Topic: A roof over your head

Jolyon Gardiner

Date: 2008-03-09 13:28 EST
The sky?s the limit if you have a roof over your head.
-Sol Hurok, On his philosophy as a producer

?Excuse me,? Jolyon stopped a passerby on the street, ?do you know of a workshop owned by a man named Ethan Kaiser??

The grizzled old man rubbed at a jaw that held stubble of days unshaven. ?Well, can?t say as to the name of it, but there?s a new shop down aways to the right. Don?t think it is open, though.?

?Thank you,? Jolyon replied a bit distracted by that information. The old man bobbed his head and went on his way as Jolyon stood thinking on that. If it was not open, it might not be the right one. He was, however, sure he was in the right area of town, and so best he took a look at the workshop the man indicated not to miss it.

It was a cold, snowy sort of day. As he went on down the street, keeping his eyes out for the shop, his mind was on the threat this snow did to the vines. Hamish kept telling him the vines were used to the weather of Rhydin, but by all the marks of Markland, it was nearing to spring and still the freeze was on the poor vines. He?d have to take careful care of them, or the bottles found in the cellar would be the last of his income for some time. Care with his expenditures, too, but repairing the roof of his house really was a priority, particularly in light of the morning?s adventures of a leak forming right above his bed. The crisp drip, drip of icey water was an undesired wake up call. Bed moved out from beneath the watery assult, he had faced the day and thought it was his good luck he was meeting with someone that might resolve that issue.

Also in his favor, and certainly brightening his spirits, was the progressing artwork for the labels and now the possible mural in the tasting room. He could not keep from smiling in the memory of watching the artist, Juliane, craft the sketches. Not an artist himself, except in the bare minimums to sketch out findings on the grid of an excavation, he certainly thought of himself as a patron of the arts. The special gifts of such talented people held a unique appeal to him. ?Doesn?t hurt that she?s attractive, too,? he muttered to himself. ?Both of them.? Katarina was a dancer, and he wondered if members of the Smith family were just born to be good looking and talented. Between the two ladies, he had felt rather like tarnish upon a golden halo. That thought brought a laugh, and he shook his head to get himself back into the purpose of his trip.

Looking over the edifices of neighbor buildings, he stopped at the one that looked most promising. The old man was right. The place did not look open. It was a decent size building, and from what he could see, it was on its verge of opening. That held promise of possibility. In his favor as well there was some noise around the back. Being the curious sort out of a lifetime of digging around for information and clues, he started around that way with caution. As he went he called out to give fair warning, ?Hello there? I?m looking for Ethan Kaiser to talk about repairing a roof??

Ethan Kaiser

Date: 2008-03-10 14:04 EST
Adalia shot out of the garage and met Jolyon with a big smile. The nine year old peered up at him with bright green eyes. On her feet were a pair of skates that had neon pink wheels. "Yer lookin' for my Uncle Ethan?" Her clothing matched the skate's wheels. Bright neon-rainbow stockings, an orange skirt and a pink top. She looked like Rainbow Brite with brown, stringy hair.

Adalia zoomed around him, skating in a circle around the stranger. "He's in his office, but I could get him for you."

As Ada skated back towards the open garage door, she crashed into her father who had come out to see what all the commotion was about. "What are you doing out here?" Dark eyes lift suspiciously to Jolyon.

"Dad, he's lookin' fer Uncle Ethan."

"That didn't answer my question."

Adalia pouted. "Waitin' fer Miss Rena."

Bradley, straightened his imposing build as he stared down at his daughter. "Get back inside, I'll take him to Uncle Ethan." He waited until Adalia was back in the large room, skating around before he turned to Jolyon. "I'm sorry about that. She's a bit of a social butterfly." He held his hand out to Jolyon and gave a firm shake. "I'm Bradley. My brother is in the office, if you'll just follow me I can take you to him."

Bradley smiled kindly and waved Jolyon inside and down a hall to where the office was. Adalia waved excitedly at Jolyon as he passed her. "Right through here," Bradley gestured to the door that they stopped in front of. He knocked first, then pushed it open. "Hey, Ethan.. someone's here to see you."

Bradley excused himself then and moments later the playful shriek of a little girl could be heard echoing in the large garage.

Ethan shook his head at the noise and beckoned Jolyon inside. "Hi there. I see you found the place." Moving so that Jolyon could step inside the room, he pointed out a chair and closed the door behind the man.

Jolyon Gardiner

Date: 2008-03-10 16:40 EST
Jolyon grinned at the little girl, though the mode of her transportation he found much more interesting than her vibrant dress. He had read about such things, roller-skates if he recalled correctly, but he had never seen them in use. Just as he was going to ask her questions about the skates, mind diverted from the reason of his visit, the man who was evidently her father came out to investigate matters.

The no-nonsense manner of Bradley, though friendly, brought Jolyon back into his purpose. The greetings exchanged, Jolyon followed in through the back way and gave a nod to Bradley by way of thanks for directing him. Looking about the office as he took the seat indicated to him, ?Yes, yes I did, thank you.? He waited for Ethan to take a seat. ?I appreciate your time, as I see you and your family,? it was more of a question than a statement, ?have a lot going on.? He was rather certain the brothers at least, and maybe other family members he had yet to meet, were running the business. A business that had not yet opened. It could be to Jolyon?s advantage to be an early client, but as soon as that thought was born out it failed. Being new and not well known, he could hardly be considered an impressive client they could use to advertise. Well, not until the winery was well underway.

Realizing he was overthinking things again, he reached to draw out the map from a folder he had carried under his arm showing the general layout of the house. ?I hope you?ll forgive the crude measures, as I am no artist.? In fact, the map was laid out on a grid, with vague structures in place with squares marked off to measure distances. It was something similarly seen at an excavation dig. ?You can see here the vineyard and house, Rumors Mill is the name, is a bit of a distance south of the town.? He leaned over and drew his finger alongside the road that marked the way as he spoke. ?You?ll pass through the Southern Glen and a quarter of a mile bit onward to the east side of the road you should see the house on the hills. There are at least four spots that leak into the house, but I?m not expert and would really appreciate you taking a look at how sunk I am with that roof.?

A cast of a thought to his own somewhat haphazard schedule, he offered out, "Not sure when you can take a look at it, but I am in most mornings to afternoons through the week. Hamish is also about who can show you around."

It was to the cost of things that Jolyon was keeping a tight rein. ?I don?t imagine you can give an idea of the cost of it now, but if you have some regular labor costs per hour and upfront fees for inspecting it that I should know about, I?d appreciate it.?

Ethan Kaiser

Date: 2008-03-14 17:43 EST
Ethan studied the map for a few moments in silence, nodding to Jolyon as he explained his predicament. He wet his lips as he sat forward, taking the map from the other man's hands.

It was a nice home, much nicer than anything in his hometown, but reminded him of the homes he'd seen in Yasuo. It was old, he assumed, and that would make repairing the roof one of two things: Either difficult to repair or easy. It would depend on the style of roofing and exactly how bad things were. Judging by Jolyon's admittance of water leaking into the house, Ethan guessed the damage would be extensive.

The map was passed back to Jolyon's hands and he smiled. Ethan had a hard time with names, but he had a photographic memory that served him well. "I'm glad to be helping you out, Jolyon." Yes, he remembered! Of course, he had just talked to the man yesterday. "I can be out there tomorrow morning. At the very least I can get the snow off of the roof to stop the leaking. I'll take a look at the damage, and I'll give you the estimate then."

Ethan stood and shook Jolyon's hand firmly, clapping the man on his shoulder with the opposite hand. "It's going to be great doing business with you, sir." He nodded jovially and moved to open his office door. "Let me know if you need any glass work done, too. That's what we do here," gesturing to the large room as he led Jolyon out the way he came.

Bradley was off in a corner, kneeling on the floor as he tinkered with what looked like plumbing for a sink. Adalia was no where to be seen, which wasn't all that uncommon. Ethan stopped at the open garage door where he would part with Jolyon. "See you tomorrow, brother."