43. Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty
N adine arrived at her sister’s house the following morning. The weather was still pleasant, and she’d forgotten how much she loved this time of year, when the weather was still warm and the leaves were starting to turn their beautiful fall colors of vibrant red, orange, and yellow.
Maureen and Allan and their kids lived in a renovated Victorian over on Daisy Lane, which ran off the other end of Pearl Street. There weren’t many houses on Daisy Lane as it was a short street, and the houses that were there were large and stately, including her sister’s home. You didn’t know where to look first, between turrets and bay windows and a wraparound porch. It had to be about five thousand square feet. The house’s color scheme of white, pale yellow, and moss green reminded Nadine of a daisy, and she wondered if that had been intentional on her sister’s part.
The house was as perfect as everything else in her sister’s life.
At the end of a long driveway was a recently built garage, modeled in keeping with the aesthetics of the house. When the garage door lifted electronically, Nadine stood there in her sister’s driveway, mouth agape. Maureen had not been exaggerating when she said she had supplies. Nadine’s first thought was how they managed to get their cars in here during the winter. Metal shelves lined the sides and back walls. They were packed with bolts of fabric, rolls of leftover wallpaper, cans of paint, and all sorts of equipment from paint and wallpaper brushes to hammers and screwdrivers. In the corner, area rugs, rolled up and secured with rope, leaned against the wall. A long table housed all sorts of bric-a-brac, from light switches to outlet covers to a variety of lamps to framed pictures.
Maureen laughed when she saw the expression on her sister’s face. “I collect things. It drives Allan nuts, but you never know when you’re going to need it.” As if adding emphasis, she said, “Like now.”
After a thorough inspection of the house on Pearl Street, it had been determined that one of the upstairs bedrooms would be done first. The walls were in pretty good shape and between the two of them, they were able to pull up the old carpet, revealing the original hardwood floor underneath. The woodwork would be cleaned, and the walls and ceiling painted. That was something Nadine could do on her own.
“This is what I was thinking for that upstairs hall light. As opposed to the bare lightbulb,” Maureen said. She held up a small crystal chandelier and actually, it was the perfect size.
“I can’t accept that,” Nadine said. “That must have cost a fortune.”
Maureen laughed and held it out toward her. “Feel it.”
Nadine fingered one of the crystal teardrops and frowned. “Is that plastic?”
“It sure is. I paid twenty dollars for it. This will do until you can get a proper one,” she said, handing it over. “Cheap and cheerful.”
“Thanks.” Nadine set it down near the door of the garage to keep it separate. But soon that pile grew, with cans of paint and an area rug they determined would be perfect for the small bedroom.
After an hour, she had plenty of paint and a lovely fabric to make curtains for the room. Excitement coursed through her, and she was anxious to get started.
They loaded up the trunk of Nadine’s car, and she turned and threw her arms around her sister.
“Thanks,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. ”
“I’m glad I could help. Is it okay if I stop in from time to time?”
“Of course. Stop in any time,” Nadine said. She’d like to have that kind of relationship with at least one of her sisters. With a wave and a toot of the horn, she reversed out of Maureen’s driveway and headed home.
Nadine waited for Maureen to arrive. Her sister had called her the previous night and had somehow convinced her that she could gut the bedrooms herself which at the time, Nadine believed, but with the light of a new day, was now doubtful. Maureen was going to show her how to remove the plaster and lath in the bedrooms. All the paint and fabric she’d brought from her sister’s garage now sat on floor in the dining room, and Nadine was anxious to use it.
While she waited for Maureen, she decided to clean the old paint off the stained-glass window on the staircase landing. Donning yellow rubber gloves, she filled a bucket with a mixture of vinegar and hot water and started on the window using a rag and a scraper.
The sound of the front door opening was followed by her sister’s voice.
“Nadine?” The top of Maureen’s head popped into view .
“Up here.”
Maureen looked up and smiled. “Sorry I’m late. Got detained.”
“No problem.”
She came up the stairs, carrying a claw hammer in one hand and a crowbar in the other. She stopped in front of the window and inspected it. “That looks better already. It’s beautiful. I can’t imagine what you’d pay for something like that today.”
Holding up the crowbar and claw hammer, Maureen asked, “Are you ready to get your hands dirty?”
“I am.”
Nadine followed her sister up the rest of the staircase and they stood in the hall.
“You’ll save yourself some money doing the gutting yourself. Last night, I called a guy I know who does drywall and who owes me a huge favor. He’s going to put up new walls here for you once everything is gutted.”
Nadine was overwhelmed by her sister’s help. “Thanks so much, Maureen.”
She followed Maureen into one of the bedrooms.
“Start with this room first,” Maureen advised. “It’s the smallest and hopefully, won’t take too long.”
They looked around. Suddenly, Nadine was unsure.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she admitted.
“Of course you can! Didn’t you reno the first house you lived in? ”
“I did but I was also twenty years younger . . . and stupid.”
Maureen grinned. “We were all stupid back then. Look, this is going to be a mess. Wear a mask, keep all the doors closed, and get a dumpster.”
Nadine nodded.
Maureen looked her over. “Okay, you’ve got old clothes on, that’s good. Do you have a mask?”
“Will a bandana do?” She pulled a red paisley bandana from her back pocket.
Maureen pulled a couple of masks from her pocket and handed one to Nadine. “Here, take one. I’ll get you a box from the drugstore.” She looked at her sister and added, “You don’t want to be breathing in all that dust.”
“No, I do not. But I can pick some up. No need for you to do that. You’ve done enough.” She couldn’t and wouldn’t ask any more from her sister.
“Okay, this is lath and plaster. It’s going to be messy when it comes down. But first, before you even do that, you need to remove the trim. And you’re going to use the claw hammer and the crowbar to do that. And be very careful because you don’t want to destroy the woodwork.”
Inside the bedroom, Maureen crouched down and pulled a utility knife from her back pocket. She looked up at Nadine as she spoke. “Use the utility knife to loosen any caulk along the top of the baseboard. Then”—here she pulled out a putty knife from her pocket, leaving Nadine to wonder what else she had back there—“use the knife to pry the baseboard away from the wall to give you enough space to get the crowbar in there.”
She demonstrated this, and she made it look easy. But Nadine guessed it probably wasn’t.
“Now, because we don’t have to worry about the walls because you’re replacing them, we don’t have to be extra careful with the crowbar.” She inserted the bent claw end with the nail slot of the crowbar behind the top of the baseboard and loosened it, maintaining her crouch and crab-walking along the wall, until the entire section loosened enough for her to pull it off.
“Now you’ll mark the baseboard on the back, or you won’t remember what goes where.” She pulled a black Sharpie from the pocket of her jacket and used her teeth to uncap it. She turned the baseboard over and wrote on the back of it. “Keep it simple. I just put ‘LS’ so you know it’s on the same wall as the light switch.” She pointed to the baseboard below the window. “Label that ‘WW’ for wall with the window.”
Nadine nodded and Maureen said, “Or label it any way you see fit, so that you can remember it.”
Under Maureen’s instruction, Nadine worked on the rest of the trim in the room. It wasn’t easy. Sometimes it was good and stuck, and she had to put some weight behind the crowbar, but in the end, she got it all removed. She and Maureen carried the pieces to one of the other bedrooms and laid them out along the floor. It was a good thing the house was empty or there’d be nowhere to put anything.
They returned to the bedroom and Maureen wielded the hammer and grinned. “Now for the fun part.” She swung the hammer against the wall, landing right in the center of it, leaving a big hole. Chunks of plaster fell to the floor and a plume of dust rose from it.
“Oops, we forgot our masks,” she said, setting the hammer down and adjusting the mask around her face. Nadine did the same.
Maureen handed her the hammer. “Your turn.”
Nadine took the hammer and swung, making a smaller hole in the wall, resulting in the same thing: chunks of plaster falling to the floor and more dust. Turning around, Maureen closed the door and opened the windows in the room.
When a good portion of the wall was removed, they pulled out the remaining pieces with their hands, revealing the original lath behind the wall.
There was a growing pile of plaster on the floor and a fog of dust in the room.
“Now, we need to remove the lath from the studs. Use the crowbar to do this.” Again, Maureen demonstrated.
“What about all those nails?” Nadine asked when all the lath was gone from the first wall, eyeing the nails sticking out of the studs. There were lots of them. Too many to count.
“If the nails don’t come out with the lath, you’ll have to remove them with the hammer. They all have to come out.”
“Okay.”
Maureen’s beautiful hair was covered in fine white plaster dust. Nadine was pretty sure her own hair looked the same.
Her sister went to the master bedroom and opened the door that led out to the balcony overlooking Pearl Street. She left it open, and the air that rolled in was refreshing. She poked her head back into the room. “You know, you could get them to put the dumpster right below the balcony, that way you can toss everything in from here, rather than dragging it all the way down the stairs.”
Nadine was amused at her sister’s use of the word “toss,” as if the old plaster didn’t weigh a ton.
When they finished the second and third walls, she realized that quite a bit of time had passed. “Maureen, you don’t have to stay. I can finish this up.”
“I don’t mind. Come on, we only have one more wall to do. Let’s get it finished.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am.”
“Don’t you have plans with Allan or the kids tonight? ”
“Nothing that can’t wait,” Maureen said, and she turned her back to Nadine and swung the hammer into the fourth wall.
When they finished, Nadine knew she could do no more. Her sister offered to call a dumpster company on her behalf in the morning, and Nadine was so weary that she readily agreed.
As she locked the door behind them to head back to their mother’s house, Maureen said, “It’s a lot of work.”
“I used muscles I didn’t know I had.” Nadine reached around and massaged the back of her neck. What she wanted was a long, hot bath.
Maureen laughed. “I know, right?”
They walked side by side down the wide steps of the front porch toward the driveway. Maureen had parked her car behind Nadine’s.
“I can’t thank you enough for all your help,” Nadine said. She was overtired and when she got to that point, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch for her to get all weepy.
“No problem. I’ll help when I can.” Maureen headed to her car, waved goodbye, got in and drove away.
Nadine stopped at the drugstore on the way home for Motrin and a box of masks. She drove home and parked on the street in front of her mother’s house. Her plan was to get cleaned up and go to bed.
Herman stood near the front door, wagging his tail and whining when he spotted her .
“Hey, bud,” she called out, happy to see him.
As soon as she went inside, Herman began yelping, leaning all his weight against her, his wagging tail hitting her thigh.
“I’m home now.” She gave him a reassuring hug. The dog lifted his head and licked her nose.
“Thanks.”
Her mother walked out of the kitchen. “He’s been sitting there waiting for you for the past—” She stopped in her tracks when she eyed Nadine. “You’re a mess!”
“I know,” Nadine said, her voice weary. “I’m going up to soak in the tub.”
Her mother nodded. “Did you want some dinner? I’ve got leftover goulash.”
“No thanks, Mom. I’m too tired to eat.”
As she walked up the stairs with Herman following close behind, her mother called up. “Aunt Gail called, she said for you to stop by the shop when you get a chance.”
“Sure,” Nadine said.
Once the tub was filled and the steam rose from the surface of the water, Nadine stepped out of her clothes and piled them near the door. Herman paced back and forth between the bedroom and the bathroom, but finally backed into the bathroom and settled on the mat, panting.
Nadine slid into the tub, lay back, closed her eyes, and groaned. Every muscle ached. She hung her arm over the side of the tub and smiled when Herman rose from his position so his head touched her hand. Despite her exhaustion, she obliged him and gave him a few pats, and he soon settled down. She closed her eyes, thinking she’d rest them for a few minutes.
When she woke, the water had gone cold and Herman had disappeared. She stepped out of the tub and released the drain, the water swirling down. She dried off quickly and made her way to the bedroom. Herman was conked out right in the middle of the bed.
She gathered her dirty clothes in her arms and went downstairs, throwing them into the washing machine. After pouring in detergent and fabric softener, she chose her settings, started the machine, and headed back up, stopping only once to say good night to her mother, who was watching a crime documentary.
Herman grunted and lifted his head slightly when Nadine nudged him over. She climbed beneath the covers and purposely avoided setting her alarm because after today, she felt she’d earned herself a sleep-in.