A Myriad of Miracles

Chapter 5

Tex was at Gull Cottage at 8:30 the next morning.

"I hope I'm not too early, Martha," he said when the older woman opened the door.

"No, not at all. Everyone's up and about. I don't suppose I could tempt you with a cup of coffee and a slice of pie?"

"Thank you, but I want to get to work. I do appreciate it, though, Ma'am."

"I don't know what I'm going to do with you! One would think that you just live on air!"

"Well, maybe I just do!" laughed Tex as he headed for the basement stairs. Before he had even settled his toolbox on the floor, two sets of feet and one set of paws were running down the stairs.

"Good morning, ya'll!" he called out.

"Morning, Tex", replied Jonathan as Candy ran over to give her special friend a hug.

"Hey, I found something for Scruffy deep in one of my sacks." It was a small, braided piece of rawhide. "Think he'll like it?" asked the big man.

The children didn't have to answer because the terrier was already dancing around impatiently immediately wanting to get his teeth on the treat.

"Hey, Candy! You look like you are all well and fit as a fiddle again. You going to go play with Jonathan this morning, or are you going to stay close to home?" asked Tex.

"I'm so bored of staying at home. We're going to go down to the park to see who's there and maybe play or something," she said.

"Yeah," interjected her brother. Mom says we can play with our friends just as long as we don't go to the beach. She doesn't want Candy to get wet yet. Maybe next week, especially if it gets warmer out."

"Makes sense to me," said the handyman.

"Well, we'll be back for lunch. Can you show Jonathan your juggling?" asked Candy.

"You've got my promise, sweetheart. Now you two go on and have some fun with your friends."

After the children left, Tex started to take apart the furnace. There was a plate on it that stated that it had been manufactured in 1868 by the Acme Franklin Stove company. It was their "Grand" model and quite large. It likely had been remade into an oil furnace in the 1910's or 1920's. He estimated that the heating conduits up into the house hadn't been cleaned out for at least a couple of decades and were full of oily soot, severely reducing the diameter of the main duct and some of the secondary ones leading off of it. Likewise, the burner was so filthy that it could only sustain a very small flame. There was no way that it would be possible to create any significant heat with the state the furnace was in.

The first step in its restoration was to turn off the oil feed to the burner. He'd have to clean it with solvent and a toothbrush, but before that, the bigger question was whether it was worthwhile to clean out all the restricted piping. After bringing in a ladder from his truck, he realized that the pipes each went to a different room; there was no piggybacking from a room on the first floor to the second. It was a very inefficient system, which is why there were fireplaces in most of the rooms. They probably supplied more of the house's heat than the so-called furnace did. Especially with all the clogging lower down in the piping.

The best solution really was a whole new and modern furnace, but that cost money and was really more than a one-man job. Looking at the amount of junk in the pipes and the condition they were in, Tex realized that the only real solution was to replace the old cast-iron conduits with modern aluminum.

Wiping his hands on a rag, he went looking for Mrs. Muir. Martha told him that he would find her in her room, working on a magazine article. He stopped momentarily in front of the door. Had he heard her talking to someone?

"Pardon me, Ma'am," Tex said apologetically when he stuck his head around the door. "I didn't mean to interrupt, but I need to discuss with you some things I really should buy for that old heater."

Carolyn didn't have a guest chair at the desk, so she motioned the big man over to the sofa by the fireplace and turned around to face him. "Will it be expensive?"

There really hadn't been any help for it. The cost of the new ductwork wasn't outrageous, but it hadn't been budgeted for. If she was able to sell another article quickly, it would mean that she wouldn't have to juggle the budget again this month. Carolyn gave Tex the go-ahead to go buy the needed supplies and went back to her writing with even greater determination.

By mid-morning he was back at work in the basement, taking apart pipes as carefully as possible. The better preserved they were, the more accurately he could size the new ones. But doggone it! Whoever had installed the furnace originally had done an excellent job of putting them in, and the main floor had been built around it. Tex had to hammer and pry most of them apart, leaving sharp edges on almost all of them.

Tex had begun to bring up the old parts to lay out on the lawn when the children and Scruffy returned for lunch.

"Wow! Look at all that!" exclaimed Jonathan. "Those pipes are real old, aren't they?" added his sister.

"Yep. They are. Way older than the two of you," Tex replied. "I know I promised to show you some juggling, Jonathan. But right now, I've got more things to bring up from downstairs and I'm all greasy. You have my word, though. I'll put on a little show for you before I leave."

"Oh, no problem, I understand," the boy replied. "Anything we can do to help?"

"Well, now that you mention it, after you finish lunch, you two can sort the old nuts, bolts, and screws. Most of them can be used again. If you can put them into piles for me, it would be a real, big help."

Jonathan and Candy were eager to help their new friend any way they could and inhaled their sandwiches before returning outside.

Captain Gregg watched from where he seemed to be leaning against one of the stone lions at the side of the steps to the porch. Tex had brought up a big bucket of all sorts of small items he had taken from the furnace. He patiently showed the children what all the different pieces were, which ones came in different sizes, which nuts went on to which bolts and what was broken or just junk. The ghost felt a pang of jealousy while watching the interaction between the young man and the children he considered part of his "family".

"But, could I ever speak with their teachers, pick them up from friends' houses, attend their graduations, walk Candy down the aisle and hold their babies?" he thought, sadly. The answer was no mystery. He had to find a way to approach Tex. He would have, if he had been able to find him the night before, but no matter what he tried, he was unable to locate the man.

And the only the Powers themselves could know what Tex himself wanted. He seemed content to wander with next to nothing of his own. Would he even want to settle down and with a pre-made family into the bargain? And what of Carolyn? She had told him many times that she accepted things as they were, but his presence in her dreams had told him how much she would welcome a flesh and blood Daniel. And then there was that time that he had inhabited Claymore's body for that all-too brief waltz…she hadn't objected to those wonderful moments together, easily forgetting that she was looking at the face of his so-called great-nephew. She had been able to find him behind the penny-pincher's eyes.

Of course, Tex might consider settling down with Carolyn and the children but want nothing to do with him or for him. Would that be enough, to see the Muir's a happy and secure family?

It was a devil of a choice.

Tex left Candy and Jonathan to their sorting and walked over to the old pipes and pulled out his measuring tape. He'd already measured them before he removed them from the furnace, then measured the empty space where he had taken them out and was now planning to measure one last time before he sized the new aluminum conduits.

"Oh, and kids! I forgot to warn you; some of these old pipes had to be pried apart and now there are some sharp edges on 'em and on the new ones. You stay clear, OK. I don't want you to get all cut up." Tex looked down on the pipes again. He'd bought a special glue paste guaranteed to hold the aluminum onto the old cast iron, but he'd also bought a bunch of hose clamps to mechanically keep everything together. He'd probably be working well into the evening, getting everything put together. Hopefully, he'd have another full day before he'd have to return to finish up Norrie's job. It was still questionable if the re-built thermostat would actually function properly, and he wanted to be able to tinker with it the next day if it wasn't right. He really, really didn't want to take shortcuts, even though there was no one looking over his shoulder to see. He had made a promise to himself long ago, when he'd started this journey of his, that he wouldn't take the easy way out. He just wanted to make sure that all the lives he touched were better because of him even if he had to keep some secrets from the surrounding world. Little did he know how hard that promise might be to keep.

Captain Gregg saw how intensely the young man was concentrating on the job at hand. He respected the care he was displaying with the measurements. He'd experienced his share measurement mishaps when something was prepared improperly. That's why he never wanted to be a ship's chandler or own a ropewalk. Sails and ropes had to be the size and length they were meant to be. Lives depended on it. Still, Tex had checked over and over. A distraction at this point wouldn't affect the rebuilding of the furnace. The spirit left the lion he had been "leaning" against and re-appeared behind the handyman. He was just about to call the man's name, when Scruffy saw some light glinting off something in the grass by the piles of pipes.

He came bounding down the stairs, ears erect and eyes eager to catch whatever might be on the lawn. He took a flying leap but misjudged and came belly-down on a sharp piece of metal.

The awful sound of his shriek penetrated the inside of Gull Cottage and Mrs. Muir and Martha came running outside. Jonathan was at the dog's side almost instantaneously with Candy right behind him. He held the little dog who was almost eviscerated by the sharp edge. Scruffy's tongue lolled out and his breathing was labored.

"No, Scruffy, no!" he wailed as Candy called out, "Captain, do something, please!"

But it was Tex who responded, not the specter. He gently took the dying dog from the boy and passed his hand over its' belly. The wound and the blood disappeared immediately and completely and Scruffy's breathing became normal again.

He handed the dog back to Jonathan. "You keep him warm and watch over him. He'll be all OK by tomorrow."

Before anyone could say anything, Tex's body glowed brighter and brighter until those around him couldn't see anything. Then slowly the light faded. Tex was gone and so was everything that had been on the grass. Even the bucket of small parts was gone, and the grass where Tex's old truck had been, was undisturbed, as if no vehicle had ever been parked there.

Carolyn looked up at Captain Gregg, who'd been on the other side of the man -or whatever he was.

"Do you know…?"

"Yes, dear lady," he replied with a sad smile. You were able to see the bright white light, weren't you?"

Everyone around him agreed that they'd seen it and had been blinded by it.

"Well, I saw it too. At first it was like the aura I'd been telling you about. But when it was at it's peak, when you couldn't see anything anymore, I could still see him. And I saw his wings."

"Tex was an…?" gasped Carolyn.

"Yes. He was an angel."

The End