| Business Proposal |
| Summary: | Clifton asks for help, for a very important cause. |
| Date: | 1942-06-18 |
| Related: | Beer n' Brawl |
| Players: |
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Wright Residence, Higsi
Sun Jun 18, 1942
Built by the late Basil Wright, this beautiful Craftsman-style house overlooks the intersection of Cooper and Butler. A huge porch, flanked by two shade trees, is the first to greet visitors. It is set up seasonally with quite a few comfortable chairs and a large wooden table that looks rather archaic.
The immaculate interior presents a large kitchen with pantry, open dining room, den, full bathroom and two multi-purpose spare rooms. Closet-space is ample, appointed in nooks and crannies throughout the house and never given to clutter. A sturdy stairwell, with hand-carved designs set into the railing, ascends into a large second storey. There, one shall find a master bedroom, another occupied bedroom, a small bathroom and a large sitting room from which one can observe the street below through two large windows.
Departing the house and following a walkway around toward a fenced-in back yard, an addition from the late 1920s is accessable. There, two functional and comfortable rooms are located for usage as rooms-to-let to passing visitors. A large shed serves as a workspace for the home's owner.
Weather:
It is spring. The weather is cool and clear.
<FS3> Kathleen rolls Quick Fixes: Good Success.
By now the routine has returned to normal at the Wright home. It's early evening with the sun yet retaining some staying power for the next couple of hours. A wayward wind has straggled into the town, carrying with it a degree of coolness that is a relief to most who truly mind the heat. Regardless the skies are clear: expansive, peachy-orange flecked with slashes of golden clouds. The green grass quivers in the side-yard of the large ponderous house, and settled upon the expansive porch is a one Madeline Wright. Tonight will be the first night she is home in her own bed following the craziness, and she seems to be handling things well enough.
Kathleen has worked hard to make sure everything is as it should be. She cannot bear the thought of the child being uneasy in her own home. The preteen girl is looking at something in her lap, her skirts a fluffy mauve froth at her ankles and hair loose, golden and freshly brushed. Is she reading a book? Her pretty head lifts to seek out her sister, who is at the top of a large ladder that has been propped at the side of the house off of the porch. Kathleen is currently cleaning out the gutters, unabashedly digging out sludge with her bare hands. Why hadn't she done this sooner?
"Kitty, we need to get a new frame for this." Madeline calls up to her.
Clifton had returned home yesterday after leaving Kitty's house, but true to his word he was back now. Figuring it was best to give Maddie some adjusting time alone with her big sister, he still wanted to check in on the girl. If nothing else than to ease her mind that he was in fact alright. So here he comes, walking up the sidewalk.
As he gets closer to the home, Clif sees Maddie out on the porch…reading. A smile tugs on his features. She seemed to be adjusting well. But only really talking to her would tell. So as he gets close enough he calls out to announce himself "Hello! Mister Laurie coming to see Miss Beth! Is Miss Beth around!?" Hey when a kid was involved, you cheese it up.
"Why ya say that now?" Grunt, scrape… Kathleen leans over a bit and drops more leaf mulch into the barrel below. The sound it makes isn't all that pleasant. Returning to the gutter she carries on, thigh-length shorts hugging legs that taper off into bare feet; scruffy t-shirt revealing a surprisingly toned stomach. Her hair has been pushed back into a bandana, a few frenzied hanks of blonde sprouting beneath and behind the pale blue cloth. Madeline continues watching her, and she shifts a bit so the light catches the glass in the frame. She screws up her face a little as Kitty just doesn't understand.
"This frame is ancient.. shouldn't he be in something newer?" Maddie asks, brow furrowed.
"Christ child, it's only nine years old. Ya callin' yerself ancient?" Kitty barks down, amused, as she sways precariously. She's back into her filth by the time Maddie's attention is pulled away… quickly.
A familiar voice.. Maddie shoots to her feet, hugging the photo frame to her chest. "Clif!" She flutes, highly excited. Him taking on the moniker of her book crush only deepens the girl's blush as she flounces down the steps. "You've come to see us!" Maddie calls out again, clearly thrilled.
Clifton can't help but smile wider at the girl's excitement, catching sight of Kitty's struggle with the gutter but chooses not to say anything currently. She might toss a handful of sludge his way! "Maddie!" he returns her eager greeting. Now at their house and making the way down their sidewalk to the porch, he opens his arms for a hug.
She's trying to be 'a lady'… but often Maddie forgets this and becomes the girl that she is supposed to be, on that final precipice before adolescence. She will be turning twelve in a week… one can just see the barest beginnings of that shift: the slightest narrowing of her face. Kathleen will have her hands full when this one comes of age. But for now Maddie is just a girl, and she's ecstatic, and who gives a shit if this man came down from the hills and was in a bar fight the night prior. He is Clif, and he saved their house. Madeline's sky blue eyes are set to glowing when Walker opens his arms in invite.
Dive! Straight into them, giving the man a squeeze with the photo she was looking at pressed harmlessly between them. Maddie nestles close, hugging Clif unabashedly.. she does not ask about jail or the like. Did Kathleen even let on much to her?
"'ey Clif!" Kathleen hollers, classless where Maddie is polite and proper. This is punctuated by another fistful of matter hitting the barrel with a sludgey excrement sound. Yup, classy. "How ya keepin'?" She calls out, watching the two hug for a moment before leaning over to scrutinize the gutter.
Arms wrap around the girl as she dives into the hug, Clif feeling more of that weight from the whole ordeal falling from his form. Again, he knew she was alright. Kitty had assured him of that. Still, it was a different thing to get that confirmation in person by seeing her. Still keeping Maddie in the hug for as long as she wanted, the Walker looks up at Kitty and smirks "Better now that I got a Maddie hug. I'd ask about you but…it is obvious you are having a great time!" She would't throw sludge with her sister in the line of fire right? Right!?
<FS3> Kathleen rolls Reaction: Good Success.
She has good aim with a gun, and with her arm as well. With all of the dexterous grace in her narrow body, Kathleen grabs onto one side of the ladder and leans back some. The other arm? In response to Clif's jest the carpenter windmills that arm and throws a handful of slimy leafy mulch in the direction of the two! Deliberately her aim is off and the ball of gross streaks across the sidewalk…. but close enough to be in warning. Obvious that she intended to miss. Kathleen's wry grin can be seen whitely against the backdrop of her tanned skin, eyes flashing.
Madeline, however, arches and jumps in the hug and cranes her neck to look at the big skid-mark that streaks unceremoniously across the sidewalk… less than a foot away from the two of them. "Kitty!! You're beastly..! Stop that right now!" She shrieks up at her older sister, clutching Walker's arms. She looks up at Clif, nose wrinkled and eyes flashing. "She has no manners, none at all! Tell her to stop right now because she doesn't listen to me!"
Clifton closes his eyes, half expecting to feel the slime of muck hitting his face. However, after a moment passes he opens one eye first and then the other before looking to the sidewalk and seeing where it had landed. He just laughs, shaking his head and looking down at Maddie "Nah. See whereas you and me get along because we both like hugs…me and your sister get along because we don't like manners." He looks back to Kitty then "Anything I can help with?" he offers.
Deciding to take a break, the woman slowly deftly descends the ladder, arms muddled up to her elbows as she plants her feet into the grass and seeks out a rag. Kathleen stands and watches the two thoughtfully for a moment before chuckling to herself. "I meant t'miss." She snarks, and manages one more guffaw at Clifton's words to the girl. "Gave ya all my manners, kiddo.. figured they'd suit ya better. Someone gotta be beastly in this house." Kathleen concurs as she picks up a large glass of water and slams the whole thing down her gullet, filthy fingers wrapped around it.
Madeline winces and has to look away from that vision of delight, looking up at Clif again. "Would you like some lemonade? I can get you some~ … Kitty is too busy playing in the mud. And I don't want your glass to be filthy." The child demures, before Kitty answers properly.. striding toward the two.
"I think I got it all.. most of it." Kathleen admits, and she looks the part too. She's disgusting. "Still a bit pissy at myself for doing this so late, but I've been distracted. Things settlin' down for you some?"
"I'd love some lemonade, Maddie. Thanks." Clifton looks from the younger girl to her older sister, nodding with Kathleen's inquiry. "Yeah. About as settled as they ever are" he chuckles. Looking back to the gutter he'd seem to be thinking a moment before again looking back to Kitty. "So. I know what I said the other night but…I might end up taking you up on your money offer. I'd work for it of course. Whatever you can think of that you need around the house. I won't take it as thanks for anything. But…yeah. Think we could work something out?"
Eyes widen and practically glow; color flushes… a quick nod and off she goes, carrying the frame with her. Don't have to tell Maddie twice! Kathleen sidesteps to allow the girl to pass as the trio stand on the walkway in front of the house, beyond the front fence. One corner of her mouth pulls up into a half smirk as she works to wipe grime out from between her fingers. Golden eyes watch Clif as he ponders something, and when he finally sees fit to make his request the woman's smirk softens some into the ghost of a smile. As noted, she believes in an honor system; she feels that she owes Clifton big.
"Course' I can help ya." She says without fanfare, the intention behind her voice as strong as it had been in the jail house. Kathleen's eyes watch Clif's face as he makes a further offer to help her out. Somehow she knows it will make this easier on him to be given work. "Wouldn't ya know, I do need help with something." She pauses, gesturing with a nod toward the back yard of the property, where the addition can be found. "I'm wantin' to put down new linoleum in one of the spare rooms. If ya insist on bein' put to work, ya can help me with that. How much ya need?"
Clifton gets to thinking again, face taking on a completely confused expression. "I didn't ask…but…you happen to know how much a decent sewing machine goes for?" The Walker rubs the back of his neck with a shrug "Clyde is trying to cheer Ethel up with everything that's been going on. Thinks having a machine at the house that she can work on will help. I have no idea about all that stuff though…you need me to find out from him?"
Clyde she recalls vaguely; Ethel? Would Clifton have mentioned much about her? Kathleen tilts her head some, wiping a cheekbone with that same rag. Just imagine what her bedtime toilette consists of! She stands jauntily, lowering the rag to her side and considering. Her mother's old sewing machine is in one of the spare rooms.. not as if she is considering giving that away but it's an oldschool Singer. Something used shouldn't be too expensive. "Ethel.. she kin? Cain't place her… but sure, I can give ya the money for a machine. Basic ones might take ya up toward forty bucks." She pauses, leans on one heel. "Go back a few years, might find cheaper… Singer is a tough brand."
That's as much as Kitty knows. "Tons of old birds in this town with machines gettin' dusty in their houses. Surely someone will sell one." She adds. "I ain't one to sew but a woman with the knack would be happy with somethin' like that."
"Sorry yeah. Ethel is Clyde's sister. They are both my cousins." All of them on the mountain were his cousins, but he couldn't remember how often he had mentioned Clyde either. Secrecy was usually high priority but this was a special case. Hearing the price points, Clifton pulls a hard grimace "Ack…that's…that's a lot." Another hand rubbing the back of his head, "What else you got that needs to be done around here? Maybe I can work in some extra photo shoots around town too." If anybody would even hire him after the whole arrest fiasco. His name had been cleared, but that didn't mean anything for the rumor mill in Higsi.
"We can do the two rooms," Kathleen ponders, thinking 'why not'. Linoleum is so much easier to maintain and it will freshen up the rooms to let. She may look scrappy and rough but this woman is in some very good standing with funds. Very comfortable indeed. Her eyes glint once at her friend's grimace and she folds her arms in front of her faint swell of bosom. "I can advance the cash if ya want. I trust ya and I know how it is to have a lady feelin' doldrums. Get that machine to her quick-like and make life easier on yerselves."
Kathleen gestures toward the porch. "Come set a spell, little one will be out with the lemonade. She's probably makin' sure it's just right." She teases as she pads toward the porch, footsteps soundless as her bare feet touch the wooden steps. "Can help me empty out that shed, where the shelves pinned me… full of shit that needs to be sorted, some from my Daddy's time. Need to get a new shelvin' unit built because what's in there is a real fucker—-"
"Kitty! Language!" Maddie cries from the door, holding a glass of lemonade like a sacred offering.
Kathleen watches Clifton, "Can help with that too."
Clifton thinks on that a moment again. If it helped Ethel. Which would help Clyde. Two birds with one sewing machine! "Alright. You got yourself a deal. Thank you…this really means a lot and I hope it will help things." With the invitation to sit, the Walker heads up to the porch and finds a chair. He can't help but smirk at the exchange between the two sisters. "I'll try my best…but you might be a lost cause" he offers Kitty with a laugh.