Mindset (20 page)

“What do you have there, Eva?”

“Oh, it’s just something I came up with to make notes on each of the places we look at, so we don’t get any of them confused.  I’ll record the pros and cons of each place, and then we can go over the notes later on to help us make a final decision.”

“Well, aren’t you smart, not to mention organized.  And by the way, nice jeans.”  She beamed a radiant smile his way.  He always knew just the right thing to say to make her feel good about herself.

Although there were definitely positives at the first two places they saw, the third place was what really caught their collective eye.  The more they explored the building, the more excited they all got as they pictured the possibilities.  The rent was the most expensive, but it came with a rent to own clause, and it was by far the best suited for their needs.  The front door opened up to a rather large room with a low counter on the left side, dividing the room into two distinctive sections.

“I’m seeing a reception area here on the left with a desk, file cabinets, fax machine, printer, etc. and a seating area across from it on the side where the bathroom is.  What do you think girls?”

“You took the words right out of my mouth, Trish.  Let’s go down the hallway,” Callie joined in.

Eva led the way and looked into half a dozen small rooms on either side of the hallway with two larger rooms at the end.  The doorway at the end of the hall opened up into a large room in the back that had another bathroom and a water fountain.  “I see the smaller rooms as places where kids can be tutored in small groups or one-on-one, with the larger rooms towards the back of the hallway as offices.  Then, this room could be used for larger groups for reading camps and parent nights.”

Trish looked around her and back to her partners.  “We are so on the same page.”

Callie continued.  “It looks like it’s in pretty good shape.  It could use a little facelift in the courtyard and entryway, and there are some weeds and trash in the parking lot that need to be hauled away.  We’d need some big, strong men to help us with some of that,“ she said as she smiled over at Cade and Josh who smiled back, “but overall, I think this might work.  What do you think, ladies?”

They looked at each other and smiled.  Trish voiced what they were all thinking.  “Where do we sign?”

Chapter 16

“This is so exciting!  It’s really starting to take shape, isn’t it?”

Eva had just finished painting the last section of the wall where the reception area would soon be, and she was clearing away the painting materials and wiping off her hands.  “What do you think?  And yes, it’s exciting!”

“It really is exciting, Trish.  I wish the office furniture delivery guys would get here.  When they do, then it’ll really seem real.  And Eva, I love what you did with the paint.  Painting a garden scene on the walls instead of the same dull, boring paint really makes a statement.  I had no idea how creative and artistic you are!”

“Thanks.  I was thinking about painting a different theme in each of the tutoring rooms.  We could have a jungle room, a desert room, maybe even a Cat in the Hat room for the little guys.  What do you think, Callie?”

“What a great idea!  Then we could be all, “Take him to the jungle room,”  instead of to room three.  The kids would love it!  You think we can manage it all within our time frame, Trish?”

“We’ll get it all done, don’t worry.  We’re actually a little ahead of schedule, thanks to finding everything we needed at that warehouse.  And we got a good buy on our computer system, too.  We could go ahead and set that up on the counter, don’t you think?  I think it’d be better there than on a desk anyway.  In fact, I can start working on that right away.”

“Okay, while you work on that, I think I’ll go out back and see what all is in that old shed back there.  It looks a little rickety, but maybe we can still use it for storage.

“I thought Cade said to stay inside and lock the doors while he went to pick up the filing cabinets, Callie.”

“We’re not going anywhere, Eva, just out back behind the building.  We’ll be fine.  You can’t even see the shed from the front.  We didn’t even know it was there until we started moving into the building.  Lock the front doors after us, and we’ll knock if we need to get back in, ok?”

The two started outside, grabbing work gloves on their way out.  They weren’t sure what they would find in the storage shed, but it wasn’t very large, so they were hopeful it wouldn’t be an all day job going through it.  “I hope there aren’t any bugs or mice or other gross things like that, Callie.  Yuk!”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.  I peeked in yesterday and didn’t see any, but that doesn’t mean they’re not in hiding.  Not much in there that I could see, just some boards and a shovel, a step ladder and maybe some old paint, it looked like.”

“Well, let’s get started.  It’s not locked, is it?”

“It had a padlock on it, but it wasn’t closed, and I just left it like I found it, because I haven’t come across a key yet.  From a distance, it looks like it’s locked.  It’s kind of rusty, but it looked like it would hold, assuming we can find the key.  It doesn’t look like there’s anything of value in there, anyway.  I’m not even sure we need to keep it.  We might want to just tear it down.”

The ladies started unloading what turned out to be a bunch of junk from the looks of it.  Old boards in various sizes, some cleaning products, different sized empty containers, weed killer, and some loose bricks.  Eva worked her way further inside as more things were carried out, handing things off to Callie.  Callie was just setting down two gallon paint containers when she heard Eva scream.  Dropping everything and grabbing the shovel, she ran back inside to see what had scared her friend.

“What’s wrong, Eva?”

“A roach.  Ew!  It was big and ugly, and it tried to bite me.”

“For God’s sake, Evita, roaches don’t bite.”

“Well it was really big and ugly.  It attacked me!  I think it’s waiting to ambush me in that corner over there.”

Callie started laughing until she had tears in her eyes – she couldn’t help it – and bent over to lean on her knees until she got a hold of herself.  “It’s not funny, Callie!  I think it was hungry and pegged me as its next meal.”  Eva was holding herself around her waist, still cringing and trying to peer into the corner when the outside door slammed.

Both women turned around abruptly.  “What the hell?”  Callie walked back to the door and tried to open it.  “Eva, come help me, it’s stuck.”

“What do you mean it’s stuck?  Quit playing around, Callie.  There are bugs in here!  I think they’re afraid of the sunlight – just like the blood sucking vampires that they are – so get that door open!  Here, I’ll help you push.”  Both women put their weight against the door, but it wouldn’t budge. 

“Well, crap!  I guess we’re stuck in here until someone comes to help us.  I don’t suppose you brought your cell phone with you, did you?”

“No, I left it in my purse inside.  You?”

“Same.  We might as well get comfortable.  It’s a good thing it’s only April.  If it was summer time, we’d swelter and probably die of heat stroke.  Hopefully, Cade will be back soon with the filing cabinets and come looking for us.”

“Heat stroke might be preferable to being stuck here with man – make that lady – eating cockroaches!  Give me that shovel, so I can stand armed and ready.”

Callie giggled again at her friend.  “I hear someone coming, Eva.  See, that didn’t take long at all.  We may even escape with all our limbs intact, despite the creepy crawlers.”  She started banging on the door.  “Cade, is that you?  We’re stuck in here and can’t get the door open!  Come let us out!”  Silence.  “Hello!  That’s funny, I hear some shuffling going on out there, but nobody is answering.”

Eva sniffed the air.  “Callie, what’s that smell?  It smells like gasoline or something.”

“Maybe the paint cans tipped over?”

A few minutes later, they heard a
whoosh
at the back corner of the shed followed by some crackling noises.  Black smoke followed.  Both women looked at each other with fear and dread at the same time.  Fire.

“Oh my God!  We’ve got to get out of here, Eva.  Bring me that shovel.  Maybe we can break down the door.”  After frantically trying to pry, push, and hack the door open, they heard Trish’s voice calling their names and working on the outside.  “Help us!  Open the door, we can’t get out!”

“I’m trying!”  Trish yelled.  “It’s locked!  I called the fire department, and they’re on their way, but you have to get out of there!  The fire is spreading.  I don’t have anything to try to put it out with.  The padlock is locked, do you have the key?”

“No!  We don’t have a key that I know of.” 
How the hell did it get locked?

Smoke started filling the interior, making both women cough.  Trish grabbed one of the bricks they’d carried out and tried to break the lock from the outside while the other two kept working from the inside. 
God help me, the fire is spreading too fast.  If I can’t get this door open soon, it’s going to be too late
.  She could hear her friends coughing and continued her frantic efforts, her fingers cut and bleeding.  The fire was already beginning to spread on one side of the building and was beginning to creep towards the back side and up towards the roof.

 “Can’t…breathe…” 

“Get down on the ground, Callie.  There’s more air down there.”  Eva took the shovel from her. 
If I can just make a hole somewhere to let out some of this smoke, it might buy us some time.
  She started hitting the side wall at the back corner where the fire had started, towards the top.  She could see a panel lifting every time she hit it and concentrated there, but she was coughing so much, she didn’t have much strength behind the blows.  Finally she shoved the edge of the shovel against the loose board where it attached to the frame, and some of the smoke escaped, so she pushed through and wedged the shovel between the roof and the frame, giving the smoke a way out.  But the effort had cost her the last of her strength.  She dropped to her knees and joined her friend on the floor.

Cade had just hung up the phone with Josh who said he and Jake would drop by with lunch for everyone and stay to help if they were needed.  He thought of Callie and smiled, then grew serious. 
What am I going to do about you, Callie?  I never wanted a serious relationship with anyone.  I don’t plan on getting married and having kids and living in the house with the picket fence.  That’s your dream, not mine.  I don’t know how to be a family man.  I’ve never even had a family.
  But the more time he spent with Callie, the more often he found his mind wandering, picturing what it would be like to have a life with her. 

He turned down the street where the future Literacy Center building was located, saw the smoke, and wondered where it was coming from.  Unconsciously, he sped up.  The closer he got to the building, the more panicked he felt.  He pulled into the parking lot and felt some relief to see that the smoke wasn’t coming from the building itself. He ran to the door, but it was locked, and when nobody answered his calls or came to see who was banging on the door, he started to feel panicky.  Right when he started to run to the back of the building, the other men pulled in, and he could hear sirens in the distance.

Running for all he was worth, he rounded the back corner and his heart seemed to stop beating when he saw Trish crying and struggling to break the padlock on the storage unit door calling the other women’s names. 
Callie!