Chapter 8

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On Friday the farmhouse was finally declared finished. The move only took a single trip without much struggle. Robin had kindly made a solid pathway up to the house and passed that over to the mountains, which helped the move a lot.

Robin really had taken the job with an open mind. As in, tearing the whole thing down and starting again. Now the old ugly shack had been replaced with a beautiful little house with large windows and a pretty wooden porch.

But on the inside the whole thing was hollow. Everything had to be thrown out, even the bed. The bare walls were just a sad sight.

I knew what I had to do, but the list was paralyzingly long. The walls had to be painted, all the furniture had to be bought and moved. The yard had to be mown down and unnecessary trees needed to be gotten rid of. All were tasks that took days to finish.

I would have to start with the painting. The bedroom would have different shades of green and brown mixed with the bare wood that Robin had left. The kitchen and living room would be simpler. Playing with lighter colors like beige or a stone like gray.

Then, as the paint dried, I would tackle the yard. There would be a larger area clear in front of the porch and then in time there would be a clearing big enough for a plantation.

With the clear entryway already in place it would be easy to transfer all the furniture inside. A large bed, a new fridge, maybe even a TV if I could afford it. The minerals from the caves had produced some solid money so I could afford at least most of it.

In just a few days I managed to finish painting the bedroom with the rest of the house. The kitchen had light tiles in between the cabinets and where they didn't reach, I applied a thin paint-like coat to protect the wood.

One evening, sitting on the floor tired and utterly overwhelmed from working all day and eating some pantry dry bread. The best entertainment at hand was to literally watch the paint dry.

"Cornflower." I muttered to myself, slowly turning my head side to side. Pierre, from whom I had bought the paints a few days before, had called the shade 'cloudy gray'. Don't know, maybe he had been sailing somewhere there himself since no matter how hard I tried I couldn't see it.

I could've tried to ask for a refund but knowing Pierre, the odds didn't seem to be too much in my favor.

The furniture arrived the following Monday. Robin came early that day to start work and dragged her whole family with her. The bed was first to come.

"Hot summer coming ahead." Robin's husband, Demetrius, stopped for a little chat while the others carried tables and chairs inside. Demetrius was, like Sebastian, quite tall and lanky. They shared surprisingly many similar features even if they weren't related by blood.

Demetrius straightened his shirt with a rather fatherly smile and commented; "Good thing you've now got air conditioning. There's a hot summer coming ahead."

"Yeah." I said. Waddling awkwardly inside with another chair.

"Which way did you want the bed again?" Robin's voice bellowed from the backroom.

"Face it towards the east side window!" I shouted back. For the way that the house had been built sunsets were out of the question. But I could still admire the light in the mornings.

There was a smaller "You sure?" And a moment afterwards, "Okay then" followed by intense noises of shuffling.

I only bought the most essential things. Like storage and whatever you need to live. I had to buy the whole kitchen new, which drilled a large hole in my savings. Looking at the shiny surfaces and brand-new machinery I felt a drop of relief in the storm where I currently stood.

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