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“Sure.”
“And Cheerios. Multigrain.”
“Got it.”
“Good luck with the job.”
“Thanks.”
Milo stood in front of the huge Victorian house he was refurbishing, waiting for the contractor to arrive. The house was in bad shape, and it would take a lot of work. He’d been at it for a year and had made some progress inside, but the exterior still looked like it should be condemned, and the city had tried to do just that. With Marti’s help, Milo bought it from the town and got the property listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
As a truck pulled up in front of the house, Milo stepped off the massive porch and crossed the dirt yard. In a couple of months, he’d be able to plant grass.
Mathias left his truck and shook Milo's hand. “Hi. I’m Mathias Williamson.”
“Nice to meet you. Milo Buchanan.”
“Milo?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t suppose you’re a teacher.”
“Kindergarten.” He pointed at Mathias. “Are you Caleb’s uncle?”
Mathias laughed. “Yes, I am. Small world.”
“Small town.”
“Well, it seems my sister and Caleb were both impressed by you today.”
“Um…great. I think Caleb had a good first day of school, considering he was thrown into an established group of kids.”
“The first thing he did when he got home was draw a picture of the dog.”
“Frenchie and Caleb got along quite well today.”
Mathias looked at the house. “Wow. This is quite a project you’ve taken on.”
“Yeah. Sometimes I wonder if I bit off too big of a bite. But I’m in it now.”
“Have you been up on the roof?”
“No. I’ll do a lot of things, but getting up there isn’t one of them.”
“Have you noticed any leaks inside?”
“No, and according to the paperwork I’ve been able to dig up, the roof was replaced in the eighties.”
“It probably needs some work then.”
“I figured I should have it checked out before the leaks start. That would be a whole other can of worms to deal with.”
“Yeah. Can we walk around it? I’ll need an access point my ladder can reach.”
“I think the porch in the back will be low enough.”
As they headed around the house, Mathias looked at the windows on the second story. “Are those original windows?”
