Second Chances Chapter 23 La Vie en Rose
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A Second Chance - Chapter 52 free porn video
TUESDAY, June 14, 2016
Rachael got up and headed off to school. The Top Girl and Top Boy
speeches were to be given at an assembly this morning, and she wanted
to support Carly, especially with the surprise they had been working
on over the weekend. They had decided not to do the normal routine of
giving a speech. I mean, there were only two more weeks of school, so
any promises of things a new Top Girl could do were pretty hollow. It
wasn't like being elected class president at the start of term or
anything.
But each girl (and the boys) got five minutes for their speech, which
usually left the class totally bored, particularly after 10 girls and
four boys finished.
But Rachael had come up with an idea (of course). Carly would sing a
song. One of the Grade Seven boys played acoustic guitar, and would
play. Carly would sing, and Rachael and Larissa would keep time on
tambourines.
The lyrics were a kludge of an old John Lennon song, 'Give Peace a
Chance'. Rachael looked over the lyrics she had written.
Two, one-two-three-four
Evrybody's talking bout
Mystery Meat, bongo beat on the street, nothing good to eat
Creamed corn, gravy porn, simmered all morn, hairnets worn.
All we are saying, is give peas a chance
All we are saying, is give peas a chance
Yo yos are no nos, Frisbees and scraped knees, paper wads and doodads
All we can eat are corn and beets, take your seats, football cleats
All we are saying, is give peas a chance
All we are saying, is give peas a chance
All we are saying, is give peas a chance
All we are saying, is give peas a chance
All we are saying, is give peas a chance
All we are saying, is give peas a chance
It wasn't much of a song, but when they had practiced it on Sunday
afternoon the others liked it. The catchy chorus was easy to remember,
and repeated enough that the students could join in.
Rachael put her song sheet into her backpack and headed down to make
breakfast for Bobby.
---- -- ----- - -- - -
Mikki was at the construction site on Tuesday, carrying the new camera
her father had bought her. He had been so happy that she was safe and
well he didn't even complain about the cost. In the shed Mikki found
that her old camera was strewn across a workbench, with Chipper
working on it. The lenses were toast, and a mirror inside was cracked.
Two or three other parts were damaged, but the tinkerer/barber had
already gotten the electronics back in business. He told Mikki that he
had ordered parts from Nikon, and when they came in, he would
reassemble the camera, hopefully so it was as good as new.
Skid and Gary were talking to a man in a suit outside when Mikki came
up. "This is the girl who fell," Gary said. "As you can see, she is
fine. The harness caught her."
"Mikki, this is Taylor Stone from the OHSA. He is investigating your
short flight yesterday to ensure that all our safety practices are in
order."
"This could help," Mikki said, holding out her iPad. "I made a little
video from the footage the girls took yesterday. You might want to
watch it."
Mr. Stone did, and he watched the clips that Mikki had arranged into a
story. It started off with Skid putting the harness on her as he gave
his safety talk. The man in the suit was nodding his head as he
watched. There was a short scene where Skid told Mikki about Tyvek on
the roof. He paused the video.
"This is not a normal material used on roofs," Mr. Stone said. "What
will it do?"
"It is an idea of mine," Skid said. "The extra barrier is fairly
inexpensive, and I hope it will prolong the life of the roof,
particularly on the sunny side."
"We should send out an alert about it, cautioning about the slippery
effect." He then went back and continued the video, which quickly went
into the slide and fall, and then Carly and Larissa's shooting of the
recovery operation from two different angles, intercut to show how the
men on the roof helped lower the girl safely.
"That video is wonderful," Mr. Stone said. "I wonder if I could get a
copy? This would be a great addition to our training materials. You
can talk about a person falling from a roof till you are blue in the
face, and men will think it can't happen to them. But to see someone,
a young girl at that, go flying off the eaves ... well, it really has
an impact. I suspect that the training division will want to buy the
rights to this. Heck, it might even make a good safety public service
ad for TV."
Mikki handed him a memory stick. "This has the edited version on it.
If your guys want to get the raw footage, email me and I will send it.
I'm not as interested in money: I just want to build a good portfolio
for college and beyond."
After a half hour more, where Mr. Stone went up onto the roof (in a
harness) the OHSA man announced that the site was approved and work
could get underway again. A half hour later and Mikki got the shots
she wanted: the lumberyard sent over a truck with a huge crane
attached to the back. The crane was positioned up to the peak of the
roof, and then men on the truck started feeding bundles of shingles
onto a conveyor belt that ran up to the top, dropping the shingles in
a pattern on the roof and saving the men from having to carry the
heavy packages up the ladder manually.
Soon the nailguns were firing and the shingles slowly started working
their way up that side of the roof. Meanwhile, more men were working
on the other side of the church, where Skid's fears came true: the sun
had rotted those shingles, and an earlier layer beneath, and the men
had a huge job in peeling the old ones away when they broke into small
pieces instead of lifting the nails out like they had on the other
side.
Mikki filmed all morning. She had wanted to go to Carly's speech, but
felt the video was more important. The men couldn't rebuild parts she
missed. But by noon she felt she had enough, and went off to school.
----- - -- -- -- --
At school, Carly drew the 14th slot for her speech. As Rachael had
predicted, most of the speeches were either 'I'm cool, so vote for
me,' or pointless campaign type speeches complaining about the things
that were wrong with the school when there was no time to fix them.
Carly got to the stage and looked out over a totally bored student
body. The grades five and six were present, even though they couldn't
vote. Grade sevens could vote, but all the candidates had to be grade
eight.
"Oh what a cheerful sea of faces. Well, I have no speech for you,"
Carly said as she stepped up to the mic. That perked people up a
little bit. The Grade sevens noticed that one of their own was on
stage, carrying a guitar.
"Instead of continuing to bore you I thought a little song would break
things up a bit. Unfortunately, my slot comes at the end of the show,
so I guess this will be more of a wrap-up than a break. Anyway, my
friend Rachael wrote this song, based on one by John Lennon, and made
it relevant to Winslow School. I hope you like it."
They loved it. By the third time the chorus was sung, the whole
auditorium was singing along, including some of the teachers, who
recognized the original song and were singing the unchanged lyrics.
Rachael wasn't even sure that some of them had noticed the change.
It completely changed the tempo of the event, and the students filed
out of the room, many singing or humming 'Give Peas a chance.'
On stage Rachael high-fived her friend. "You are so in, girl," she
said. "I wish they voting was today instead of Friday. The other
contestants looked glum, and several of them congratulated Carly then
and there.
The one big question was 'what was on the menu for lunch?' If they
served peas, it would limit the effectiveness of the song. Luckily, it
was carrots, and almost every student sang, "All we are saying, is
give peas a chance," as the lunch ladies scooped the vegetables onto
their plates.
------ - -- --
Helen woke up in her honeymoon suite overlooking the falls, eager to
spend another day admiring God's wonder. After breakfast she and Steve
went down to the same spot as before, and sat as they had before, with
Helen leaning against Steve's legs as she stared at the wonder.
After about a half hour, Helen raised her hand, and then moved it.
Amazingly, she erased part of the Rainbow Bridge between the US and
Canada. She erased some more, and more of the modern cities on either
side of the falls disappeared. She erased the paved roads and
walkways, the guardrails along the edge of the gorge, and then the
cities themselves. When she was done, she was looking at the wonder as
it must have appeared 250 years ago, when the area was still a
wilderness and known only to the natives of the area.
She leaned back against Steve's legs again after leaning forward as
she erased. Suddenly he saw what she was seeing, and suddenly realized
what the confusing hand motions he had noticed had done.
"What did you do?" he whispered. The roar of the falls continued, but
the sounds of the city had vanished.
"I guess I made it as it had been before people decided that the Falls
were a way to make money. It seems so much more spiritual this way."
This time both of them sat staring at the wonder for hours and hours.
They completely missed lunch, and then dinner, as the Falls seemed to
feed and nourish them physically as well as spiritually. It was only
when the sun set did they move.
Helen stood first, stiff but happy, and the erased items all
reappeared, including the lights that now lit the attraction,
diminishing the effects of the beautiful sunset they had just watched.
Everything reappeared for Steve at the same time, and then reality
crept back in. Both of them needed a washroom quickly. Luckily, one
had reappeared just behind them.
After returning, they headed back to their hotel and ordered room
service, speaking as little as possible. As they ate, Steve looked at
his new wife. From the moment he had met her he knew she was special.
She had claimed to be plain, but she appeared as the most beautiful
woman on earth to him. Now he knew she was special, and he vowed
silently that his entire life would be devoted to helping her with her
mission on earth. Luckily he felt that his role as a police officer
fit into that scenario.
That night, the two of them were still wrapped up in awe of what they
had seen, and made the most beautiful love ever.
------- -- - -- ---
Rachael went to the bakery after school. Bobby now went there to check
in, and occasionally walked home with his sister, but more often than
not he left alone or with his friends so they could go bike riding
around the town. Ingersoll was a small town, only about 12,000 people,
so it was still safe for boys to be boys and go off exploring. Today
Bobby went off with Marc and Luke Weller, the other boy who Gary had
supplied with a bike.
Rachael went in, and found that Mike had not taken a full day off. He
was experimenting again, and found that the newly retuned
moulder/sheeter was capable of making better croissants. He planned to
add the new product to the mix on Wednesdays, starting tomorrow.
Larissa, Carly and Mikki were all with her, and Mike handed each of
the girls one of the rolls, still warm from the oven. Mikki, Carly and
Rachael got wide eyes at the buttery light taste of the buns, but it
was Larissa who reacted the most.
"These are wonderful," she said. "They are Parisian croissants. The
kind you get at the sidewalk cafes along the Seine. I am taken back
home when I eat this. You have to make them every day."
"Sorry," Mike said. "They take a lot of work. On Monday and Tuesday,
with only one baker, we can't spend the time. And Friday and Saturday
are too busy. We could do them on Thursday's too, but I think we
should just make them a Wednesday thing. It is a slow day for sales,
so having something special might pull in some more customers."
"It will, it will," Larissa raved. "When Mama tastes these she will be
making a standing order."
Mike then handed each of the four girls a bag containing eight of
croissants to take home. There was also a bag for each of the other
staff members, and one that Geoff would take to Grandma when he picked
her up for dinner.
"Do you have something planned?" Maria asked Rachael.
"I have a couple chickens from Keri Peters, the egg lady," Rachael
said. "They are in Donna Jackson's special marinade."
"Can you make one more place? Mike is joining us for dinner."
"No problem," Rachael said as she and her friends headed home. Grandpa
was on the porch, and all four girls gave the old man a kiss on the
cheek, to his delight. The girls soon left, and Rachael brought
Grandpa in to his chair in the living room, chatting with him from the
kitchen as she made dinner.
After dinner that night Bobby was happy. He had gotten three chicken
legs. Rachael and Maria cleaned up together, joking about the days not
so long ago when they used to have battles over whose turn it was to
wash up. Now it was a bonding time that they cherished.
Then Geoff called a meeting of the bakery partners, and included
Grandma and Rachael to join them. "Mike spent the morning at that food
services place in London again," Geoff said. "Could you tell us what
you found?"
"Yes. There is a good mixer there that is three times the size of the
one we have now. If we had it, we could make bread and roll batches
triple the current size. The problem then is baking them. Our little
oven couldn't handle that volume. So I checked and found there is a
nice double rack oven there that would handle everything. The smaller
oven would be good for backup."
"Where will we put new equipment?" Maria asked. "We could squeeze in
one more machine, but two?"
"Well, I was thinking that the flour stack could be moved to make room
for the oven. We would have to store the flour elsewhere. I was
thinking of a shed in the backyard here at this house," Mike said.
"Why here?" Rachael asked. "There are two parking spots in the back of
the bakery, and we only park the van back there. Why not use the
second spot for a shed for the flour. It will make it easier to get
more when we need it."
"That's a great idea," Mike said. "I was thinking that your Dad would
estimate how much flour we needed for a day, and load it into the van
and bring it in with him. But of course there would be days when we
need more, and driving down the street would waste time."
"This is why we ask you to join in on these business discussions,
honey," Maria said, and Rachael blushed. It was just an idea that
seemed clear to her.
"What would all this cost?" Geoff asked the big question.
"With $2000 for a nice shed, the mixer will cost $25,000, a third the
cost of a new one. The oven is in bad shape, but that means we can get
it for $5000, and have the Hobo Army work their magic on it. The big
cost will be rolling racks for the oven. We need four, although six
would be better. One pair in the oven baking, one pair for prep, and
the optional pair for cooling down. If we don't get three pairs, then
we would have more labor moving things from the rack when it comes out
of the oven. New racks are $4000 each, so that means $16,000 or
$24,000. There are some in the used equipment lot, but I recommend
against them. If you get a wonky wheel on a used unit the frustration
it will cause will drive us nuts."
Maria had been adding. "That comes to $48,000 or $56,000, plus what
the Hobo Army charges us for fixing the oven."
"That will be free," Rachael predicted, "unless there are parts to
buy. What if we just buy two new racks, and get the other four from
the used equipment lot. I have a lot of faith in the Hobos, and if a
wheel is wonky, they will fix it."
"That would cut the cost down by ... How much are used racks?" Maria
asked.
"You can get them for $1000 a pair. Nobody wants them," Mike said.
"So $42,000," Maria said. "Can we do that, Geoff?"
"It would be tight," the baker said. "But if we max out the line of
credit and maybe get a $15,000 short term loan from the credit union
we can make it."
"Balderdash," a voice away from the table said. "I can loan you the
$42,000. I've got the money just sitting in the bank. They don't even
pay me interest on it."
They all looked at Grandpa. "But it is so much money," Geoff said
weakly.
"So make me a partner. Silent partner, I think they call it. The money
will be my buy in," Grandpa said.
"We will pay you interest on the money," Geoff insisted.
"You can pay me the same rate of interest as I paid when I bought this
house 65 years ago: three percent," the old man said in a voice that
brooked no argument.
"That is too low," Maria said.
"Three percent. If you argue I will change it to two percent."
Rachael ran over to her grandpa and flung herself on him in a hug.
"Thank you, thank you. Why are you so sweet to us?"
"And I want one of these hugs every day," the old man said gruffly,
although with soft undertones. "That is why I do this. I love you all.
My life is worth living now. Before I was just waiting ... for the
end."
That night after everyone left and/or went to bed Rachael kneeled at
the side of her bed.
Dear Lord
Thank you for a wonderful day. It was so special to see Mikki fit and
still eager to climb all over the church to get her pictures. And
thank you for making Carly's speech go so well. She ... well, her
mother really ... has put so much into her becoming Top Girl. I hope
she can. And thank you for giving us Mike. His croissants are
wonderful, and seemed to transport Larissa back to France. And then he
is working so hard to get the bakery successful. I'll bet Geoff makes
him a full partner sooner than they had scheduled. I hope Helen and
Steve are having a wonderful honeymoon. I can't believe they plan to
be back for Sunday services.
Amen
Kierra
- 30.10.2021
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