Charlie IV
Chapter 10
It had started out just sitting and talking about what both he and his wife liked and what they were looking for in a house. What style did they really like? Jim and Emily learned that their daughter needed special care and his wife was presently home alone in a rental house taking care of her. They also learned they had moved there from Los Angeles, California. They even understood some of the reasons why they had selected Laurel, Mississippi.
"It wasn't for the spelling of the state," Rick joked with them and got both of them to laugh.
It turned out that these two had 2 homes already in mind that might be what they were looking for. "They're both going to need a lot of work. However with your budget of $300,000 that can get you a lot of house in Laurel," Jim told them.
"We're presently renting a large house at 11 Twin Oaks Place," Jim clarified for them.
"I know that house!" Jim exclaimed.
"I do, too," Emily added. "Really big, all brick; it even has a large pond out back. What do you think of it? I've never been inside that house."
"It's big," Jim replied simply. "It's also ugly but there were few options."
"Well let's go see some houses that we can fix so that they aren't ugly inside or out." Emily was ready to get started.
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"This is the Wall House. Miss Wall was a really great seamstress. Everyone in town used her. Losing her was a blow to this community. It's 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 3500 square feet, built in 1935. They're asking $155,000 and with your all in budget of $300,000 we can do a lot with this house," Jim explained to Jim and Rick.
"Fixing the porch, double doors, and painting the entire house plus landscaping is about 30 grand."
"Okay, let's see what the inside looks like." Jim was willing to look past the ugly as sin exterior. Actually he was hoping the next house was better.
"Five grand to do the entry, living and parlor." They moved to the kitchen.
"I know my wife loves white cabinets but this kitchen is shut off from the rest of the house. No one will see anything in here," Jim pointed out.
"We can't do anything about that but we can open it a little by taking out this wall since it's not load-bearing. Remove all of the cabinets since they're dated and replace them with all new custom cabinets, new appliances, and banquette seating in the breakfast nook." Emily looked at them expectantly.
"Thirty-five grand," Jim told them.
"Now this room was used as a sewing room. Remember what Miss Wall did for a living. This used to be a carport." Emily shared her plan for this room. "What we want to do is fix the ceiling, remove the carpet, stain the concrete, remove the walls on either side of the fireplace and replace them with black folding glass doors because on the other side of this wall is the patio.
"Open them up to let the outside in or close them and just enjoy the view."
"This room is another 35 grand. This part of the house has a lot of structural issues and since it used to be a carport there's presently no A/C in this room so we would need to find a way to add that. Forced air, no window units. We don't believe in those things," Jim said.
"Every house we do will have forced air in it no matter what it takes. You need it here in Mississippi. You'll die without it, trust me," Emily told them. "What do you think? We still have one more house to see today."
"Purchase price of 155 and a renovation price of just 105 brings us up to 260, well within your budget," Jim revealed.
"Well, this room sounds nice, the front rooms not as much and with that closed off kitchen, my wife is not going to be happy," Jim told them both.
"Happy wife, happy life. I hear that," Jim agreed and got a grin from Emily.
"One more house." Emily wasn't giving up just yet. And if neither of these two worked she and Jim would go back out and look around again for something different.
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"This is the Cross House. James and Ebby Cross lived here. He ran the newsstand in downtown," Jim said.
"What do you think?" Emily asked. She and Jim watched both of their faces and couldn't help but laugh a little.
"I think it's a project," Jim admitted. "But you know what they say. Buy the worst house on the block and make it look like the best house on the block."
"I like your thinking." Jim liked that saying.
"This is what we have planned for it," Emily told both of them. "I know it looks rougher than the Wall House. But if you can see past this mess, it has everything you've been looking for."
Jim gave them the basics. "Five bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 4,100 square feet so it's bigger than the Wall house. Built in 1923, they're asking the same 155 for it."
"It needs a lot of work so we're going to really be stretching your budget, but I think it could work." Emily offered her vision of what it could be. "First off we change the paint color to a dark gray with white trim. Get rid of these windows and open this porch up down the side of the house. You'll end up with one of the single biggest porches in all of Laurel. You could entertain out here, eat dinners out here."
"Out here, thanks to all the rot, we're looking at 55 grand for the house and landscaping. It also needs a whole new roof," Jim added.
"I agree. It certainly needs it. Let's see what else this place has to offer." He was willing to go inside and look.
"Wow! Big room." Jim liked it already.
"Tall ceilings," Rick commented.
"Over there is the porch," Emily indicated. "No more popcorn ceiling, new lighting, update the fireplace, fix the bookshelves, add craftsman columns made of wood after we widen that entry leading to the dining room and paint, of course."
"All in about 7 grand," Jim added since this room was pretty simple.
Jim gave a nod. "I like that price."
"This is the dining room. Once again we have a spiral staircase. But you have a staircase right over there so we're not sure just what this one is used for." She didn't know what they were thinking. "We want to get rid of it anyway."
"Good plan." Jim wanted it gone too.
"Get rid of this nasty wallpaper, fix the ceiling, refinish the wood floors, install a grand chandelier in the middle of the room, and that's mostly it for this space." Emily had plans elsewhere.
"This room is about 10 grand. Most of the rot is out front and upstairs," Jim told them.
"This is a big room and the kitchen is just as big. Come see." She headed there next.
"This is a kitchen?" Jim stepped in and listened to Emily laugh since it was big but it was also ugly as sin.
"We want to open this wall to get to your breakfast nook. Rip out everything in this kitchen. New cabinets, new countertops, fix this floor which under this old crappy linoleum is brick, expose this old brick fireplace that's hidden behind this wall, new appliances, new windows throughout, and this room could look amazing.
"Thirty-one grand for this room alone," Jim told them.
Emily tried to sell it. "I know it isn't open to the rest of the house like you talked about, but this room is huge. Put an island in the middle and with seating over there it could be really nice.
"We've got one more space to show you before we go upstairs. We go back into the dining room. We change out all these windows and doors and put in French doors. Now into this space. Ignore everything you see because we want to remove it. Completely.
"We remove the ceiling and the roof, that outside wall, and this space becomes an outdoor living room complete with a wood burning fireplace. New doorway into your breakfast room filled with glass, we try and keep these exposed beams and add new ones. Think a pergola that will cover this space, then we add hanging party lights.
"Basically an outdoor living room," Emily told them.
"With this wall gone it would actually flow right out into your backyard." Jim took them out the doors and into the backyard.
"Out here is your huge backyard." Emily spread her arms wide.
"Where's the grass?" Rick queried since all he saw was a short brick wall and a whole lot of dirt.
"You don't have any. …But you could! With new landscaping and grass with all of these trees boxing it in, it could be magical. Remember what's behind us is gone so it's part of your backyard too." Emily beamed at them, hoping they could see her vision.
"Out here is at least another 25 grand unless we run across some more rot that we don't know about. And this space we want to remove anyway doesn't have forced air, so adding it would be an expense we don't need.
"I don't know if y'all were keeping up but with a purchase of 155 grand plus all of our planned renovations it comes in at 296 grand. Which is still under your max budget," Jim pointed out.
"Upstairs is mostly just painting after we fix the roof unless you don't like period looking bathrooms. But you talked to us about not being modern and sleek people so minimalist is out. Let's go see." Jim led them upstairs to see the bathrooms and the bedrooms.
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Jim and Rick were heading home so Jim could talk to Jo and tell her everything. "What do you think she'll go for and was your room big enough for you? We get that backyard and Charlie will love it."
"It's big enough and Charlie will definitely like the yard. It's just that we're going to have to get to know the neighbors. Charlie loves everyone, so that backyard might become the town's party place. As for which one will your wife like, the Cross house easy. Yeah, the kitchen is closed off but the rest of the house isn't. All the way out those French doors and into the backyard. But I still don't see the point of that spiral staircase." Rick just couldn't wrap his mind around that. That had Jim laughing while he drove.
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"HONEY, I'M HOME!" Jim yelled once he was past the front door. "I always wanted to say that," he admitted to Rick who laughed. He was learning to like these two. Which was a good thing given he was probably going to be living upstairs in the same house.
Suddenly Jim stopped. "Does Charlie do stairs?" The hospital had an elevator and he lived in a trailer.
"He couldn't be a Therapy Dog if he didn't," Rick assured him. Then they both heard the click of dog nails on tile as Charlie came racing to greet Rick since he had been gone like FOREVER! Though the lady had told him to go get Rick so he left the lady in bed to find Rick.
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"I knew when I stayed behind that I was going to have to trust you." Jo walked around as she considered what Jim had told her. "The Cross House is larger and has the same purchase price and I like the idea of that backyard. I wish the kitchen was more open but the rest of the house is. And if we decide we don't like the bathrooms we can always have them renovated. But it does have lots of space.
"I say the Cross House."
"All right." Jim smiled at her. "I'll call and tell them. How's Katie?"
Jo sighed. "Charlie's reaching her but so far only when he's here. He goes away and she retreats. We're going to have to start taking risks soon."
"Yeah. …I'll go make the call. Their ideas did sound really nice," Jim agreed. "But you want to talk about a couple of ugly houses." He shook his head. "They found two of the worst!"
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"Cross House! We love it. Just purchase it and we'll get started on the drawings and engineering we need to do. Welcome to Laurel!" Emily hung up so she could go tell her husband.
It ended up taking Jim and Johanna a month to actually buy the house itself. The seller accepted less than $155,000 so they had money for unexpected costs.
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Charlie found out that the backyard had a pond! Not that he went in it or even really wanted to, but there were people on it in something and he couldn't reach them. But he did bark at them to get their attention.
Somehow he just knew not to go far so even if this place didn't have a fence he didn't go far when left to his own devices. He was also learning that this place was HUGE inside. It was nothing like where he used to live. He found his bed and bowls in the room where he and Rick slept. Yet the rest of the place was free for him to roam.
Sooo, he went everywhere he could and sniffed everywhere and everything. The one thing he did miss but didn't complain about was the kids that used to play with him. Now all he had was Rick when he took him outside to play ball. Still he was happy. Plus he had two new people in his life and they were nice to him. He even got treats on occasion.
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"What did they say?" Jo asked Jim when he came back after handing over the keys so they could start the renovation.
"About 8 weeks unless we add things or they find something really bad. They warned us about wood rot especially up front. Replacing the shingles may show more damage," Jim said since he was shocked.
"Really? We're one month in and they only need two more? We rented this place for 6 months and can't get out of that," Jo pointed out.
"Can't be helped, Jo. Once again what choice do we have. I do have other news. I've found us a place for our office. It's located between a cafe that serves coffee and pastries and an ice cream parlor in the middle of downtown. It has a single restroom in the back, but there's a problem with it."
"Naturally," Jo sighed. "What is it?" He might as well hit her with it.
"The roof's shot. It's a flat roof and needs to be replaced. Right now the building is being inspected. Apparently the new owner bought it as is. I asked about rental. She's interested in a 3+3. Meaning we rent it for 3 years guaranteed and have an option for 3 more years. After that we renegotiate a new lease," Jim explained. "We'll need a pair of desks, filing cabinets, wall off a conference room, and everything else."
"A/C system?" Jo inquired.
"Part of the inspection as well as the plumbing, electrical, and all that. Same as the house."
"So our office might open about the same time as the house is done," Jo said thoughtfully. "Not bad; we really need to start bringing in money. Right now all we're doing is spending it. But we knew that coming here so we're prepared."
Jim paced as he spoke. "What we need is to start planning on how to advertise to this city and the surrounding area. Flyers, mailings, billboards, simple handouts. We also need to talk more about what we're going to charge. This isn't LA. People here don't make the same money people back in LA do. We make it too expensive and no one will hire us."
"Sounds like we have 2 more months to answer those questions. We also need to take Katie to the local hospital soon for a physical. They need to get used to seeing her," Jo added. And that it meant spending more money. One month in and they didn't have as good an insurance plan any longer which wasn't going to change much once they opened their business.
Just as they were talking Charlie came running in and barked at them. "What's his problem?" Then just like that he ran away.
"Squirrel maybe?" Jim shrugged. "He wants someone to play with him?"
"So where did he go?" Jo wondered and that had both of them heading the direction he had gone. "The only thing down here are…BEDROOMS!" Jo took off running and came up short at the doorway since she heard a voice. A voice she hadn't heard in months.
"What's his name," she and Jim could hear Rick asking someone.
"Charlie," a voice answered. Jo also saw Charlie had his head on her stomach and Katie was petting him just like always. However, the difference was that her eyes looked like they had life in them.
"KATIE!" Jo covered her mouth with both hands and felt tears starting. She rushed around the far side so she could sit down on the bed.
"Hi, Mom." Kate looked at her and kept petting Charlie. Petting him made her feel so much better.
"You know who I am?" Jo asked her and began to laugh at the look her daughter gave her for such a STUPID question. "How do you feel?"
Jim chanced coming in since Rick was in there and she wasn't screaming at him.
"Hi, Dad. …Um, hungry." She was starving and heard her mother chuckle. She didn't see how being hungry was funny.
"Can I ask a question? …Who is he?" Katie pointed in Rick's direction.
"He's Charlie's owner. Charlie is a Therapy Dog so we hired him to help you," Jo explained even if Rick wasn't technically being paid directly. They were also still working on finding him a job. Rick was usually either in Katie's room or playing with Charlie.
Though he was doing something strange. Ever since they had arrived they could hear him in his bedroom typing constantly. When he wasn't doing any of those he was typing.
"Help me? I'm tired." Besides being hungry she just didn't feel right. Even lifting her arms felt like a chore and she was already tired.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Jim risked asking since it was the thousand pound gorilla in the room and they needed to deal with it.
"I was headed home. …And now I'm here. Can I have something to eat?" She really was starving.
"I'll get started." Jo was thinking of making a feast and got up, kissed Katie's head, and did it again. She headed for the door and pulled Jim along behind her.
Once far enough away... "She doesn't remember?" Jo asked him.
"Think about it, Jo. It was too much for her to handle so she screamed at every man she saw and locked herself away. Somehow she's back and has locked away what happened to her so she doesn't remember. This might be for the best. So long as she never remembers."
"Maybe. Now I need to think about what to make for her." Jo turned to go to the kitchen only to have Jim stop her.
"Remember what they told us. She's been eating baby food and her bowl movements look like it. You feed her what you want and she'll have diarrhea for days. Dehydrate herself to the point we have to take her to the hospital."
"Yeah." He had just ruined her grand plan but he was right. It still left her with the problem of what to make for Katie to eat. "But she's awake. We owe Rick and Charlie more than we're ever going to be able to pay." Jo finally made her way to the kitchen. Katie needed something that wasn't baby food.
"Where am I and who are you?" Katie had heard he was Charlie's owner. Charlie was still on her lap and she was still petting him. Petting him made her feel better but just who was he?