wrapped him in her arms again. This, of course, got everyone else's attention, and before long, they were surrounded by the club, who were all very very interested in the possibility of being able to get away from home. Before he knew it, Benji was assuring them that they could all pitch in on a bigger apartment in the city and all be room-mates. The logistics of such a move were certainly not on his mind.. but they definitely would be later.

Noticing that his family were watching impatiently from the sidelines, he sheepishly kissed Shaylee goodbye, promising to call her tomorrow, and headed over to follow them home, cringing at the crying toddlers. It would be a long evening while they tried to get all the kids in bed... and he was sure his help was going to be required.

He hid a smile at the knowledge that he'd had an appraiser check on that suit of armor while Bennie and Marnie had been gone, and had arranged for it to be gone and the money to be in his new bank account in the next couple days. Plenty of time before his family would be moving, hopefully. Maybe he wouldn't even have to deal with their move at all... and could just "ride off into the sunset" with his girl and their friends (and a good chunk of change!)

Day Twenty-Seven < | Challenge Home Page | > Day Twenty-Nine