Chapter 42: 2nd Sunday Afternoon: Part 2

“I hadn’t forgotten. But seriously, are you sure you want details?”

“Even a few days ago, I would have said no. But we all saw enough last night to make it clear that the rabbit hole goes much deeper than any of us expected.”

“And you only saw the shallows. Some of the really fringe stuff only happens at the full parties. And even there, you won’t see everything possible ... some kinds of play are simply too dangerous for the Association to allow.”

“Such as?”

“Breath play. Some folks really get off on being put in situations where their ability to breathe is severely limited or completely taken away for a time. But it’s so easy to accidentally choke your partner for a little too long and risk harming or even killing them. Most people don’t believe it’s worth it, and the Association couldn’t allow for that kind of risk even if they wanted to. There’s only so much they’re allowed to host within the bounds of their liability insurance.” She paused for a moment, turning onto the highway. “But to answer your original question, your father sometimes needs a little humiliation play. I can’t do that; not within the bounds of our marriage vows. But Becca’s willing to.”

“I ... I’m having a hard time buying that, but ... I wouldn’t believe the power dynamic Allison’s parents have either, and I know that’s true.”

“You saw that? They usually try to hide it.”

“I didn’t specifically see the obvious showings, but Allison did. Bob had apparently pushed the boundaries a bit too far.”

“That’s the other thing Becca can do for Leonard that I just can’t do. I’m okay with scene specific power imbalances, but anything more than that is too hard for me. On the other hand, I’m happy to do more risky types of play like knife and wax where Becca doesn’t feel safe doing so. And I’m by far the better rope person.”

Can either of you hear me now? “Do you ever team up?”

“Sometimes. Is this enough details?”

“I think so, yeah.”

Your ‘voice’ is a little fuzzy darling, but clear enough. How far are you?

“What was your other reason for asking? I’m sure it wasn’t just plain curiosity.”

“No, you’re right. We might find ourselves wanting to go to the full parties eventually, and I doubt any of you would skip one of them just before we’re going too.” I’m not sure. Maybe halfway from the hardware store?

Good enough for now I suppose. We’ll need to try a more measured test at some point.

“Leonard and Bob might balk, but you’re right about Becca and I. So you want to know what you’ll likely see us up to ahead of time, so as to build some degree of comfort.” Kara nodded her head. “I’m proud of you, you know. I didn’t expect you’d be openly talking to me about these things.”

“I’m surprised myself that it’s coming so easily to me. But these last two weeks have led to a lot of growth I wasn’t expecting.”

“Funny how that...” Clara started as her phone began to ring. “Can you answer that?”

Kara nodded her head, pulling the phone out of Clara’s purse. “It’s Dad.”

“Put it on speaker.” Kara nodded her head again. “Yes honey?”

“Are you two almost done? We’ve done about everything we can without those doors.”

“Really?”

“Well ... for the basement anyway. But we’re making good headway on the main level framing too.”

“We’re on our way home now. No more than about fifteen minutes.”

“I suppose that’ll do.”

“We’ll let you know as soon as we’ve arrived; send out a few strong hands then so that we can get the car unloaded as quickly as possible.”

“That’s not up to me...”

“No, but I highly doubt Laura is going to give you any trouble with the request.”

“You’re probably right. Hurry home.”

“As safely as I can.” Clara glanced at Kara and nodded her head; Kara cut the call and put the phone away. “If his voice was any indication, then I have my work cut out for me.”

“You can tell that much just by voice?”

“Years and years of marriage. But thankfully, this won’t be the hardest thing I’ve ever needed to convince him of.”

“Are you sure?”

Clara glanced at her, a quizzical look on her face. “What are you seeing that I’m not?”

“Answer me this, if you can. How much would the materials we originally planned to get cost, and how does that compare to what we actually paid?”

“I can’t say for sure, but at worst the two numbers would be about the same. That discount was considerable.”

“That’s what I hoped you’d say. That’s a pretty easy argument for why this isn’t as bad as it first looks. And I’d think he’ll be much more angry at the old contractor.”

“That’s true.” She turned down their street. “We really dropped the ball with that decision.”

“Did he have good reviews?”

“Unfortunately, yes. I hate to think how many people he’s duped over the years.” Clara put the car into park and pulled out her phone. “We’re here ... okay.”

Who’s joining Dad?

Vanessa and myself Emanuel began. We tried to convince Laura to come too, but she held firm that she needs to stay and supervise. How much did you two get?

More than we were intending to, but for a surprisingly reasonable cost. You’ll hear why in a few minutes probably.

Actually, you will have Laura too. We all know well enough by now what we need to do, and she’ll know best where to store everything ... what do you mean by ‘more than we were intending to?’ by the way.

You’ll both see. Kara watched the three of them approach the car; Clara popped the trunk and stepped out of the car. I am so very happy that I can ‘hear’ both of you again.

The quiet from you was definitely a little uncomfortable partner ... whoa.

It’ll all make sense, trust me.

“What is all this dear?”

“Some of it is things I realized we’d need, and only a few things were at the request of our daughter. But before you say anything else, you should take a look at the receipt.” Clara fished the long piece of paper out of her purse and handed it to him. “How’s that for savings?”

“How’d you finagle this?”

“That I’ll explain in a little bit. But I have more proof that we were conned before.”

Kara watched his eyebrows raise. “Oh?”

“This discount? This is what they give to contractors. Including him.” She glanced at Kara, then at the large beam.

Kara started sliding the beam out of the trunk. Manny, start with this. It’s for our secret nook.

She watched Vanessa and him grab the beam and lift it onto their shoulders. What’s it ... oh...

Exactly. One of the bags has the necessary hardware. And there’s a sliding door in here that doesn’t look the others.

Easy to disguise?

Precisely, my muse. She grabbed the boxes of tatami mats and quietly followed them. That particular door is as plain as we could find. With a little bit of sealing putty and a few good coats of paint, no one will be at all the wiser of how you get up to the play nook.

Wait, how will we get up to that level though?

See the stack of boards Laura is carrying? Emanuel glanced over, then nodded. Those are for a spiral staircase. Much safer than even the stoutest ladder.

“Uhm ... is that...”

She turned to Vanessa and grinned. “Yes. I’m pretty sure none of us would say no if you wanted to join us for some fun.” She glanced at Emanuel for a moment. “Once he’s comfortable enough with the basics to do it safely of course.”

“What room is all of this for?” Laura asked, gesturing at the stack of wood in her hands and their carried goods.

“Bedroom area. Those are for your suggestion, these are for the reading nook, and that beam is for a secret project.”

“Cut to a specific measurement...” Kara could ‘see’ the wheels in her head starting to turn “the other nook?” Kara nodded her head. “Gotcha. In that case, follow me. Most of this needs to go” she pointed to a section of the garage “in that corner. Unless something is flooring related; in that case it goes up against that wall.”

“Wait, wasn’t this all to the side of the apartment earlier?”

“Only until the frame building started. We can’t really have any of it getting in the way while any of those go up.” She laid the small planks down on a folding table in the corner. “Where’s the rest of the materials for the staircase?”

“Mom knows. Uhm ... we also have pieces set aside for most of the new lights. Where should they go?”

“What are they?”

“Wood, led strips, and a special kind of paper.”

“Put those on the other half of this table. This will be the special projects table.” Laura grabbed a marker and a piece of paper. “Light boxes?” Kara nodded her head; Laura scrawled a few things on the paper, then taped it to the table. “Okay, that should work.” She followed them back out towards the car. “So...” she started, as Leonard’s voice carried over to them and caught all of their attention.

“WHAT? How did that ... person not leave the store in a body bag?”

“Believe me, I was sorely tempted to beat her half to death. She was saved only by the manager’s intervention.”

“What exactly happened to you two in that store?” Vanessa asked, a worried expression on her face.

“I’d rather recount the story only once. The short of it is that an idiot poked a mama bear once too many times, and almost got mauled for it.” She sneaked past her parents and back to the trunk. “These are the materials for the light boxes, and those” she pointed to “are for the upper nook.”

“Howe about these beams?” Laura asked, pointing to another pile.

“I think those are to support the bathroom ceiling and the upper half of the closet.”

“Perfect. You two” she looked at Vanessa and Emanuel “can grab them. I’ll take the nook flooring, and Kara can have the light box materials.” Kara nodded her head, hooked the bag containing the diffusion sheets and LEDs over her arm, then grabbed the stack of plywood. “Good ... I was hoping that would be ply.”

“It’s not like the light boxes are going to be under much stress. Not with the weight of the paper and LED strips.”

“What kind of switches did you two decide on?”

“Mostly dimmers ... although, a few of the rooms made sense to use traditional ones instead. I’m pretty sure they ended up in the same bag as the mounting hardware for the beam and the light boxes.”

“I’ll bring one of each to Karl so he knows...” Laura began, laying the stack of planks down next to the big beam “wait ... how many boxes will each room have?”

“That’s not the part that’s going to matter.” Kara pulled out the spools of LEDs, holding one of each up. “One of these is a warmer white, while the other is a more neutral tone. Some of the boxes are going to have both of them, and a few won’t.”

“Each adjustable independently from the other?” Kara nodded her head. “Oh. That would mean multiple switches per box. And if some rooms have more than one box, then that could mean a lot of switches to wire up.”

“I’m pretty sure none of the rooms will have more than two sets of dimmers in them. Mom has the master plan figured out for all of that though. Let her tell and show him where those need to be.” She glanced at the trunk, Clara nowhere to be found. “What of the materials would Karl need now?”

“The track kit for the sliding doors, technically. But as long as we install those before the drywall goes up, we’ll be fine.”

“Wait ... what track kit?”

“Please tell me Clara remembered to pick those up too. It’s not just the track the door slides on; they also usually include the bracing to secure that to the frame of the wall.”

“I don’t remember her picking up something separate. But, the doors seemed more expensive than I’d expect them to be.”

“They are quite a bit wider than your standard door typically is ... but not wide enough to include the wood needed for the pocket frame. That either means these only have the metal components, or nothing at all.” She watched Laura climb into the trunk and closely inspect the top box. “They just include the metal components. That explains why there was more of the framing wood than I was expecting there to be. That said...” she climbed back out of the trunk “let’s see how heavy one of these is.” Kara watched her slide the top box out. “Not bad, actually. Wait ... seven sliding doors?”

“One of them is ... special. For the same project that the big beam is for.”

“Oh, okay. Can each of you handle the remaining two boxes? I’ll grab the remaining bags of hardware.”

Kara lifted two from the top. “I think I can only handle one.”

“Then take the hardware.” Kara nodded her head, and waited for all but the bottom box to be taken. “That’s the special door?”

“Yup.”

“But the image on the box is so basic. I suppose if you want a good blank canvas, that would be your best bet.” Kara watched her eyes snap to the can of filler. “Oh...”

“Please don’t say anything to anyone else about that.”

Vanessa glanced at the box.”Wait, what am I missing?”

Kara drew closer to Vanessa, lowering her voice. “We don’t want people stumbling into the play nook. So this door will be painted specifically to match the walls around it.”

“Then you won’t know how to find it unless you know it’s there!” Vanessa whispered back. “That’s brilliant. But ... wait, how will you make the depth difference disappear?”

“I’m not sure yet, honestly. I was kind of hoping that with the limited light, it will be hard to see.”

“Okay, you two aren’t that good at keeping quiet. The solution is fairly simple actually. As long as you can get the width of the door itself close enough that it can still open and close, the difference between the door and the wall won’t be easy to see. And if you’re really concerned, you can add whatever you’re planning to do to hide the rest of the nook.”

“A curtain? Wouldn’t that be obvious?”

Vanessa grinned. “Not necessarily Kara. A nice tapestry would serve the same purpose.”

“You’re right! If said tapestry is sufficiently big, it would look like a simple decoration.” She rested the box against the wall, then turned to Laura. “Where do you suppose the kit would be?”

“Open the box; it should be in a smaller box either on top, or on the side.”

Kara popped the box open and peered inside it. “On the side. Do we need to take them out now?”

“I don’t think so. It makes more sense to install the doors in full before the drywall goes in. That said...” she glanced back at the car “I think just one of you can bring the rest in. You should join Emanuel with doing the framing.”

“Sure. Wait, Dad said the basement framing was done already. Will we need to remove parts of it to put the two sliding doors that go down there in?”

“The spots they’re supposed to go were built with the doors in mind. Since these kits don’t have the wooden components, then we’ll need to build the sleeves ourselves. That’s not too hard to do thankfully.” She started back to the car. “Anyway...”

“We’re on our way. Once Kara gets her safety gear back on, we’ll head back in.”

“Already on it Manny.” How is the framing going, my muse?

We’re at maybe half of the main floor done. Your mom is showing Karl where to place the junction boxes for the ones that are already complete and anchored. I didn’t realize we were going to have so many.

Junction boxes? She slipped on her mask and helmet.

The metal boxes that the switches go into.

We didn’t pick up any of those.

Yes you did. They were included with the switches.

Oh... she followed Emanuel to the table saw that’s why those boxes were so thick.

Exactly. “So, which room’s framing are we working on now?”

Leonard looked up from the saw table. “The master bathroom. This is the last piece for its other full wall. Emanuel can show you how it’s assembled.”

“No need. Those pieces can only really be assembled one way.” She glanced again at the pile. “Is this for the wall with the door, or the one bordering the reading nook?”

“The latter. Assemble it inside.”

Kara nodded her head and picked up some of the pieces. “Where inside are we assembling the frame pieces?”

“As close to the area that’s being framed. At the moment, where the reading nook will be.” Vanessa held the door open; they stepped through it and nodded their heads. “The first frame pieces turned out a little ... crooked. So Laura suggested we build a temporary guide jig.”

“Excellent! Let’s do this then.” Kara sped up, stopping in front of the jig; then laid the beams around it. “Drill?” Emanuel pointed to a spot to her left. She nodded her head and began to join the beams together. “Okay, done!”

She watched Emanuel and Vanessa lift up the frame, then maneuver it into place. “Since you have the drill...”

“Got it. Anchored to the existing frame piece and the beam connecting to the outside wall, right?” Emanuel nodded his head again. Kara carefully drilled a series of pilot holes into the frame, then changed the drill bit to the driver bit attached to the side of the drill. A series of long screws later, and the frame was anchored in place. “Done! What’s next?”

Cosette stopped in front of them, carrying another pile of beams. “Your dad said the wall for the closet.”

Emanuel gave her a thumbs up. “Thank you Cosette. The first thing we need to do is secure the longest of the beams to those” he pointed to the frames on either side of them “two walls. There should be a spot marked on each where it’ll go.”

“I see it. Do we have a level nearby?” Vanessa nodded and handed one to her. “Can you both lift it in place?” They both nodded their heads, and lifted the beam up; Kara rested the level on top of its center. “Manny, nudge your side up a tad...” the bubble shifted slightly “a little more...” it stopped in the center of the liquid “okay, let me check the two sides as well.” She slid the level across the beam and smiled. “Perfect. Hold it just like that.” Kara grabbed the drill and screws, and drove two into the ends of the beam. “That should do it. Now, where is the door supposed to be?”

“Right by that wall” Emanuel pointed to the bathroom frame. “I’ll show you how we’ve been handling the pockets for the sliding doors.” She watched him slide the widest beam into the right side of the jig, then two more of equal width on the top and bottom. “These are the easiest to put together. Once they’re secured, find these four notches, and slot those” he pointed to four thinner beams “into them. They’ll secure into the big beam on the right, as well as the bottom and top ones where possible.”

“How about the middle two?”

“That’s what the little pieces are for. They’ll go in between each of the horizontal beams like this” he wedged several of the small pieces in an alternating pattern “and be secured from the top and bottom of the longer beams. Repeat this on the other side” he flipped the jig and repeated the steps “and that’s it.”

“Will we be able to install the door’s tracks into the pieces before they go up?”

“There should be enough room between the slats to get the drill into.”

“Let’s find out if that’s true” Laura interjected, coming towards them. “Here’s a pair of the tracks; it needs to go exactly in the center of those beams.” She knelt down with a tape measure, made a few marks at several points along the top beam, then did the same on the bottom one. “If you line up the edges of the tracks with those marks, you should be fine.”

Emanuel took one, stood the frame up, and carefully placed the track into it. “Vanessa, help me keep this held in place. Kara, you should probably drill a pilot hole in each of those holes. Then I believe the screws we want are the shorter ones.”

“It looks that way, yes.” She quickly made the pilot holes, then secured the two end screws first. “So, we’ll put the whole frame in at once?”

“That’s the idea” Emanuel replied.

“Okay, I’m done with this side. Flip it over please.” She watched them stand the frame up on its top; Emanuel laid the other track down and nodded at Vanessa. “Perfect.” Kara secured the second track just as she’d done the first. “Okay, that’s it. Is there any reason we can’t just put it in like this?”

Laura nodded her head. “Yeah. They’re not the same thickness. The bottom is taking into account the added thickness your special mats are going to add. In most cases though, they’ll be the same.”

“Gotcha.” Go ahead Manny.

Give us a moment. This is ... kind of heavy.

Take your time. She watched them flip it again, then slowly move it into place. “Perfect. I don’t see any gaps.” She quickly secured the frame into the appropriate places. “That should be good.”

“By the original plans, the only major new framing to be done are the ones that connect the bedroom, closet, and kitchen walls to the ceiling. One more full level, then we’ll assemble the final level as we go. If we don’t, getting the angles right may be a little too hard.”

Vanessa glanced up. “Do we have any ladders tall enough for that?”

“Yes. Thankfully, two of them. Leonard should have the pieces for the next frame chunk ready in just a moment.”

Cosette and Clara stepped inside, each carrying a pile of wood. Let’s do this!

How about if they’re helping us with some sort of play we’re about to get into up there? Would that be a sufficient reason Manny? She nodded her head and watched the next frame piece go up to it’s final place. Like say ... Will perhaps?

Kara began working on the next frame piece. Do you think the any of the nearby walls would be strong enough to attach one to? And doesn’t it make more sense to be able to take the piece apart? We can reasonably easily hide the real purpose of the suspension beam. I don’t think we’d be able to do the same with that though.

“What are you three scheming about?”

“Something else we might be able to include in that nook” Kara responded, giving a thumbs up. “The piece we used in Rosa’s scene.”

A deep, bright blush quickly spread over her face. “Oh ... yes, that would be something else.”

“One issue would be how to store it. We don’t want that purpose of the nook to be obvious.”

“How about if you build it to be easily disassembled? You could use the pieces as shelving when they’re not in use otherwise.”

“Yeah! And it would be easy enough to hang things off of the attaching hardware too. That’s a brilliant idea Vanessa!” Kara waited until Vanessa was back on the ground and threw her arms around her for a few seconds, then hastily pulled back. “Uhm ... sorry. I didn’t ask if...”

Vanessa gave her a gentle smile and pulled her back into the hug. “It’s okay. You did surprise me, but ... I like this a lot.”

“Enough to stay this way until the next batch of wood is delivered?”

“Y ... yeah.” She leaned in next to Kara’s ear. “Just know that if we do, I’d also want to grab my after work shower with you.” Kara felt her own face blush. “Are you game then?”

“Yeah. I’m just a little ... surprised by your forwardness about this.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No. I just wasn’t expecting it.”

“I’m ... finding it easier than I expected to warm up to you and Allison.”

She felt Allison pout. Lucky.

Kara watched the door open again. “Here comes the next ‘shipment’. We’ll need to resume this later.”

“Y ... yeah. Let’s focus on the task at hand for now.”

Vanessa broke the hug and stepped away. Kara threw herself into the next frame piece, pointing and nodding as need be for Vanessa and Emanuel to move. Frame piece quickly melted into the next one as the middle wall climbed to the ceiling. The closet wall followed; soon Kara was looking up at the space between the kitchen wall and the ceiling. “So, how do we make the archways?”

“You three” Laura looked at them “only need to focus on laying out the rectangle that surrounds each arch. Clara and myself will put the actual arches together once those are up.” She produced a printed plan. “Just follow this, and you’ll be good.”

Kara nodded her head. “Let’s get to it then.”

She launched herself back into her work, building up the two large sections chunk by chunk. “Darling ... I think that’s it.”

She looked back up. “Oh, yeah. What’s next?”

“That frame. I have the pieces we need waiting by the closet.” Kara nodded her head and beckoned Emanuel and Vanessa to follow. “This one should go quickly. Darling?” Kara flashed a thumbs up and quietly assembled the frame. Allison laid a smaller ladder near the bathroom wall and climbed up onto the support beams. “Good. I have the other drill up here already. I need Kara to join me up here; then you two can pass the frame up to us.” Kara carefully climbed up the ladder, carrying the drill with her and waited a few feet away from Allison. “Okay, go ahead.”

Emanuel nodded his head. “Here we go then.” Kara watched the frame piece slowly rise toward them; as soon as she could, she grabbed the right side of it and began lifting it up. Soon it was resting on the support beams. Allison nodded her head and began to maneuver her side into place; Kara quickly followed and slid it into place. Several quick screws later, the frame was secured. “One more piece to go.” Allison looked down at Emanuel. “Do you have the last part ready?”

“Yes. Are you ready for it?”

“Ready. And when it’s up, pass the ladder up too. I think you should be able to grab one of the taller ones too.” The support beams should be sturdy enough for the smaller ladder.

Are you sure?

I’ll take that one if you’d prefer.

Yes. Kara nodded at Emanuel, and waited as the oddly shaped frame climbed toward them. Okay, I’ve got my side.

Same, darling. When it’s up, rest it across the beams.

Got it ... okay, done.

Good. “Manny, the ladder.” Kara watched Allison lift the ladder up and set it up near the external wall. That should do.

“Uhm...” Laura sputtered “what are you doing Allison?”

“Isn’t this the only way to raise this piece to it’s final place?”

“No. Have Emanuel join you up there, and the two of you can lift that side into place. Kara will raise the other side, and then you she can secure it into the support bar.”

Allison nodded her head and passed the ladder back down. If the floor was in too, your idea might have been okay precious. But not with the gaps in the support beams.

Yeah.

We’re ready when you are partner.

Go for it. Kara began lifting her half of the frame piece and carefully slid it into place. If one of you can pass me the appropriate screws, I’ll get this job done.

Here you go darling! Kara took the box of screws and quickly drove them through the beams she could safely reach. It’s up to one of you to get the other ones. I can’t reach that side from where I am.