Tales From Mist WorldChapter 3 Salvage and other dirty words
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The Mist Of Time Ch. 11-12 free porn video
CHAPTER ELEVEN
There was a deal of difference when I pulled up outside the Dower House. First all the brambles and gorse had gone, secondly Aleksy had somehow got hold of a load of gravel which was spread over the approaches to the house, thirdly the balustrade along the veranda had been repaired and primed for painting and last I noticed a huge pile of granite setts. Even as I stood there one of his crew drew up in a thirty-hundredweight truck with another load of setts, recovered from the drive up to the old house. Aleksy seemed to have been expecting us as he briskly exited the house and came over to the car. ‘Mr. Chandler, Boss. Is good to see you, come inside there is much for you to see and I need some decisions from you.’ He quickly shook my hand and moved on to Tina who held her face up for a kiss.
I had seen the inside before Aleksy and his crew started work, so I was surprised at the change. All the walls had been cleaned and the channelling where pipes and electrics had been robbed away forcefully from the walls had been filled and plastered. New wiring poked out regularly from socket boxes just above the skirting and also where light switches would affixed. The Victorian tiles in the hall had gone, instead a rough concrete base had been laid. The rotten stairs had been cut away and temporary access to the upper floor was by way of a ladder. Aleksy was about to start on his explanation when a voice came from the front door. ‘Hello! Can I come in?’ Annabel was hovering hesitantly.
‘Come in Annabel.’ I took a step towards her and held out my hand in welcome. I was surprised when she took my hand and didn’t let go.
‘I am sorry for interrupting you, but my curiosity overcame me. When I saw you drive in I thought it would be the perfect time to come and gawk.’
‘I am glad you did.’ I made the introductions ‘Annabel, this is Tina my secretary and bane of my life.’
The two had met before although they had never been introduced. Tina welcomed Annabel with a smile. ‘He’s a terrible boss, but can be quite docile if you put him in his place from time to time.’ They both smiled. Tina noticed Annabel’s hand in mine and winked at me. ‘This is Aleksy. He is a very good builder and also my fiancé.’
Aleksy took a pace forward and clicked his heels and bowed. ‘Is good to meet you, Miss Annabel.’
‘It’s very good to meet you. I have seen you here with Daniel and wondered who you were.’ Her eyes were darting everywhere. ‘This is going to be fantastic when it’s done, can I have a look around?’
‘Of course.’ I told her. ‘Can I leave you with Tina? Aleksy has many decisions for me to make.’
Aleksy had something to say first. ‘Please do not go up ladder. I would not like you have a fall.’ Tina and Annabel looked at each other. I could sense their obdurate mindset. A man tells them not to do something and they will ignore him anyway and damn well do it.
I got involved with Aleksy and his brother Stanislaw. They had spent time together and with their building experience had many suggestions. I could not fault their ideas so told them to do it as they thought best. We walked around and I selected the room on the south-west corner to be my office. Stanislaw agreed that we would need quite a few power sockets to power computers, fax machine and lights. I hated overhead lighting and preferred desk top lights. With my agreement that central heating would be a hot water system Stanislaw went off to decide the best positions of the radiators. Just before he went he suggested that skirting radiators would be best. He spoke in Polish and Aleksy translated. ‘He say less intrusive, boss.’
‘Good idea. I know the system is in good hands.’ Aleksy translated and Stanislaw beamed.
We were going to go up the ladder when Aleksy stopped and told me an idea for the stairs. ‘Old stairs came straight down. I could do that, but may I suggest something?’
‘Go ahead, Aleksy.’
‘I would like to bring stairs down to a half landing, and then turn at right angle with three, more steps to the floor, widening from top to bottom. Bottom steps to flare gradually with a bullnose either end.’
He showed me a sketch he had done and I was immediately struck by the thought he had put into this. I clapped his shoulder. ‘That’s brilliant, Aleksy. Do it just like that.’ I had thoughts about the house and posed a question to Aleksy. ‘Do you think it possible to build in toilets downstairs? One for men and the other for ladies? As it is going to be an office here as well I could have visitors.’
Aleksy thought for a moment. ‘Yes, Boss it’s possible.’ He walked towards where the corridor from the kitchen to the foyer was. ‘I could block this off from the kitchen and make that into one.’ The corridor was about six feet wide. ‘For the other, I can use part of the back room. Put up a wall and put another door into the foyer.’
‘Good. Would you do that please, Aleksy?’
Aleksy made me climb the ladder first and he followed closely so that I didn’t put a foot wrong. He showed me what he thought would be right for turning seven bedrooms and two bathrooms into three suites. ‘We can do it anyway you want. The load bearing walls correspond with walls downstairs, so the other walls could be taken down but I think better this way.’ He produced another sketch. ‘Suites would be same size as rooms downstairs with two rooms each, one a bedroom with bathroom the other a sitting room. Bathroom can be accessed from either rooms or bedroom only. You will get two big suites on the back of the house and a smaller suite on the side. Here.’ He then pointed to the room over the servant’s hall. ‘We can’t do much with that unless you use it for another bathroom.’
‘That looks good.’ A feminine voice remarked. ‘What do you think Annabel?’
‘I like it.’ Was Annabel’s reply.
Aleksy and I turned to see the ladies who had crept up on us. Aleksy was a little bit angry. ‘I ask not to come up ladder. It could be dangerous.’
‘And how are we to see the house completely if we didn’t come up the ladder. It’s a simple procedure or didn’t you think that women could master that?’ I knew that Tina was feigning anger, but Aleksy didn’t. Nor did Annabel. She looked at me and I shook my head with a little smile. She relaxed.
‘I’m sorry, Tina.’ Aleksy started. ‘Of course you know how to use ladder, I was just worried for you.’
‘Ah, he’s so sweet.’ She turned to Annabel. ‘Isn’t he nice? He’s so worried about us.’ She moved to him. ‘Come here my Polish bear. I’ll give you a hug.’ Aleksy blushed very red.
I walked away and Annabel followed me. ‘So, what do you think?’ I asked her.
‘I find it difficult to see it in a finished state. However I liked Aleksy’s ideas for up here and Tina explained what he wanted to do with the stairs. I thought that was very elegant.’
‘I did too. I have told him to go ahead with that, and I shall say the same to him about up here. Aleksy is good so why would I second guess the man who knows what he is doing. Tina knows what he is doing, in fact she wouldn’t allow him to do anything if she thought I wouldn’t like it. So really I am here to agree to ideas that he and Tina have already discussed.’
‘And pay for it all.’
‘Ah, yes. That’s where I come in.’ I agreed ruefully.
We walked into the room on the corner. With no window frame or glass for an impediment we could lean out of the window. One of Aleksy’s men was perched on the roof over the patio, re-setting slates. ‘There is a fabulous view from this room.’ Annabel remarked.
‘You’re right. I think I shall have to make this my suite.’
‘So you have finally decided to live here?’
‘I suppose I shall. Certainly for weekends and possibly most of the week. I will have to go back to Bethnal Green for a day or two most weeks. But I get a good feeling about the thought of living here.’
‘A Chandler back at Chetford eh? How history turns. The
re is a lot more history to our families than you would think. I have discovered my great, great aunt Arabella’s diary. She was an inveterate diarist.’
‘Oh. Is it interesting?’
Annabel nodded knowingly. ‘It seems that we own quite a lot of land that had once been Chetford.’
‘That’s interesting. I know that in the mid eighteen hundreds the estate was around seven hundred acres, yet when I bought it there was only one hundred and ninety acres. Presumably George Swinson bought the rest?’
‘I doubt that.’ Annabel shook her head. ‘I doubt that we have more than three hundred acres. But how did you know about George Swinson?’
‘I did a lot of research on the internet. George Swinson was quite a pioneer in retailing. There’s a lot of information about him.’
‘Oh. I thought you may have been talking to the ghosts.’
I was surprised by that for a moment. Whenever I went up to the old house I had a feeling that people were watching me, yet no one was there but me. I was rescued as Annabel went on. ‘It’s that usual rural flight of fancy. Most locals will swear that they have seen lights and figures flitting around where the house used to be. Usually it’s a gambit to persuade visitors to the area to buy more drinks for them at the pub.’ She laughed ‘As if there would be ghosts up there.’
‘I know what you are talking about. We get the same thing happening around Whitechapel. People come, usually Americans to see where the Ripper committed his grisly crimes. Locals will tell anyone who will listen of ghosts. Women with their innards hanging out and screaming in pain. Same stories hopefully for the same result.’
We made our way to the ladder. I suggested that I go down first in the case that Annabel would need help. ‘Oh. I was going to offer that in case that you needed help.’ She replied with a smile. She walked to the head, turned round and made her way down without a problem. I followed. At the bottom she held out her hand, not to help me but to take my hand in hers. We walked together out the front. ‘Thank you, Daniel for the tour. It’s going to be a really nice home and I am a little jealous. I think it will be nicer than Meadowlea. You must visit us one day. Daddy is very keen to meet you.’
‘Thank you, Annabel. I would be happy to call.’
‘I like Tina. I know she calls you all sorts of names, but she is very fond of you. And Aleksy and his crew are marvellous. I have been bowed to and had heels clicked together when I went round with Tina so much, it was quite exhilarating. Now I must go. I hope to see you soon Daniel.’ She stretched up and kissed me on my cheek. ‘Oh and do call me Bella. Annabel can be a mouthful at times. Are you always Daniel?’
I nodded. ‘Yes. My mum would get irate with anyone who called me Dan. Although she would call me ‘D’ sometimes.’
Bella considered that for a moment. ‘No I don’t think so. It will be Daniel then.’
I smiled and bent slightly and kissed her on the lips. Her eyes sparkled. ‘Now that was much better, Daniel. Much better. See you soon, I hope.’
I went back into the house and was met by Tina who was smiling broadly. ‘When’s the wedding then?’
‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’
‘No. Of course you don’t.’ She sighed dramatically. ‘It’s bloody difficult for women to exist in the same world as men. Their thoughts are so primitive whereas women’s minds are on a much higher plane.’ She shot me a look of exasperation. ‘Miss Swinson has plans for you. She has sized you up and decided that you have nearly all the qualities that she needs in a husband. She knows, as all women do that you have to be re-modelled a little, but in essence you are the best putty around and you can be moulded.’
‘I see! Tell me Tracey, how do you understand her thoughts after what? Ten minutes in her company.’
‘No problem. Women do what men don’t. We listen to her words and we watch her eyes to see the little clues, the inflexions, the little gestures and how the irises react when they look at you. We don’t focus on her tits. I have to congratulate her though. She didn’t take much time to decide. She’s right of course, you are perfect for her. She knows it, I know it, and the only one who doesn’t is you. You’ll come to understand it in time.’
‘Tina, I worry about you. You are living in a make-believe world at times. However, I suppose I shall have to ignore your occasional bouts of insanity as you are quite competent at your job.’
‘You will be the insane one, if you let her slip through your fingers.’
‘Why so?’ I knew Tina was going to tell me anyway, so I had to act as if I was interested.
‘Daniel you are a bloody good catch for any woman. If you were my type you would have been roped and corralled long ago. Fortunately for both of us Aleksy suits me better. Annabel sees a good man, not too ugly but she can’t have everything. He’s made something of himself building a property empire worth something. A millionaire quite a few times over.’
‘That is not so, Tina, and you know it. The value of the assets is in that region, but you forgot how much the company owes to the bank.’
‘Rubbish I know exactly how much the company owes to the bank. O.k. the company is well off, but who owns the company one hundred percent? You! You’re rich, Daniel. Stop being embarrassed about it. Anyway she’s not after your money. I did some research and the Swinsons are as wealthy as you or possibly even more. Selling out to Tesco was a good move. It will be you marrying into money. Daniel she likes you. I can see that, Aleksy sees it, the guys working here know it, although as they speak Polish all the time you didn’t understand their comments. Stop complaining, just lay back and let good things happen.’
‘I suppose you will want a good reference, Miss Barker.’
‘Oh, here we go again! Gonna fire me?’
‘That depends.’
‘On what?’ She asked wearily.
‘I can’t think at the moment, but I will bear that in mind the next time you piss me off.’
She grinned. ‘Daniel, I only want the best for you.’
Just as we were leaving Tina informed me that she and Annabel had decided what to do with the hall floor. ‘Large cream floor tiles, preferably with a marble fleck, and black grouting. That would suit the hall perfectly.’ I looked at Aleksy who looked back at me. I nodded and he agreed.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I was back in the office the next day. I hadn’t given too much creed to Tina’s dissertation, yet overnight my mind must have decided to pick over the pieces look at them in a different way and put them together again. My sleep was more than a little disrupted. Was Annabel setting her sights on me? Tina was a good judge of character. She didn’t come to conclusions as a man would, thinking clearly and balancing pros and cons. Tina worked on intuition and feelings. I was ashamed to say that she got it right more often than I did. On balance therefore I should believe Tina, although my sometimes diffident nature asked, ‘why’?
This mental perambulation stopped when Tina came into my office. ‘Mr. Anders is on the phone wanting to talk.’
‘Did he say what about?’
‘Not exactly, but I think it is about your threat to re-negotiate the deal.’
‘Put him through.’ Tina did that and came back to sit down and listen. She wore a smile of expectation.
‘Mr. Anders. What can I do for you?’
‘I’m not happy, Mr. Chandler. We had a deal and shook hands on it. Now you are threatening to re-negotiate. That’s not ethical business practice. I would have thought better of you.’
‘Mr. Anders. I negotiated with you in good faith. Unfortunately you neglected to tell me that you wouldn’t complete for at least six months. If there is any unethical business practice it is your not mentioning your time frame. If you had mentioned that we may have been able to come to terms, but those terms would be different. As it is despite your lack of clarity, I have agree
d to allow you those six months, but not a day longer. If you do not complete at that time, the deal is off. Then if you still want the properties we negotiate as if this agreement had never happened.’
‘We have had some problems over the land. I hope they will be resolved before six months has passed. Could we not persuade you to give us a little time?’
‘I suppose I could do something. If you would complete now you would of course, receive the rents, which amounts to just over seven thousand pounds per month. Alternatively you could pay a security deposit of say twenty percent now, which would fix the asking price for twelve months. Shall I leave that with you?’
‘You are very difficult man to deal with, Mr. Chandler.’
‘Not really, Mr. Anders. I deal with all my cards on the table.’
‘I’ll get back to you.’
Tina was incandescent with me. ‘You should have screwed him, Daniel. You let him get away with it.’
‘Not really, Tracey. I suddenly remembered something. The Council will give him planning consent, but always in such consent they include the responsibility for re-homing tenants whose homes are demolished. If he buys the property now, I get the capital to buy more houses. However that purchase would probably be in north Essex or south Suffolk. Whenever he completes he still has sitting tenants to re-home and he will then be looking for property, which I have and would be willing to sell at the right price.’
Tina thought about this and her angry face morphed into a happy one. Then she laughed. ‘You devious bugger! If I wasn’t promised to Aleksy, I would give you a big kiss right now. I’ll forgo that and tell Annabel to give you a big kiss when next you see her.’
Two days later when I was trying to understand a tenancy dispute, Tina came into my office. ‘Annabel is on the line for you. I have put her through to your phone.’
I picked up the receiver. ‘Good morning, Bella. It’s rather nice to hear from you.’
‘I am pleased you are in your office, Tina says you are relaxing with your feet up on the desk.’
‘I should be so lucky. How can I help you?’
‘Well it’s more me helping you actually.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yes. You have written to your tenant farmers asking for confirmation of their rented land. Farmers in general are not good at paperwork. You will get the confirmation you ask for but it is likely to be grubby scraps of paper which could be difficult to understand. Would you accept a letter from me with the information you need?’
‘I would think that is quite acceptable, as long as you are not put out having to do it.’
‘Not at all, Daniel. I handle most of my father’s dealings with his tenants, who in the main are the same as yours. That’s why they spoke to me by the way, I am not prying into your business. I can get that off to you today, even faster if I can email it to you.’
‘By all means do so. Have you got my email address?’
‘Yes. Tina gave me one of your cards.’
‘I am in your debt, Bella.’
‘Never tell a woman you are in debt to them. You may find paying the debt quite challenging.’
‘I was thinking of asking you out to dinner one evening when I am next at Chetford.’
‘That would be very nice, Daniel, I accept. But it will only be part payment.’
‘What else is there?’
‘Oh I have to think about that, but I am sure that whatever it is, we will both enjoy it. See you soon, perhaps?’
‘Yes. Bye, Bella.’
I put down the phone to see Tina’s smug smile. She could have heard only my side of the conversation yet that was enough for her to get into superior mode. ‘Out for dinner? Hmm. At a nice hotel, perhaps? With a room booked just in case, perhaps? Oh Mr. Chandler, your seductive plan has lots of flaws, but it will probably work. Especially as Annabel wants to get into bed with you.’
‘Miss Barker. You are reading far too much into this.’
‘Possibly. You are terrible at understanding women. I suspect that Annabel recognizes that and will help you along.’
‘As I said. You are reading too much into this. Now get back to work!’
Half an hour later Tina came in with a printout of the farmers names and the land they rented. ‘She’s very efficient. Perhaps you should give her a job.’
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