That Certain Quality

"I seriously can't thank you guys enough for helping me with this renovation," April said, watching as her turtle friends set to work.

"We're glad to do it," Don replied while feeding new electrical wire through the exposed wall. "This is a very good cause."

Mikey coughed and sat back on his heels, his hands and arms covered in soot. "When was the last time anyone cleaned this chimney?" he asked. "Turn of the century?"

"It's a really old house, Mikey," April told him. "The people who inherited it couldn't afford to make all the necessary repairs or to pay the back taxes. I'm very happy they donated it to be used as a battered women's shelter, but we can't open for business until it's brought up to code."

From his spot atop a ladder, Raph finished disconnecting the old and broken chandelier, handing it carefully down to Leo before asking, "What happened to the workmen who started this project?"

April grimaced. "We didn't have anything in writing regarding completion dates, so the contractor pulled his men to go work on a more lucrative job. The inspector is coming out day after tomorrow to check on our progress and unless all of this work is done, he won't sign off to allow us to complete the next phase. It'll be weeks before we can schedule him to come back. We want to be able to open next month. There is a waiting list for rooms and some of these women are in extremely bad situations."

"I don't understand men who think it's all right to hit a woman," Leo said, his voice filled with contempt.

"Unless it's Karai," Raph said jokingly. "Hold the ladder while I climb down bro'. This thing's about as old as the house."

Leo steadied the ladder as Raph descended and then placed the chandelier in a box of things to be taken out to the dumpster.

"I could use a pair of spare hands if someone's available," Don called out.

"I'm your turtle," Raph said, crossing the room to help the genius.

"What do you think, Mike? Is this fireplace in good shape or do we need to make some drastic repairs?" Leo asked, going to stand next to his younger brother.

Mikey's upper body was inside the firebox and he slowly backed out. "Looks okay. It needs a lot more cleaning but I can't reach up inside there."

April breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Mikey. I was worried that I'd have to find another couple thousand dollars in my already tight budget to fix that thing. I've got a professional chimney sweep coming here tomorrow."

Mikey stood up and accepted a rag from Leo so that he could dust himself off. Leo tapped the brick facing and watched as some of the mortar chipped loose.

"This will have to be fixed," Leo said. "Are you going to change it or leave the brick?"

"I can't afford to do more than give it a facelift," April said. "I've got bags of mortar, so we can chisel out the old stuff and fill it back in. I think a coat of white paint and a new mantel will update it just fine."

"There," Don announced, standing back from the wall. "All I need to do is run new wire in the ceiling and the electrical in this room is up to code compliance."

"Yep," Raph said, grinning at his brother, "only seventy-five more rooms to go."

April laughed. "It's not that bad," she said humorously. "The fourth floor only has five rooms."