Chez Stinky (19 page)

After walking the dogs, Kat sat at the kitchen table leafing through the thin local Yellow Pages for roofers or building contractors. After leaving messages at Apex Roofing, Crane Brothers, and Ernie’s Building Services, she was feeling discouraged. Apparently, the roofing contractors of Alpine Grove must be busy fixing things, because none of them answered the phone.

Kat looked up at the ceiling as the sound of water droplets began to make plinking noises on the metal roof. The pace of the raindrops increased. One of the dogs was marching back and forth downstairs in the basement. The claws clickety-clacked on the hard floor. She got up and looked down the stairs, “Everyone okay down there?”

With a worried expression on his face, Linus looked up the stairs at Kat. He turned around and returned to his pacing. Apparently, the big dog didn’t like storms.

Lightning flashed and a huge rumble shook the house. Linus scuttled under Chelsey’s table, crowding her over to one side. The smaller dog didn’t seem particularly surprised by his behavior and graciously tried to give Linus some space to hide.

Kat wasn’t fond of thunderstorms, either. Maybe Linus had the right idea. She began to head down the stairs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a water droplet fall from the ceiling.
Uh oh.

Looking up, she examined the ceiling more closely. It was constructed with tongue-and-groove boards, and the water was dripping from one of the seams. Maybe there was a way to get up into the attic. Larry said that he and Bud had gone up there. But how? Wandering around the house looking up, she found an attic access hole in the front entry area.
How did Larry get up there?

Kat dragged one of the kitchen chairs into the entryway and climbed up on it. By standing on her tiptoes, she was able to reach up and push aside the piece of wood covering the hole in the ceiling that provided access to the attic. She could barely muster one pull-up in gym class years ago and unless she magically turned into Wonder Woman in the next few minutes, she was not likely to be able to yank herself up through the hole into the attic. She jumped down from the chair and went outside into the rain to find a ladder.

In her quest, Kat was going to have to brave the barn or what she mentally thought of as the Giant Spider Breeding Ground. Standing outside in the downpour, she peered cautiously into the three-sided building, hoping the rain might have caused the spider population to hide or at least get a little sleepy. There didn’t appear to be a ladder, but there was something that looked suspiciously like a huge black widow spider on the back wall.

She shuddered and backed away from the building. Then she turned around and went toward the Tessa Hut. She’d been in the outbuilding many times with Tessa and didn’t remember seeing a ladder, but it didn’t hurt to look again. Tessa had been spending time in the house, but her empty kennel reminded Kat of how much progress the spaz dog had made in the two weeks Kat had been at Chez Stinky. Tiring out Tessa by letting her run with Linus and being careful about touching Tessa only when she was calm had made a huge difference in the dog’s behavior.

Looking around the building, no ladder was in evidence, so Kat walked back outside. Pausing for a moment, she walked around to the back of the building, where she discovered a six-foot step ladder that someone had leaned up against the back wall. Kat checked it for any spiders that might be hitching a ride. After determining that it was indeed arachnid-free, she hauled the ladder up the blue carpeted stairs into the house.

She set up the ladder, clambered up into the attic, and assessed the situation. The smell of warm, wet insulation and dust accosted her senses and she sneezed, which caused a small dust uprising. Amid the mouse droppings, pink pieces of fiberglass insulation, and other filth, Kat observed that water was dripping from the roof and forming puddles in various locations around the attic. The pools of water were then dripping through the cracks in the tongue-and-groove boards down into the house.

Kat scrambled back down the ladder and went into the kitchen. She opened the kitchen cabinets, looking for any container that could hold water and began tossing plastic storage containers onto the floor. Grabbing a stack of old ice cream tubs that her aunt had obviously been saving for decades, she charged back up the ladder.

She placed the plastic containers around the attic so that by the time she was done, it looked like a checkerboard of ice cream. Apparently, Abigail had a serious fondness for butter pecan.

Standing and surveying her handiwork, Kat knew that the ice cream containers were only a short-term solution to the much larger roof problem. With a sigh, she descended the ladder again back into the house. The noise of the raindrops falling into the plastic containers echoed above, creating a musical chorus of plinks, plunks, and splashes.

The steady red light on the answering machine indicated that none of the roofers had returned Kat’s calls. She picked up the phone to call Cindy and remind her that Kat would need dog-walking help starting Wednesday, when she returned to work. Cindy’s answering machine picked up and informed Kat that Cindy wasn’t home, but “you know what to do.” After clearing her throat Kat said, “This is Kat Stevens at Abigail’s house. I’m calling to remind you that I’ll be leaving tomorrow, and I’m hoping you’ll be able to come out and walk dogs starting on Wednesday. I’ve had good luck walking Tessa, so if you could give me a call, I can explain what I’m doing.”

Kat hung up the phone a little harder than necessary.
Didn’t anyone in this town ever answer the phone?
The rainy weather didn’t help her mood. The prospect of packing up Murphee and going back to work was dismal. Getting Murph into the cat carrier again would be a battle, and it sounded like Mark was even more nuts that usual. Plus, Chez Stinky might fall apart as soon as she left.

She debated calling Joel. On the one hand, she had warned him that she might call for recommendations about the roof. On the other hand, she only called him when she had a problem. And somehow he only managed to see her at her most embarrassing and unattractive moments. What was she going to say? “Hi Joel, the roof might cave in. But I have set out 400 ice cream containers in the attic to capture the water before it all comes crashing down.” The sad truth was that she didn’t know many people in Alpine Grove and time was running out before she had to go back to work. Risking the house or its many furry inhabitants was not an option. Time to set aside her mortification, suck it up, and call.

Kat was surprised to find that unlike the rest of the inhabitants of the town, Joel answered his phone. “This is Kat,” she stammered. “Remember how I said I was going to ask you about roofers? Well, I really need one.”

Joel paused for a second. “I guess you found a leak when it started raining?”

“It’s way more than one leak. It’s a lot of leaks. I’m not sure what to do. I have to drive back home so I can go back to work. All I know is that I can’t leave the house like this, and Bud is not competent to fix anything. Oh, and roofers in Alpine Grove don’t answer the phone.”

“I heard about Bud when I was working on my place, too. It’s a small town.”

Kat was relieved that at least Joel sounded sympathetic, anyway. “I know you don’t know me very well and I sound like a whiny girl, but what should I do? I’m worried this place is going to disintegrate before I can get it fixed. What if it falls on the dogs or the cats? What if they get hurt? I’d never forgive myself if something happened to them.”

Kat was a little worried that Joel would notice the twinge of panic in her voice, but he responded with equanimity. “I guess you like your aunt’s pets better now.”

“Yes!” Kat blurted out. “I hate leaving them. It has been a great vacation, even with the plumbing problem and the cat in the wall and all the cleaning. I love Linus and the dogs and even the cats I hardly ever see. It’s weird; I feel better here than I have anywhere else.”

Joel chuckled. “Yeah, Alpine Grove is like that. This place grows on you. Even with some of the downsides of living here, something about the quiet and the trees seeps into your soul.”

“You’re the first person I’ve talked to who understands that. My mother thinks there’s something wrong with me. That I don’t belong here. I guess to be fair, I did too at first. But now I think she’s wrong. I’ve always been the black sheep…well maybe not black, but maybe the dark gray sheep of the family, so it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

Joel laughed. “The dark gray sheep? I like that. And I’ve felt that way too, although not with my family, since I don’t have much family to worry about.”

“Lucky you. I’m so different from my sisters. It’s hard to explain. My older sister Karen is Miss Responsible. She’s like my mom in a lot of ways, always wanting to take care of things. In fact, when we were little she was always hovering over me and telling me what to do. I had to run away to my room to get away from her. She made up an imaginary friend, so she’d have someone to boss around. And I’d like to point out that sometimes friends should just remain imaginary.”

“Oh really?”

Kat shook her head. “You don’t want to know. Then there’s my little sister Kim. She has always been the Pretty One. On the wall at home, my mom has a photograph of her in a purple spandex baton-twirler outfit. That’s Kim in a nutshell right there.”

“So where does that leave you?”

“Well, I can tell you I sure wasn’t the responsible one. Or the pretty one. I tried doing everything right. I really did! But I still got into trouble a lot. I’d go off and climb a tree somewhere to read a book and then people would freak out when they couldn’t find me.”

“I don’t know you well enough to know if you’re responsible, but I think you’re underestimating the pretty part.”

Kat sat in stunned silence for a moment. “Thank you. But believe me, if I were standing next to Kim, you’d be looking at her. She has…attributes…that men tend to notice.”

“I can imagine. Anyway, I can call a couple of my neighbors and see if we can get a tarp up on your roof to keep the rain out until you can get it fixed. I’ll give you the name of the guy who worked on my place, too. The rain is supposed to let up this afternoon and that will give me time to make a few calls.”

“I don’t know how I can ever thank you enough. You’ve been so nice since I got here.” Feeling overwhelmed, Kat tried to keep the sound of the tears of relief out of her voice. “I’ll be back up here next weekend. Can I buy you dinner or something? I really owe you.”

“We can talk about that when I get there.”

After she hung up, Kat sat at the table reflecting on the conversation. Considering she wasn’t generally terribly talkative with most people, something about Joel seemed to bring out her inner chatterbox. And guys she thought were cute
never
said she was pretty. She smiled as a little thrill of excitement rippled through her at the thought of seeing him later.

Chapter 6

L
ater that afternoon the rain had stopped, but it was still gray and dreary outside. Linus barked downstairs and then launched out the doggie door as several old pickup trucks pulled into the driveway. Kat walked down the front stairs to meet the ‘tarp guys’ Joel had recruited.

Joel was bending over petting Linus, who obviously was delighting in all the attention. Joel looked over and smiled at Kat. The color rose in her cheeks and she said, “Thank you all for coming out here on this lovely afternoon.”

Joel pointed at the three men in flannel shirts who were standing in a semi-circle around Linus and Lori, who had joined in the canine celebration of visitors. “These are my neighbors.” He pointed, “That’s Cliff over there, Ron, and Joe.” The three men nodded in acknowledgment.

Cliff said, “Well, we need to get going if we want to get this tarp on there before sunset.” The three men then turned back to their trucks to gather materials.

Kat turned to Joel, “Should I just get out of the way? They look like they are on a mission.”

Joel smiled, “That’s probably wise. If you have a six-pack to give them when we’re done, that wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

“No worries. I’m prepared. When Maria and I went to the grocery store, she picked up beer along with the wine. I don’t like beer, but she wanted some just in case she got in a ‘beer mood.’ I’m not sure what a beer mood is, but she didn’t get one, so I have a lot of extra beer now.”

Kat went inside and curled up on the sofa with a novel, trying not to think about the various ominous thumping noises on the roof and the male voices shouting from outside. Later, an old truck engine coughed and sputtered as it started up. Jumping up from the couch, she grabbed the beer from the fridge and went back outside.

She scampered down the stairs and saw Joel talking to Cliff. She ran over to them, holding out the beer. “Can I offer you some beer as thanks for helping me?”

Cliff smiled through his gray beard and said, “That’s nice of you. The guys and I are going to head over to my house to watch the game.” He took the six-pack from Kat. “It was good to meet you. The game is gonna start soon and Ron and Joe are headed out; I’ll give them your regards.”