October to October

{Chapter Eight}

  "It's all bull."

  "Oh, I know. Henry loves it though so I don't tell him that."

   The basement was quite bleak, and Lauren hoped the stairs didn't give away as they walked down them. They were tall, narrow, and very old. Lauren was sure it would collapse under their weight, but nothing happened. After they finished with the first batch of clothes they went upstairs to start lunch. Joan had a bag full of stuff to make a pork stir fry.

   "I usually go out to eat, but I'm going to start trying to cook," Joan explained as she got out a bunch of new kitchen wear while Lauren sat at the kitchen table; a heavy, dark wood table with long bench seats. Joan explained she got it at an antique store and took ten people to carry inside her house.

   "Why?" Lauren asked; she hated to cook. "There are so many good restaurants down town that I don't see the point."

  "Because it's fun!" Joan said as she stood over her laptop reading the stir fry directions. "I have to have something to do. I only work three days a week and all my classes are in the evenings or morning."

   "You only work three days a week?"

   "I still have a nice nest egg from my Great uncle. He left me some money when he died," Joan said with a bit of a sheepish smile on her face. "I work so I don't feel like I'm useless, but you know. It's pretty nice."

  "I'd say," Lauren said as she read over Joan's shoulder. "Not that I'm one to talk. I really only work at the Antique Button 'cause my parents think it teaches me responsibility. I waste all my money on clothes and junk while they still pay for my car, cell phone, school, gas, and everything else."

  "We are leeches on society."

  "Completely," Lauren said. "Oh, this looks like a good website. Let's keep it open, and we'll just follow the instructions as we go. It doesn't look too hard."

  "Sounds good," Joan said as she put the laptop up on the counter, and they unpacked the grocery bags. "Let's start by cutting up the veggies."

  "Where are your knives?" Lauren asked as Joan washed off the vegetables.

  "Second drawer in that old hutch in the corner... at least I think they are. I forget sometimes."

  "Aha! Found 'em," Lauren said, and she admired the beautiful light green hutch with carvings of roses on the side. "This is gorgeous. Did you get this at an antique store too?"

  "Nah, it was in the basement along with a ton of other stuff," Joan said. "It was all covered in sheets like in those stupid movies, and Henry helped me move it up. We also found two old steel beds. Like tiny twin sized ones, but rusted as fuck. They were really cute though so we spray painted them black, and we put them in one of the bedrooms upstairs as a guest room. I'll have to show you later. The room turned out really gorgeous. My own bedroom isn't near completion, but at least my non-existent guests can come to visit."

  Lauren grinned. "So how many bedrooms is this place anyway? I never counted when we used to come here as kids now that I think about it. It was always too dark, and it was spooky to go upstairs."

  "Six," Joan said. "Can you believe that? The real estate agent warned me I was nuts to buy this place and try to redo it, but I didn't care."

  "That's what my sister used to say when I'd bring it up," Lauren said. "She's start talking about how expensive it must be to heat whenever I'd say I thought it was beautiful."

 Joan grinned. "Well, at least she's practical. I'm definitely not. Well, I have a bedroom, Henry has one, and we have a guest room. I think we're just going to have fun with the other ones. Henry is going to use one as his art room, and I might turn one into a small library. I have enough books."