Solivagant

Chapter Two - Ralph

It was thankfully the end of a long, hard, back-breaking day for Ralph. Working on the old Jameson place was something he'd volunteered to help with when his Pa had first mentioned it to him, but he wasn't a builder or carpenter by trade, so working on something like restoring an old house for months on end was finally taking its toll on his body.

     Normally, Ralph would be seen working on his family's ranch, doing what all good people of small towns do on their ranches. He'd worked on the ranch since he could remember. Having being born and raised there, he naturally started 'helping' around the ranch as soon as he was able to walk. From carrying a small amount of feed to the chickens they'd once had, to learning how to herd the cattle on horseback, he'd spent most of his life helping to keep the ranch going. Minus the time he'd gone off to college to get his degree. He'd come straight back home after he'd attained that.

     On the side, he'd manged to obtain a local licence to be able to qualify to do the odd carpentry/building job. Like this one, for example. Since it wasn't his main plateau of work, he usually offered to help those who truly needed the time and work put into something, who usually couldn't afford a high end company to come in and do the work. His brothers had quickly fallen suit behind him when he'd decided to do this, leading them usually being hired as a team to help out should the occasion arise.

     Having worked on fixing up the old Jameson place for three months with his brothers and getting it ready for the new occupant, he was more than happy to stand back and admire the completed build, having put down a literal welcome mat as the final touch.

     His brothers had left the site a while ago, each of the parts they'd been working on already complete. He was usually the last one to leave whatever they were working on at the time, as he insisted on doing all the final checks before handing over the place back to whoever owned it.

     Since those final checks had been done before he'd stepped outside, he was more than satisfied to call it a day for today. It was only 3PM, but there was bound to be a few things he could get done back at the ranch before treating himself to a rewarding dinner.

     Pulling away from the house once everything had been packed back into his truck, he couldn't help but think who might be moving into the place his parents had planned to rent out. Mr and Mrs Jameson, an elderly couple, had sadly passed away earlier this year and had left the property to their closest friends, his parents. Neither had any children, much to his sadness, and they'd been family friends for as long as he could remember. He was beyond thankful they'd left this place to their parents, it was a lovely gesture, except for when they got into the place to do it up, it needed a whole lot more than doing up.

     Part way into stripping out the old plasterboards, floors and such other things, a local youth had come by, obviously to check out the house to see what was going on, only to accidentally set alight while exploring. Turns out the foolish youth had decided it was a good idea to smoke right next to some chemicals they were using to clean a part of the house, not that he knew what those things were. He'd apparently dropped the half-smoked cigarette right onto the chemicals, causing the whole place to go up in flames.

     Of course, his parents weren't happy about what had happened, as they'd already sunk a small portion of money into starting the refurbishment, only to have it literally gone up in flames. That being said, they knew the youth didn't mean to set it alight and was only curious as to what they were doing to the place, so they didn't press charges. People often explored abandoned places around these parts, simply to satisfy their curiosity. So it wasn't like he was doing wrong by being there. At the end of the day, the youth had actually proven useful when he'd volunteered to help out when they decided to build a new home from scratch. So, all's well that ends well.