7: Mortgaging Our Souls

We all got back to work after forms and started digging out the claypack from the stalls. It would be much more difficult to do that if we waited until the surrounding clay was removed. When Ron came in that afternoon, we moved the camper and trailer back outside and he hooked up to his field unit to pull it out. He'd be using it on another site since we weren't going straight into the house remodel he originally bid on.

He also brought Mr. Thornton with him. Arnold Thornton was a bald, rotund man with thick black-rimmed glasses. He wore a dirty gray t-shirt and industrial grade work pants. I just knew that when he turned around we'd see the very definition of a plumber's crack.

"Brian, I mentioned Mr. Thornton to you a few days ago. He used to teach Industrial Arts at Bloomington South. He has a lot of experience working with student crews and since he retired..." Ron started to laugh. "Well, Arnie's been getting fat. He needs something to keep him occupied. Maybe you can work something out."

"I'm happy to meet you, Mr. Thornton," I said. "I'm Brian."

"Welcome to El Rancho del Corazón," Rose said as she stepped up to take his hand.

"Nice to meet you. Let's see what you've got done and what you want to do." He was pretty abrupt. Rose ran ahead of us into the barn. Thank goodness. I wasn't sure everyone had shirts on.

"We've only been working really a morning and a half. We got interrupted by the storm yesterday and had to clear a path this morning," I said. "Ron told us we needed to remove the claypack floor so we could put in a wooden floor. We figured we could get started on that right away, even before the plans for everything were finished." He looked at the hole and watched Doug push a wheelbarrow out of the end stall.

"Where's your front-end loader?" he asked.

"We have shovels and wheelbarrows," I said.

"You've done this in five hours? How many of you?"

"We've had eleven working on digging and wheeling the dirt out. Two on kitchen duty to keep us hydrated and fed. One of us has a full-time job and one has been in Ron's office working on the plans and materials list. Stall One is her usual office."

"These are all girls!"

"I am not!" Carl yelled as he wheeled another load out. Doug was trotting back in.

"At the moment there are three men and twelve women working. We hope to have another ten to fifteen after our meeting this weekend," I said. Three women looked up and gave me air kisses when I corrected his language.

"And you did all this with shovels?" Mr. Thornton practically yelled. "Ron! Call the State Highway Department. These kids need to be taught to lean." He started laughing as if that was the funniest thing he'd ever said. Ron chuckled a little. "Brian, how many of the other fifteen are ... uh ... men?"

"Court, how many have called in with permission?" I asked. Courtney came out of the stall, planted her shovel on the ground and leaned against it. She spat.

"Well, boss, as expected, Leonard is having a little difficulty getting permission. Pam's parents say absolutely not until she turns sixteen in August. Then she can come for two weeks. That gives us four men, sir. And if you are interested in us girls, you know, all the others have committed, including Sugar and Renee. They are bringing dinner out tonight. And, of course, Nicki and Liz will be here tomorrow. That's a total of nine more of the female persuasion, sir. Not counting Donna, Sora, Doreen, and Whitney on the weekends." Courtney spit on the ground again after making a production of hacking up a loogie. I held my breath. Ron snorted. The rest of the crew filed out of the stall to face Mr. Thornton. Well, they did have shirts on, but I didn't think there was a bra among the girls. They all had their shirts knotted up just below their breasts. Doug and Carl were bare-chested.

Mr. Thornton broke up into fits of laughter. I thought he was going to double over. Louise and Elaine were on kitchen duty today and brought water out to all of us. Rachel handed Mr. Thornton a paper cup. Thornton took his drink and wadded up the Dixie cup.

"These have to go," he said. "Everybody should have a metal cup so we don't have garbage all over every place on the worksite. We keep this place clean and picked up from this point forward." We all lifted our heads to look at him. It looked like he grew six inches. Up. "If your additional thirteen are as willing to work as you are and as industrious, I'll take you on. But building a house, even remodeling a barn, takes more than willingness. You have to listen. You have to do what you are told and do it well. If you don't know how to do it, you need to ask. If you see something that doesn't look right, you need to ask. If you hear something that doesn't sound right, you need to ask. If you want to go pee-pee, you need to ask." Ron snorted again. "Okay. Well, not that last thing," Thornton chuckled. "Why are you so willing to do all this work?"

"Mr. Thornton, this is our home," Rhonda said stepping up to him. "It's the only way we can keep our family together. It's also how we'll earn our living." She took him by the arm and led him over a dozen steps. "This right here? This is where our kitchen will be. It will be arranged so there are good angles for the cameras to shoot our 'Young Cooking' television show. The lights that hang from these beams won't be fluorescents. There will be $40,000 worth of studio lighting hanging here. The appliances are the top of the line from the best manufacturers. They are being provided to us by the makers for product placement. This is where the audience will sit. It sounds like a big dream, doesn't it?" she said. Thornton was staring at her with an open mouth. "None of that is important at all," Rhonda continued. "This. Right here. This is where the fifteen people of our casa will sit to have dinner together. This is where the forty people of our clan will gather together in front of a fire in the winter and celebrate birthdays, handfasting, maybe even the births of our children. Mr. Thornton, this project isn't to remodel a barn. It's for us to make our home."

"Well, I'll be go to hell!" he breathed.

"Mr. Thornton," Rose said, coming up to take his other arm. "When you look at us you see a bunch of kids. At best, maybe a bunch of college students. We see our family. Our home was destroyed by fire and we will do whatever is necessary to keep our family together. We will respect you and we will depend on you to tell us what to do. We'd like you to help us."

"There's one thing," Thornton said. He looked pointedly at both Rose's and then Rhonda's midriff. And then he slowly scanned the beautiful women in front of him. "Ron has told me about your work uniforms. I just want you to know that if I have a heart attack, there are pills in my right pants pocket."

Elaine, Rhonda, and I spent some time going over the plans Rachel had left in Stall One. Mr. Thornton questioned everything. Most of all, he was concerned about heating. The place was cavernous and his first thought was warehouse quality heaters that could be turned on in specific zones when needed but that would not run on a continuous basis. He agreed with Ron that insulation was going to be a priority as well.

In the meantime, Ron took his first two volunteers, Jennifer and Courtney, outside to learn about plumbing. He went to the RV pad where there was water, electric, and sewer connections and in the next two hours, the girls learned how to cut and thread pipe, connect an electric on-demand water heater, and install three showerheads on the side of the barn. We would all have hot showers in the evening.

Ron suggested that Doug or Carl select a carpenter crew to create a temporary shelter around the showers, including a floor that wasn't as hard on bare feet as the rough concrete. Louise and Mary volunteered for that crew, led by Carl. Ron said he'd bring materials out in the morning. It wouldn't be fancy, but would offer a small amount of privacy. When Ron and Thornton left, we all stripped and ran to the showers anyway. Oh, how nice! I could tell this might be a favorite summer spot even after we had bathrooms with indoor showers. Doug and Carl's casa even jumped in instead of going into their homes. Rachel and Doreen both stripped as soon as they got home from work.

That's where Sugar and Renee found all fifteen of us when they brought dinner at six-thirty. We didn't bother to dress before we grabbed plates of lasagna and after they'd laughed at us while serving, both of them stripped as well.

That's pretty much how the next two days went. We got up, did forms, ate breakfast, and went to work. We did dress before Ron or Mr. Thornton showed up. We weren't really planning to run around naked in front of people who weren't part of our clan. Of course, what the girls considered 'dressed' in this hot weather was still enough to make him reach for his heart pills once or twice. Once we had our systems down, stripping out the floor went pretty quickly. We ran into town to get two more shovels and another scoop and wheelbarrow. We managed to get one that had two wheels that the girls could handle because it didn't tip like the single-wheel version.

In the evening, we gathered in the bunkhouse at one or the other casa and went over the plans and what Rachel was compiling as worksheets. Rose, Rhonda, and Rachel spent Saturday morning preparing the presentation for the parents. The rest of us kept shoveling. Two-thirds of the floor of the barn had been removed before the first parents started arriving Saturday afternoon.

We wanted to dress more professionally for our parent meeting and decided on casa gis. It was a business meeting and we were all excited. I guess we were also excited by the fact that the parents had brought a huge grillable feast for us that afternoon. Fortunately, the burden of the presentation was on Rachel with the plans, Rhonda for how it affected our production goals, and Rose for the financing. I was happy to see that Rhonda's parents had driven over from French Lick. It was a little easier to see them now that they were only sixty miles south of us. They were actually closer now than any of our other parents.

Casa del Agua, Casa del Sol, and Casa de la Tierra were all invited as well, though most of the rest of the clan would not arrive until Sunday, after the financing decisions were made. Jennifer's dad and stepmom made it down from Indianapolis, too. I guess they were about the same distance as the Gordons. Donna got home from Chicago just a few minutes before parents started arriving. Sora and Whitney had come home the night before.

"So, this is a big deal," Rose said to the parents. "Even with all of us furnishing most of the labor, and the great deal that Mr. Thornton and Mr. Worth have managed for us, we still need to buy supplies and pay a few contractors for work we just can't do. The cost of building our home in a barn will be close to $75,000. We're not going for all out luxury. It's pretty basic, but we think it is enough for us to be happy. It will give us a place to produce the television show so we can generate income. Best of all, we'll have a good, safe place to live. Rhonda."

"Thanks, Rose. You need to understand that this does not include the specific things that we anticipated adding to the house for our production needs. That includes, essentially, the kitchen remodel and studio lighting. We will still need to draw on the $60,000 that was originally earmarked as capital expenditure for Hearthstone Entertainment. So please do not think we can deduct that from the costs Rose has presented. The impact on 'Young Cooking' is actually positive. With higher ceilings, we have better lighting angles and with the openness of the barn and construction style, we actually have better acoustics for recording. We have an even larger area that we can use for either invited or paying audiences. We do have to consult with various legal entities to see if we can have a live audience. Rachel."

"Thanks to Ron Worth, I've been given access to wholesale pricing on everything we will need to complete the project and I've been up for the past forty-eight hours, drawing and painting these renderings. I'm sorry I couldn't build little models for you. When I've had some sleep, my cónyuge and my amiga are going to owe me big time." She turned and looked at me. "The thing is that we've put together a workable plan. You are the parents of Casa del Fuego. But you need to know that the entire Clan of the Heart is behind this and will furnish every ounce of energy we have to give it. Thank you."

"We're going to take a dinner break for ninety minutes," Rose said. "That will give you an opportunity to look over Rachel's drawings and to talk over your thoughts with each other. If you'd like to submit questions up front, Samantha and Courtney will be writing them down so we don't have to answer questions multiple times. Let's eat."

"This isn't a question for the group, Brian," Mr. Clinton said. "Do you mind if we talk privately?"

"Of course not, Mr. Clinton. You know I have great respect for you and always appreciate your input, even if it seems like I ignore it, sir." He got the joke and chuckled.

"Fine. I just want to know, Brian: Why am I here? I don't mean on this earth. It's not an existential question. I appreciate being asked to see what you are doing. And I know you consider Cassie a part of your casa. But she is living at home and going to Bethel College. She has a boyfriend—perhaps a fiancé—and it isn't you. Why are we—and they—here?" He asked. Mr. Clinton was a man of deep convictions and had loosened some of his hold on his daughter to let her participate in our dating group, as he continued to refer to it. I'd always found him to be fair and usually willing to listen to reason, at least eventually. I wanted to phrase this correctly and saw Cassie and Josh step up behind her father. She smiled at me and nodded.

"Mr. Clinton, Cassie won't be living at home this year," I started.

"What?"

"Please bear with me, sir. She will be living with you. But your house is no longer her home, any more than my parents' house is my home. It is where she grew up. It is where a part of her heart will always reside and where she will return to celebrate special occasions with her parents and one day even to bring her babies to meet their grandparents. But even though she will live there this year, it is no longer her home. I can't quote scripture for this, Mr. Clinton. We know that whole passage about a man leaving his parents and cleaving to his wife. But this is about where a person chooses... chooses her family. We are born with a family that we will always love. But we also choose a family where we make our home. Mr. Clinton, this is Cassie's home now. Please don't think that lessens her love or respect for you. It shows that she has learned love and respect from you and has chosen her family. And her home."

Mr. Clinton didn't answer me. Cassie and Josh were hugging each other and beaming at me. Mr. Clinton always considered his answers carefully unless he was caught up in the heat of an argument, but we had not approached this as an argument and I could tell he was letting what I said sink in. I only hoped I had said words that would mean something to him.

"Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you." He turned and found Cassie and Josh. He practically fell into their arms as he hugged them together. When he turned his head toward me, I saw tears in his eyes as he mouthed the words, "Thank you," again.

I grabbed a plate of food and looked around at the various groups who were gathered in our yard. Thank goodness it was a decent night, though we were all swatting at mosquitoes and bug spray was being passed around. I'd lit a fire, even though it wasn't near dark yet. Just having it crackle away was an awesome feeling. I stood staring over it as I surveyed the group.

Mr. Duval was in an intense conversation with Rhonda. Mr. Pratt was talking to Anna, Mom, and Dad, and was nodding his head a lot. Teri Pratt was questioning Rose and Mr. Davis. Mr. and Mrs. Clinton approached my parents. Rev. and Mrs. Gordon were standing beside their daughters and looked like they couldn't be prouder of the way Rhonda was talking to Mr. Duval.

"I suppose you will want her to move in with you, too," a voice said from beside me. Nicki's mom actually put an arm around my waist. "You know you have been very good for her these past two years, in spite of the tattoo," she said.

"Thank you, Mrs. Duval. It might sound strange, but I really think Nicki has made the right choice. I'm going to miss her like crazy and I hope she comes here for at least part of her holidays, but she's really made for Brown. She's ... she's brilliant, ma'am," I said.