Second Chances Chapter 23 La Vie en Rose
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A Second Chance - Chapter 51 free porn video
MONDAY, June 13, 2016
Rachael was up early and got Bobby fed and off to school. Then she
headed back to the church and the house next door where Mrs.
Winchester lived.
As she got close, she saw Larissa, Carly and Mikki heading in from the
opposite direction.
"Yippee. The whole team together again," Carly said. Apparently she
had slept over with Mikki the night before.
"No, Rachael can't help us," Mikki explained. "It will only be the
three of us on this project."
"I'm helping the lady in the house next to church move," Rachael
explained. "She is moving into a nursing home in a few days."
As they neared the church they could see that there was a lot of work
underway. On the back side of the church men were already on the roof,
clearing off old shingles, which slid down to a commercial collection
bin parked underneath between the two areas of scaffolding. On the
street side of the church was a second bin, and men were erecting
scaffolds on either side of it.
Rachael continued on to the house, while the other girls went to the
church, with Mikki already filming.
"Gary and a man Mikki didn't know walked up. "Hi girls, this is Skid,
foreman for this project. He's here to help you brush up on safety
issues."
Carly, who had Mikki's old camera, started taking pictures.
"First off," Skid said in a no-nonsense voice, "whenever you are on my
site, you will always wear a hard hat. We did some work on these last
night, and the fitting inside should be small enough for a girl's
head. If not, we will adjust them further. You will wear the helmet at
all times, and always keep the chin strap tight."
"Next, whenever you are on the roof you will wear a safety rope. He
held up a harness. Who here will be going up?"
"Me and Carly," Mikki said. "Larissa has a thing about heights. She
says she is as tall as she needs to be."
Carly filmed as Mikki got into a harness, which went around her legs
and then up and around her shoulders. "You probably won't need this,"
Skid warned, "but it must be connected to the cable at the church peak
at all times when you are on the roof. If I find you unconnected, or
not in a helmet, even for a second, then the project is over and you
will be asked to leave."
Carly then got into her harness. "I'm not going to be climbing the
roof," she explained. "I just want a little corner somewhere that I
can film from."
"Bark," Skid shouted. "Can you take a couple of 2x4s up and make a
little perch in the front corner for this young lady to film from. One
board for her legs, and then another for her rear. You are going to be
sore sitting there all morning," Skid warned, "but at least your legs
won't cramp up from trying to hold your position on the slope for a
long time."
Mikki then filmed Carly getting her outfit on. Once that was done,
Mikki headed up the scaffolding like a monkey, soon reaching the top.
One of the men already in a harness grabbed the rope, and walked it to
the top of the roof, where he fastened it to the cable that ran along
the peak of the roof. Carly climbed up slower, and soon found the
resting place that Bark had made for her. Her support rope was also
connected, and she nestled into position at the lower corner of the
roof.
Larissa stayed on the ground, and filmed her friends climbing up with
her phone, and also took shots of work happening at ground level.
Most of the action was on the roof, and Mikki was right in the middle
of it. Skid was up there as well, supervising the crew, and
occasionally explaining what was happening to Mikki.
"We started at 7, so we have a good two hours of work in," he
explained. "The men are using shovels and pitchforks to lift the old
shingles, which are then fed down to the bins below. We're over half
done lifting the old shingles on this side, which is coming
wonderfully. We may not have the same luck on the other side, which is
the southern exposure. Those shingles are in worse shape, and may
break apart instead of coming off whole. That might mean we have to
take each nail out by hand."
He moved off, and Mikki kept filming. She had enough memory cards to
hold a couple hours of video, so she kept the camera running, trying
to get good angles of the men lifting the old shingles, and then
showed the debris sliding down to the eaves. Larissa got shots of the
shingles falling over the eaves, and down into the bin from the
ground.
Later Skid came back, when almost all the old shingles were gone. "The
men up there are replacing some areas where the roofing has rotted
through," he said, pointing. "Again, the other side will be worse. All
the leaks are on that side, and we expect to find a lot of rotted
boards there. We are almost ready to cover this side. We are really
making good time."
"What do you cover with?" Mikki asked.
"There will be a row of felt paper at the bottom," Skid said. "Then we
are going to cover the rest with Tyvek house wrap. It normally doesn't
get used on roofs, but I think it will extend the life of the roof by
at least five years. We are using 35-year shingles, but you seldom
actually get that long ... with the Tyvek I'm hoping we will. The
shiny side goes up."
He held out a sample of the white material, which usually would wrap a
house before the brick or siding was installed. One side was slick,
and the other side was a bit rougher.
The material went on quickly. Gary had rented nail guns for the crews,
and it only took about 10 minutes for each of the rows of Tyvek to be
installed. By 11 a.m. it was all down, and the men were starting on
shingles in the lower corner opposite to where Carly sat.
Carly was a bit afraid sitting on the top of the roof. She was near
the eaves, which were still 25 feet in the air. Mikki, on the other
hand, was fearless, and was all over the place. She had even sat near
the steeple to get shots of the surrounding area. Carly was glad
'second shooter' status meant she could just park herself and take
shots, like right now where she was filming Mikki jumping about on the
peak.
Although Carly didn't notice it, Mikki had gotten something on one of
her sneakers, and then stepped on a scrap of Tyvek that was laying
upside down. What Carly did see through her viewfinder was Mikki
starting to slide down the roof on one foot, going faster and faster.
The last three feet of the roof did not have Tyvek, since tar paper
was nailed there, but that didn't slow the girl down. Instead, she
arced over the edge of the roof, with her hard hat flying to the left,
and her expensive Nikon camera going to the right.
She had screamed all the way down the slide. Carly started to scream
as Mikki neared the edge, and below Larissa started to scream as she
looked through her viewfinder and saw Mikki fly through the air over
the edge of the eaves, heading for the ground.
All work stopped at the screams, and men watched the slide in horror.
Those on the ground, including Gary, saw the girl flying through the
air. Then the rope played out and went taut, and arrested the arc. A
second later Mikki was hanging upside down in the air. Larissa wanted
to run towards her friend, but something made her hold back,
continuing to film on her phone.
Carly was nearly hysterical, and grabbed onto the neck of the crew
member who came to her aid. She thought she had witnessed the death of
her friend. The man carefully worked her along to the scaffold, where
he got her to the planking. She was unclipped by a man at the top, and
slowly was half-carried and half-climbed to the ground. As soon as she
was over the edge, she could see Mikki hanging there, upside down, and
not moving.
The men on the crew were all in action. They paired up on either side
of the rope that held Mikki aloft, all along its run up the roof. A
man at the top undid the clip from the cable, immediately clipping it
to his belt. He then started down the steep slope, as the men fed the
rope out hand by hand, slowly lowering the girl to the ground.
Mikki regained consciousness as her head was face to face with Gary,
still upside down. Skid was on the other side, and the two men reached
out and took her shoulders, so that in another minute she was
horizontal, and then laying on the ground.
A few minutes later an ambulance squealed into the church lot,
followed by a van with Stoner Photography on the side. Mikki was
already on the stretcher when she saw her dad.
"I'm sorry, Daddy," she said. "I think I broke the good camera."
"The camera be damned," Bob Stoner said. "Are you all right?"
"Yes," she said with a wan smile. "It wasn't what I was planning, but
I guess we proved that the safety measures were good. I'm a bit sore
where this harness goes around my legs, and I think I blacked out for
a bit."
Bob got into the ambulance with his daughter, after handing his keys
to Gary, who had two men drive his van to the hospital for him.
Just then Rachael came around the corner from the house, where she had
gotten a lot of work done for Mrs. Winchester. "What happened?" she
asked Larissa, who was still holding a shaking Carly.
"Mikki fell off the roof," Larissa said.
"What?" Rachael shouted.
"She's okay, but they just left for the hospital in the ambulance,"
Larissa said.
"We have to go," Rachael insisted.
"No, we have to go to school," Larissa said. "We talked to her, and
she says she is fine."
"How did it happen?" Rachael said.
"Like this," Carly said, somehow calming down now that Rachael was
there. She replayed the video of the slide down the roof on her
camera. Larissa followed up showing Mikki come flying over the edge,
only to jerk to a halt, followed by the rescue.
"Wow. And I was right next door and didn't have a clue. Bring those
cameras to school. At least we will be able to explain to our teachers
why Mikki is missing afternoon classes."
-- -- -- -- - - - -
Helen rose and looked out the window to watch the majestic Niagara
Falls from her hotel window. Steve had wanted to take her on a
honeymoon to remember, mentioning Paris, Rome, and Athens, but Helen
had refused. She insisted that they be back for Sunday morning
services. She wanted to honeymoon at Niagara Falls, where her
grandparents had, so he had booked a week at Fallsview Sheraton,
overlooking the falls.
They had driven less than two hours from the church to their hotel,
and had a relaxing evening last night. It was not the first night they
had slept together: Helen had considered herself married to the young
constable since they had prayed at the painting. But it was the first
time they were legally married, and that made it a bit special.
"What do you want to do this morning?" Steve asked from the bed.
"That," she said, pointing out the window at the Falls. "I want to sit
out somewhere where I can watch the falls. It is one of the Lord's
most impressive creations, and I want to experience it fully."
So after a breakfast in the hotel, Helen and Steve walked along the
pathway to a place where they could look down at the majestic falls.
Helen sat down crosslegged in her jeans, and Steve sat directly behind
her, letting her lean on him as she studied the falls."
"Do you want lunch?" Steve asked a few minutes later.
"What? So soon?" Helen asked.
"It's almost one," Steve said. "You have been staring at that thing
for nearly four hours."
"I have? It is just so awe-inspiring," she said. "But yes, I do need
to feed you, although I would like to come back here tomorrow."
"Maybe after lunch we can visit Ripley's Believe it or Not, and the
Wax Museums," Steve suggested. "There are supposed to be a lot of
things to do at Clifton Hill."
---- -- - -- - - -
The three members of the Vandereynd family rose from the prayer rails
at the painting. It was the second time Lisa Vandereynd had prayed.
The first time had ended her alcoholism. The first time for his
husband Hans came when the painting had alerted him that his daughter
Autumn had being trying to hang herself in the three-car garage of
their bungalow. The second time had been with his wife, and it had
made him realize that his devotion to his work as a contractor was
destroying his marriage and (nearly) his family.
For Autumn it was a first time at the painting. She wore a turtleneck
sweater that covered the rope burns on her neck. She rose from the
painting feeling better than she had felt in years. The teenaged angst
that had driven her to try suicide was gone. She understood things at
a deeper level now, and decided that casual comments made by her
classmates would no longer drive her to the depths of despair.
"I want to move," Lisa said. "I want to move into this neighborhood.
Can we?"
"I thought the bungalow was your dream house?" Hans said.
"It was," Lisa said. "But my dreams are different now. Everything
there is so new and modern ... and tainted. I became a drunk there. My
daughter nearly died there. I don't think I will ever be able to go
into that garage again."
"Well, I definitely don't want you to start drinking again. The
bungalow is one of the nicest houses in the subdivision. We have a lot
of equity in it. But all the homes are older around here. Do you
really want an older home?"
"Actually, I do. We would have to fix it up inside, but some of these
old houses are beautiful. I want to be a traditional wife in a
traditional house," Lisa said.
"Well, let's ask this man if there are any houses for sale in the
area," Hans said, gesturing to Gary, who was doing a shift in the
lobby.
"I overheard your conversation," Gary said, "and it happens that just
yesterday a man who owns two houses in the neighborhood told me he
wanted to sell. They are rental properties, but could be made into a
family home again. One has three units, and all are empty. The other
is slightly smaller, with one tenant in the lower unit. The upper
there is inaccessible at the moment, due to the stairs being
condemned. I have a work party going out tomorrow to fix them."
"Who is the agent handling the sale?" Hans asked.
"Actually, there is no agent," Gary explained. "The owner was so
rattled by the upstairs tenant nearly falling through the stairs that
he just wants out of the property rental business. I guess the
building inspector gave him a rough ride for letting the stairs
deteriorate. Plus the upstairs tenant is threatening to sue. I do have
the keys to the places, if you want to look."
"No agent?" Hans mused. That would lower the price somewhat. "Yes, if
you have time we would love to see the houses."
Gary phoned into the shed to get someone to replace him in the lobby
and then walked the family down to the first house. "This is the one
with the bad stairs," Gary said. "It looks like Mrs. Cassidy is awake
downstairs. We can ask if she will let us look around. As a tenant she
has the right to insist on an advance notice, but she attends our
church, and I think she will let us in."
"Gary, and some friends," Mrs. Cassidy said as she came to the door.
"What do I owe this pleasure?"
"Mrs. Cassidy," Gary said. "Have you spoken to Mr. Hunt lately?"
"The landlord? No dear, why?" the older lady said.
"Well, it turns out that he is looking to sell his buildings. This
family is looking for a place to buy. They wanted to look around."
The three quickly made it through the building. It was small, although
of course with the upstairs it might be large enough for the family,
even though it would be less than half the space of the bungalow. They
returned to the living room, where Gary was consoling a weeping Mrs.
Cassidy.
"What's wrong?" Lisa said, immediately going to the sobbing woman.
"Well, Mrs. Cassidy was not aware that the building was being sold,"
Gary explained. "It is a bit of a shock to her."
"I don't want to move," the lady sobbed. "I was hoping this could be
my last home."
"Well, I certainly won't move you out of your house," Lisa said. "We
have another house to look at, but we certainly won't buy this one,
and evict you from your home."
"No, but that just means that someone else will. Even if they do buy
it for rentals, they are liable to raise the rents beyond what I can
pay."
Gary left the sobbing woman and took the family five houses down the
street, and unlocked the empty house, one unit at a time. Hans'
professional eye could visualize the three units as a single home, and
explained how the layout would work to his wife and daughter. Autumn
made a claim on an upstairs bedroom that had a widow's walk balcony
over the front porch. Two other bedrooms upstairs could be merged into
a master suite, with the kitchen behind being converted into a walk-in
closet and master bath. There were two more rooms upstairs, which
would become a guestroom and an office for Hans.
Downstairs small kitchen to the front apartment was back-to-back with
the kitchen of the rear unit, and Hans suggested that they be merged
into a large country kitchen. The front bedroom was originally the
living room and could be restored to that function. The other unit had
two bedrooms, and had a small bathroom at the rear. The front room
would become a parlor or a library, mirroring the living room, and the
room behind could be restored to a dining room with good access to the
kitchen. The final room at the back was claimed by Lisa as her den. It
had beautiful views of the large backyard, where Lisa said she would
plant a garden next spring.
"I didn't think you were into gardening anymore," Hans said.
"I always was, but that neighborhood was snooty, and gardening was
considered lower-class by the other women. Look, there is a garden
behind nearly every house you can see from here," Lisa said.
"Yes. The bones of the place are good. Much better than the other
place. The new owner there will have a lot of work to bring it up to
code. I think that the tenant is right: they will need to raise her
rent."
"That is so sad," Autumn said. "I wish we could buy both places, and
let her stay in her home. She seemed like such a nice old lady."
Lisa looked at Hans: "Can we?"
Hans calculated. "With the equity we have in the bungalow, and a
mortgage quite a bit smaller than the one we have we could carry both
places. The upstairs there needs a lot of work, and a bit downstairs."
He turned to Gary. "You said you have men coming to work on the stairs
tomorrow. Are they experienced in doing stairs? They can be pretty
tricky."
"One is a certified carpenter," Gary said. "The other two will be just
helpers. I don't know if Stan has done stairs. I think he was a fence
and deck man. Most of the top carpenters are working on the church
roof this week."
"Let me send one of my stairs guys tomorrow. If I'm taking the place,
I want the repairs done right. I will pay for the lumber. And Gus can
look over the rest of the place to see what needs doing up there.
Let's talk price."
Gary told him what the current owner was asking, and Hans came back
with a much lower price. He noted that the one unit was condemned and
could take a lot of work to replace. He made his offer conditional on
his man inspecting the upstairs apartment.
Gary phoned Mr. Hunt and put forth the offer. The man thought for
about 12 seconds before agreeing, but only if the offer was outright,
with no condition. Hans agreed: he felt he had a big enough discount
to cover all the renovations that might be needed. Mr. Hunt was happy,
claiming that he would finally be able to get a good night's sleep. He
offered full access to the apartments over the time before closing, so
Hans could have men start the renovations.
"Can you start right away?" Lisa asked. "I know you have a lot of
other jobs on the go."
"Yes, but this is the home for my family. I know that my family comes
first: now."
"But first we have to head back to that old lady. We can't let her
fret all night about her house. We can tell her that she can stay
there as long as she wishes, at the same rent," Lisa said.
----- --- - - -- -
Rachael had spent the evening working on a special project. The Top
Girl and Boy speeches would be tomorrow morning, and she had come up
with an idea. Once she finished, she was ready for bed. Geoff and
Maria had turned in early. The one downside to their day off was that
on Tuesday Mike would be off, and that meant they had to go in for the
11 p.m. shift.
Dear Lord
Thank you so much for saving Mikki today. I know your hand was in that
affair, and I don't know what I would have done if Mikki was hurt ...
or worse. I owe you big time, and will work especially hard from now
on to pay you back.
Amen
Wynona
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