“I don’t either, to be honest.They usually get their comeuppance once things start to fall apart around them.”She agreed with him, but he had a feeling that she didn’t understand what he was talking about.“Keep an eye on him so that we can know his next move.My home should be finished in a couple more days, and then I’m going to start moving in the things that I’ve already purchased for it.”
“Very good, sir.”When she left him, he got back to work on the water lines.There were things that he wanted to incorporate in his house that he knew were going to save water as well as electricity.He had been studying up on things for a long time and knew just what he wanted in the way of his home.
It was so easy for him to do the work that he wanted that he would often find his mind drifting.And of late, it had been about finding a mate.Not that he didn’t want one, but he didn’t want her to be human.Being around the other two women showed him that they were a great deal of work, and they were just too young for him.
He often thought himself too set in his ways for a mate.He liked to do things on his own time and didn’t want to have to wait on someone else when it was time for him to go.He’d not see that in the other two mates, but he was sure he was going to get a dud when it came to mates.She’d be forever making him late for things, and that wouldn’t sit well with him.
Also, there was the age difference.He was simply too old for someone who was born at the end of his life.Not to say that he was planning on dying anytime soon, but to have a mate that would be forever wanting to have things going her way wasn’t anything that he wanted.He had his life just the way that he wanted it, and be damned if he was going to change himself to suit a young upstart.
He nearly missed an entire floor of his home with the water lines as he was getting angry about the upstart.He couldn’t call her that around the others.Calla would have his head, and Tabby would knock him around, too.They were upstarts as well, he thought, but he’d never say that to them.He liked his head just where it was right now.
As he finished putting in the water lines, he noticed that the front door to his home was open.He’d put up the shell of his home several weeks ago to keep others from seeing what he was doing to his home, but seeing the door open gave him a start.He made his way there now and was sure that the man who had been asking around town about his house and land was standing in the middle of his living room.He asked him what he was doing.
“The door was open, so I thought I’d see what was going on.I have just been to the courthouse, and it says that you’re building on my land.”Well, that was news to him, and he told him so.“Yes, well, I love the house, but I’m afraid that I’m going to have to have you stop now, as I didn’t want a house put on my land.You’re just lucky that I’m not going to sue you.”
“Where is your proof that you own this land?I’m sure you’ve brought proof.”He said that he hadn’t brought it with him, he’d not known that someone was building on his land.“No one is building on your land, as I’ve owned this property for a good long time.I have a copy of the purchase agreement as well as I’ve been paying the land tax on it for decades.”
“You don’t look old enough to have owned anything for decades.”He didn’t bother answering the man as he knew to the day how long he’d own the property.It was well before this man had ever been born.“I do own this land, and I’m going to have to ask you to stop building.I have plans for this property, and it doesn’t involve having a house sitting in the middle of the land.”
“Whatever floats your boat.When you have proof that it belongs to you, you come back with the police, and we’ll see who owns what.In the meantime, I’m only going to tell you this one time to get off my land and don’t come back.I don’t care for trespassers, and that’s what you’re doing.”He told him that he couldn’t trespass on his own land.“As I said, you come back with proof and we’ll talk about it.In the meantime, I’ve asked you to leave, and you’d better be on your way.I’m finished talking about this.”
“You’re not very nice, are you.All right, I don’t have proof that I own this land, but I can buy it from you twice what you paid for it.That’s more than fair.”He told him no.“Just like that?You’re not even going to listen to the deal that I have for you?That seems like a man who doesn’t have any idea what he has is worth.”
“I know what it’s worth as I’m building my home on it.I’ve no time for you, as I have said to you several times now.Move on, or I’m calling the police.You’ve been warned.”When the man didn’t move, he pulled out his cell phone to call the police.The man actually knocked the phone from his hand.Rance could feel his other half take hold of him, and he was barely able to hold him back.It would be just like this man, a human again, to try and say that he’d hurt him in some way so that the police would need to arrest him.Not today, he thought.He had better things to do other than mess with someone who didn’t seem to understand that he’d said no.
Picking up his phone, he had the police dialed before he put it to his ear.Telling them that he had a problem on his land had them asking if it was Walter Hudson.Since they knew who he was, Rance figured that they’d had problems with him before.It wasn’t going to bode well for the man if he kept this up.They said they were on their way.
After putting his phone away, he stared at the man.He was older than he looked, and Rance could tell that he was also sickly.There was something wrong with him, and he wondered if he knew it.Not that it mattered to him.Hudson was going to get his ass killed if he kept up doing what he was doing.And Rance really wanted to be the one who did it to him.As the police pulled into his property,he felt a little better about shoving the man off.
“Mr.Hudson, you’ve been warned about trespassing on other people’s property twice now.This is going to get you run in if you keep harassing the good people of this town.”He said that Rance had threatened him.“Of course he did.Like Mrs.Warner did when you were harassing her about her land.She’s a ninety-year-old woman who has lived in that same land for the last fifty years or so.Move along, or I’m going to run you in.And you won’t like that one bit when I call your boss.”
“What boss?”He told him the name of the person that he worked for.“You can’t do that.I’m here on sick leave.It’s none of her business what I’m doing around here.”
“It is if she thinks that you’re sick when all you’re doing is making people sick of you.Now run along.Or better yet, get back in your car and leave our town.We’ve got enough going on without you causing more trouble around here.I will arrest you if I have to come back out to someone’s home and talk to you again.”He said he was just trying to buy up land.“Oh, so now you’re buying it up, are you?Last I heard, you were going to evict people like Mrs.Warner because you said you owned the land.Did they get too smart for you and turn you down?Sounds to me like you’ve worn out your welcome around here.Move on before I have to move you on, sir.I’ve had about enough of you.”
“I don’t understand what the issue is with people around here.My money is just as good as theirs is.Why can’t I do a little negotiating while I’m in town?”He said because he was going about things all wrong.“I’m just a man who sees something here and will do what’s necessary to get it taken care of.There is prime land around here, and I mean to have most of it.”
“Not if people don’t want to sell, you won’t.”The police were finally able to get the man to get moving and then asked if he wanted to press charges.All he’d done was knock his phone out of his hand and had entered his house.For now, he was satisfied that the man was gone.“But if he returns, then all bets are off, and I’m going to not just press charges against him but make sure he understands the meaning of the word no.He doesn’t seem to get that.”
“I’ve been keeping an eye on him for the last several days.I’ll do better now that he’s come out here.The man isn’t going to go away easily, I don’t think.He has it in his head that he will own the property that he wants and damn what anyone else has to say about it.Yesterday, Mrs.Warner beat him out of her house with her broom.Did my heart good to see her taking care of business like that.She’s old, but she’s feisty.”Rance remembered her when she was just a little girl, when he’d come to visit Brew.She’d been a handful then.“I’ll be on my way, Rance.If he comes back, try not to kill him.The amount of paperwork would take me most of the day to fill out, and I want to get off early tonight to see my kids playing ball at the new field.”
“You have fun.But I’m not going to be making any promises.”After he left him, Rance had to shake himself several times before he could shed his anger.The man needed to have his head knocked off, and if he kept up with what he was doing, it would be sooner rather than later.Getting back to work, he was nearly finished with the water lines when he realized how late it was getting.Making sure that he locked up his house this time, he made his way to the place he’d been staying for a while now.
The condos in town were the perfect place for him to get what he needed and not have to mess with anyone while he was getting it.From the end of town where he lived, there was little foot traffic and even fewer neighbors.The condos were getting into ill repair, and he’d have to do something about that soon, as he owned them as well, but not today.He wanted his house finished up before he took on any more projects.
~*~
It took him all of an hour to talk to the man about his couch.He’d forgotten that they had changed up the material that it was made from and had to change it back before they’d take it back.He’d not realized that the couch had been broken while they had been on it, and thought that a little roughhousing like they’d done shouldn’t have broken two of the legs off.They’d been rough on them, but not that bad.
It had been cleaned up by the sunshine that he’d let into the house, and he was happy that it wasn’t as ruined as they thought it had been.After finally getting the man to replace the one thatthey had, he was going to remember not to recommend the store to any of the others.The man had been rude from the first time he’d picked up the phone and got worse as they spoke.Even if he didn’t replace the couch, he should have been nicer about the call.Just as he was hanging up the line, he saw Tabitha.She looked as frustrated as he felt.He asked her what was wrong.
“I just got off the phone with the police department.They’re telling me that my mother wants me to bring her some things, and I’m not willing to do it.Not to mention, she wants to talk to me again.I’ve told them before that I’m not going down there to talk to her about what she wants from me.I guess she has it in her head that she can get what she wants because the judge told her she could.He didn’t say any such thing.”He held her while she ranted.“Did you know that there’s a man in town trying to buy up property?I guess he went out to Rance’s place to bother him, and he called the police.”
“I’m surprised that he didn’t just take care of the man if he’s bothering him.Rance isn’t one to suffer fools lightly.And he dislikes humans a great deal.”She asked about her and Calla.“You’ve not been human since we met.But no, I believe that he loves the two of you very much.Like a sister to him.”
“Good, because I love him as well as the others.They’re protective of me, too, and I like that as well.”She sat down on the couch that was still in good shape.“Did you have any trouble with the salesman?I could feel your tension all the way home.I hope they’ll be able to get us a replacement.”
“They’re taking care of it tomorrow.We’ll just have to remember that we changed out the color and material again so that it matches.He nearly had a cow when I gave him the wrong description of the couch that is broken.”He told her how he’d had a little bit of a fit when he said that he’d tried to warn them of the daintiness of the legs.“I don’t remember him saying anything like that, and I told him so.We’ll have to reinforce them when they get here so that when we have a little fun on them, they don’t send us to the floor.”
