For the next couple of hours, I worked steadily in the kitchen area, cleaning and tossing things from the cabinets. For the taller ones I found an aluminum ladder to climb up on. There were so many cabinets here. There would be plenty of storage for things. Guthrie wandered in at some point, and then he found a ladder, too, though his was one of those wooden ones.
He set his ladder up and we kept tossing things. Guthrie made it into a game of sorts, with setting the trash cans further from us, and seeing who could make
baskets with what we tossed, or who would miss and have it end up on the floor. We were having fun, and laughing, and at a point Crane came to
check on us.
"Sounds like goofing off in here," he said.
"You bet," Guthrie said, with a wide grin.
"We're getting a lot done," I objected.
Daniel appeared at the doorway. "Lunch is here," he announced. "Come on and eat, you two."
"Finally!" Guthrie said, dismounting the ladder swiftly. "I'm about to starve to death."
I came down slower from my ladder, and Daniel said, "You've gotten a lot done."
"See?" I said, triumphantly, looking at Crane.
"Yeah. I see," he said, dryly.
As we were walking over to join the rest of the family, who were setting up a makeshift picnic area on a long table, I said, to Crane, "I went by the vet office."
"Did you?"
"Yeah. Ivy got some new dogs to rehome."
"No shortage of dogs needing homes," Crane said.
"I feel sorry for Ivy," I said, continuing the conversation as we all found the odd chair here and there to sit at the table. "It costs her so much to
feed all the animals she has to feed."
"Nothing cheap about feeding animals," Adam said, in agreement, reaching for a piece of cheese from the platter of deli meat that Hannah had placed
in the center of the table.
"These are Cocker Spaniels," I talked on. "Their owner is older, and she can't afford them because of her hospital bills."
"Sad story," Hannah said, handing me a plate with carrot and celery sticks on it.
"Cockers are a beautiful breed of dog," Clare said.
I thought, really seriously, about bringing up my idea of taking on the two dogs for a time, and taking advantage of the fact
that there was a whole group of us. Hannah and Clare might help soften the subject, too. And, I could count on Guthrie, I knew.
Before I spoke, though, I caught myself. No, it would be better if I approached Brian or Adam by themselves.
After lunch Hannah and Clare headed home with Isaac, and Guthrie went along, so he could start the chores later on. He had plans to go
out with Trent that night to play pool at Butch's.
"I'll probably see you there later, then," he told me as he was leaving.
I worked for a couple more hours, and, though I didn't mention the dogs at Ivy's to anybody again, I did talk to Crane about what Ivy
had said a couple weeks earlier. About me coming in on Saturdays to work for her. I knew Ivy had mentioned it to Crane already, earlier,
but he hadn't mentioned it to me at all. I figured he was waiting to make sure that I kept my grades up and didn't backslide.
I decided to take the opportunity. He was measuring pieces of plywood, and I was helping by holding one end of the measuring tape.
"This is 14 feet," I told him, after one measurement.
"Fourteen," Crane repeated, taking a pencil from behind his ear and writing on the pad that was laying nearby.
"What's this going to be?" I asked.
"Shelves."
"There's going to be a lot of storage space here," I observed.
"Yeah. Definitely a benefit," Crane said.
"Ivy said she talked to you about me coming in on Saturdays to work," I plunged right in.
"She did," Crane affirmed, not looking up from the numbers he was figuring on the pad of paper.
I waited, but he said no more, so I said, tentatively, "Since I'm back on track, can I?"
"I think we ought to wait a couple more weeks," Crane said. "Make sure your grades are gonna stay strong."
Disappointed, I got quiet. I knew already that he wouldn't budge. There was no point to fuss or try to convince him to
relent.
Crane raised his head to look at me, taking in my disappointed demeanor.
"I'm not saying no," he said. "I'm just saying, keep at it. Get back into some good study habits. Then you can go back to
Saturdays with Ivy."
I said. "So two more weeks? If I stay doing how I'm doing?"
"Yeah. We'll talk about it in a couple weeks again."
"Okay," I said. I was disappointed, for sure, but two weeks wasn't unreasonable. I had really dropped the ball on things, and
I figured that Crane was reluctant to give me free rein again. I had the sudden wish that I could have him trust me over school stuff
again, like he had before all the work study dismissal stuff happened. I made up my mind right then that I was going to get to that
point again.
At around three that afternoon, I washed dust off of my hands, and presented myself to Adam, who was standing with
Daniel while they were tapping on the wall with hammers, looking for a stud in the wall.
"I'm going to head to Lori's now," I announced.
Adam paused in what he was doing. "Alright. You have all your stuff? Snacks and diabetes stuff?"
"Yes. In my bag in the truck," I said.
"What time you gonna be home in the morning?" he asked me, then.
"Probably around ten or so," I said.
"Alright," he said, again, and I was glad he didn't say for me to meet the family at church. I would be able to go home and do
my chores, and then spend time with Kenny when he came over.
"You got your homework done, right?" Adam prompted me.
"Yes. All done."
Adam nodded. "Alright. Well, have fun."
"We will," I said, feeling light. It was so great to be off my grounding, and be able to do normal fun stuff again.
"Don't rob any banks," Daniel said, and I made a face at him.
"If I do, I won't share any money with you," I told him, joking back.
I left and started towards Lori's house, feeling excited about the evening.
7