Pebble Beach - Cover

Pebble Beach

Copyright© 2008 by Anthony Concept

Chapter 17

This weekend Bruno and Mama brought the kids over. They hemmed and hawed for a bit, then Mama decided to talk to us.

"Annie, Jim ... Bruno and I would like to build a house here, would you mind?"

"Mama, I would love to have you for neighbours, you are very welcome to build ... as long as you don't build some great mausoleum. The folks around here, as you well know are old age pensioners and I think that they would feel a little put out if you did."


"No Jim we don't want to build fancy, just something for a weekender, just the same type of house that the rest of them are."

"Good, then by all means go ahead, perhaps if you talk to a few of the locals they might give you a better idea of what to build."

"What we had in mind was to buy a kit home and get it transported down here. Once it was here and set up we would pay some of the locals to complete it, that's if they were interested."

"That sounds like a good idea Mama, I'm sure Fred and his mates would be interested. If they take it on I suggest you pay them cash in hand otherwise it might stuff up their pensions."

"Would you sound them out for us Jim? That way if they decline it won't make it so hard to say so."

"OK Mama, I'll have a talk with them."


Later on that day I caught up with Fred and Herman. "Bruno and Mama want to build a weekender down here. They intend on buying one of those kit homes and have it transported here, would you guys be interested in finishing it off for them? It would be cash in hand if you take the job on."

"I'm interested Jim, what about you Fred?"

"Yeah, the cash in hand bit suits us Jim, if we declare it the bloody Government adjust our pensions so it doesn't make it worth our while working."

"OK then, let's go and talk to Bruno and Mama, they seem pretty keen to have you folk do the work for them."


When we caught up with them they were talking to Annie, Mama was telling her how she wanted things in the new house. As we walked in she looked up.

"Ah, I hope you have good news for me Jim?"

"Yes Mama, Herman and Fred said they would be interested, probably some of the others as well."

"That's good, Bruno will pay you well, we're not looking to get the job done on the cheap. We have seen the type of work you all did on the kid's cabin, so we thought it would be good thing to get you to do our place."

"Thank you Mama that's a fine compliment, what do you think Herman?"

"Yeah Mama, that makes us feel worthwhile. Do you have a particular design in mind?"

"We have some of their brochures with us, we've thinned it down to two homes, would you like to look at them?"

Annie cleared the table and Bruno spread out the brochures and the floor plans. We all gathered around them and Herman and Fred asked a lot of questions, jotting down the answers on a piece of paper Annie supplied.

"What stage of completion do you intend on getting Bruno?"

"We were thinking of having it to the plaster and wiring done stage but not painted. All the internal fittings we would buy and get you folk to install them, things like cupboards and benches, get what I mean Fred?"

"Sounds good, you will need to get a licensed plumber to do the pipe work though."

"Hmm, could we get that Ron Chilcott fellow that did the cabin for us."

I told him I would call Ron and see if he was interested. I spoke to Ron later that day and he agreed as long as he had plenty of warning up front.


With all the house discussions out of the way we say back and enjoyed one of my home brews. This one was a 'Midland Mild' it was a smooth tasting beer with a nice head and a slightly bitter after taste. The thing that set it apart from my other beers was the rose-amber colour, a very pleasant drop.

"What's this Annie tells me about you building a still Jim?" asked Bruno.

"Well we picked up an old hot water heater at the tip last week, the body is OK but the element is burnt out, I need to replace it anyway as it was far too powerful for what I want. The type of sill I'm going to build is a reflux still, it will have a two inch copper pipe column about six feet high, with a condenser in the top. The column is filled with stainless steel pot scourers."

"Not the one's with soap in them I hope?"

"No just the plain ones. The heating element will be replaced with one of 1800 watts, the thermostat will be chucked out and the power will run through a two way switch. On full run it will be 1800 watts, on the low run the power will flow through a set of diodes converting it to direct current, that also breaks it down to about 900 watts."

"This is a different way to make grappa, Jim..."

The source of this story is Storiesonline

To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account (Why register?)

Get No-Registration Temporary Access*

* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.

 

WARNING! ADULT CONTENT...

Storiesonline is for adult entertainment only. By accessing this site you declare that you are of legal age and that you agree with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.


Log In