Helping Hands

As Darren returned home from working at the Gilded Lily, he finally felt that he made the right decision coming to Sacramento. Being as quiet as possible, the doorman made his way up to his room and got into bed, sleeping through past dawn, a rarity for him. When he awoke, Darren felt as fresh as a daisy and after a nice shower, he made his way downstairs for breakfast and to start the work he promised Miss Claire.

Miss Claire looked up from cooking breakfast and gave Darren a large smile.

"Well, good morning dear. I hope you're hungry. Most of the boys had early classes this morning, so it will only be you and I. But they didn't tell me this until after I had already cooked all this food and I would hate to see it go to waste. So, have a seat then and let's eat."

She brought over two large plates of food and set one in front of Darren. She sat next to him at the table, said grace, and motioned for him to dig in.

"Now, I think the first thing that needs to be fixed is the garage door. It keeps getting stuck. I think the motor on it is going bad. Can you replace a garage door motor dear?'

Taking a huge (and satisfying) mouthful of bacon and eggs, Darren chewed like he hadn't eaten for some time before answering.

"If its anything like a car's, Miss Claire, then we should be fine. If not, then I'll take a look anyway and find a way to fix it using some simple ingenuity." He grins before continuing. "And I promise that doesn't involve just hitting it with a hammer and hoping for the best."

After a few more mouthfuls, Darren feels that he has been a bit rude since moving in a decides to find out some more about Miss Claire, feeling it only polite.

"Have you always lived in Sacramento, Miss Claire?"

She nods. "Oh yes, I was born and raised here. Never considered moving. My family has all moved away though. My husband was the last one I had left and now I have his house. Our children live in DC and New York, so they don't come to visit very opften. But I like it here."

She takes a few more mouthfuls before asking him a question in return. "And where were you born, Darren?"

"Honestly, Miss Claire? In the back of a caravan next to the Twelve Bells pub in East London during the great storm of '87." Darren drops his eyes to his plate as he thinks back. "My family were Irish travellers, living wherever they could before being persecuted or spat on." Looking back up towards his landlady, he asks, "I understand if you don't want me here knowing that, some people don't really like us."

Miss Claire quirks an eyebrow. "I don't understand why you would say that. People are people, whatever your family was or is, is nothing to me. I just care about who you are, sir. So far, you've done just fine here."

She finishes her breakfast and stands, picking up her plate. "But I do understand if you're not wanting to talk about it. Are you done there, dear?"

Standing a tad too quickly, Darren catches his legs on the table and knocking some cutlery to the floor. Scurrying to pick them up, he holds them in his meaty hands, replying, "Its no offence, ma'am, its nice to talk to someone decent for a change," before taking them through to the kitchen.

Miss Claire nods as she takes the dishes. "Well thats good. Some of the boys are awful curious about you but I told them not to ask too many questions. It's rude to pry you know. All right, why don't you go into the garage and take a look at that motor while I do the dishes."

If Darren goes into the garage and looks at the motor he will see that one of the belts needs to be replaced and it needs a very good and thorough dusting. Other then that, there is nothing wrong with it.

After ceaning up with Miss Claire, Darren heads out to the garage and takes a look at the door motor, happily noting that it is only in need of a replacement belt as well as a good clean. Putting all his concentration into it in an attempt to help Miss Claire, Darren's tongue unconciously pokes out in the effort of doing a good job.

Darren gets the motor working smoothly before Miss Clair is even done with the dishes.

After the new belt goes swiftly on, Darren gives the motor a quick clean and opens the door to check all is ok before strolling back into the kitchen, wiping his hands on a bit of old blue rag.

"All done," he declares, "just needed a belt replaced and a bit of a spruce. Door opens like a dream now." Smiling at a task well done, Darren continues by asking, "Right, what's next?" knowing that he hasn't got anything planned except hoping to get a couple hours to check on the gym next to the Grindhouse Theatre the student, Michael, had told him about.

Miss Claire looks uo thoughtfully. "Well the shed in the back does need to be cleaned out. A lot of my husband's old tools are stored in there and I just don't have the strength to move them myself. I don't know how many of them are good anymore, but you're welcome to them if they work. I could use the space for my gardening equipment. I could get all of it out of the garage and put it in there instead. It would give the boys some more room to tinker around in there if they need to for any projects."

She finishes up the dishes and wipes her hands on a towel.

"Let's go have a look, shall we?"

She takes him out to the back yard and opens the shed. The place is dusty and filled to near bursting with power tools. It looks like the shed might have been a work room at one point in time, but was now just a place of storage. The "shed" seems just a big large for a simple shed, as Darren looks around. It might have once been a garage for the old house and had been replaced by a new addition Miss Claire now called the garage.

Her eyes light up as an idea comes to her.

"You know Darren, the boys have been asking for a workout room in the house here in the last few months. I was a little loath to give up this place to them since Henry spent a lot of his time here. But, if you cleaned the place out and brought in some equipment, I think it might make a good room for you boys to get all of that extra energy out. What do you think?"

Looking around Darren realizes the place is big enough to use as a small gym if he can get the equipment.

Eyes lighting up with excitment, Darren replies, "That would be a brilliant idea, ma'am, so long as you don't mind at all? I could get started on clearing away Mr. Claire's power tools." His face drops slightly almost in regret in hope he doesn't upset his landlady. "What would you like me to do with your husband's tool? I'm sure they must mean alot."

Miss Claire waves her hand dismissively. "They're tools Darren. Besides, I came to terms with Henry's death a long time ago. I was thinking maybe you could sell them to get the money for that equipment? The stuff you don't need to work around the house, of course."

Looking towards his landlady, Darren takes her hands in his own.

"Thank you, Miss Claire, for everything. You've taken me in, fed me and now this," he says, turning and indicating the old garage. "I'm lost for words, but I will do everything I can to make it up to you, I promise."

Miss Claire laughs, a little embarassed at the tears coming to her eyes. She shakes her head. "Think nothing of it, Darren. You are a nice man who seems to have been delt a lousy hand. Henry would have liked you and insisted that I help you anyway. And, you can help me keep the other boys in line. They get rowdy sometimes, you know."

She pulls her hands away, a blush creeping up her face. "Now, you best get to work. I will be in the house doing the laundry if you need anything."

She walks back toward the house.

(If Darren begins to clean out the shed, I will need a wits + comp roll please)

As Miss Claire returns to the house, Darren watches her disappear and begins on the inside of the shed, being as careful and respectful with Mr Claire's tools as possible. Looking at his watch, Darren has a new energy to him with intentions to work until dinner. Maybe the students will be willing to help when they finish.

As Darren begins to clean out the shed, he feels very peacful here at first. After about an hour, he starts to get the sense that he is being watched. But, since there is a window in the kitchen, he figures maybe Miss Claire is keeping an eye on him. So, he shrugs it off and keeps working. After three hours however, the feeling is so strong he is constantly looking over his shoulder expecting to see someone standing in the doorway staring at him, but everytime he looks there is no one there.

Then, small things start being moved around. He will put a screw driver on a table and turn around to open a tool box. When he turns back around for the screw driver, it is no longer on the table. Instead it is hanging on a hook on the wall. This goes on for a while with just about every small tool Darren picks up and puts back down.

Those fucking students! Darren thinks. They come home early and talk to Miss Claire to find out what I'm up to and decide to play some kind of prank? Well, two can play at this.

Darren quietly leaves the shed, making an over-the-top show of stretching and yawning, and starts to head back up towards the house. However, instead of going through the door, he tries to hide behind a bush and wait for one of the students to show themselves.

[i]Now who's gonna crap their pants?/[i] he chuckles to himself.

Darren waits behind the bush for fifteen minutes and sees no one.

Finally, Miss Claire comes out the back door and looks around. "Darren? Are you out here?" She is carrying a tray with sandwitches and lemonade, looking confused.

Sighing, Darren stands with a smile touching his face.

"Over here, Miss Claire. I was just waiting for the students; they thought they could play with me but the day isn't over yet."

Miss Claire continues to have the confused look on her face as she walks over to the shed and places the tray inside.

"The students have no returned from their classes yet. What do you mean playing with you?"

The smile drains slightly from his face as she tells Darren this.

"Are you sure, Miss Claire? Its just that someone keeps moving Mr Claire's tools everytime I move them."

Miss Claire looks puzzled. "Call me Brenda." She says absently, as she considers Darren's words.

"Well, that is just odd isn't it. You know, this neighborhood does have a number of stray cats. Maybe one of them has snuck into the shed and is miving things. You know how cats can be so sneaky and quiet. Let's have a look."

She enters the shed and begins moving things around, looking behind various equipment in the search for a cat.

After about fifteen minutes or so, the shed still comes up empty.

"Huh, I don't understand it. Something has to be messing with the tools if you say they are being moved."

"As I said, Mis...er, Brenda, I thought it was the guys joking around. Now I think about it, after a while it felt as if someone was watching me, you know?"

Darren hopes she does know, 'cause this was beginning to get to him a bit.

"At first, I felt quite content, tidying out some of the tools, then I thought it was just yourself looking from the kitchen." He slows as he tries to recall. "I don't know, after a few hours it felt like someone was actually in the shed, watching me. Then," indicating to the tools, "as I moved the tools, someone kept moving them back."

He scratches his head, confused.

Brenda thinks about it and looks around. "Well, I have not really spent any time in here since Henry died. Maybe his presence still ingers here? I am sure it will pass. In any event, I brought you lunch. The boys will be home soon and I thought I would send them back here to help when they get in. Would that be ok?"

Darren looks at her with his mouth hanging slightly open. His presence? a ghost! Darren wanted to laugh but looking at the shed made something inside him think that wouldn't go down very well.

"Er, yeah, lunch, sounds good." He walks up towards the house with Miss Claire glancing once over his shoulder and felt a shiver run down his spine.

Miss Claire picks up the tray and walks to the back porch and sets the tray down on the table.

"Well, I wasn't sure what you wanted really, but you looked like maybe you were getting hungry."

She sits and picks up a sandwitch.

After washing his hands, Darren takes a seat next to Miss Claire and eats half of his sandwich in silence.

"So, do you really think your husband is still here, watching after you?"

Miss Claire shurgs. "Who knows? I do not discount it as a possibility. People really know very little about death and what comes after. It was more of a rhetorical statement anyway. I can't see why Henry would stick around when I am sure he has much better things to do with his time."

She chewed a bite of sandwitch thoughtfully, before asking. "Why? Do you think the shed is haunted Darren?"

Darren laughed out loud, the final bit of chill leaving his body.

"Maybe, Brenda, maybe," he replies. "I'm not big on ghosts and goblins but if they believe in me then I suppose its only fair the other way around."

Finishing his lunch, Darren stands and rubs his hands together, smiling towards Miss Claire. "Well, ma'am, if you excuse me, I have a shed to clean out," he says, determination written on his face as he strides towards the shed.

Haunted indeed. Lets see, shall we.

After a short time, the boys come home and begin to help Darren finish the shed. With all four boys helping, it doesn't take any time at all to get the place cleaned out. But Darren does not feel the sense of being watched again.

Satisfied with a job well done, Darren thanks the rest of the guys for there help before going back inside the house to get cleaned up. After going through the tools, he decides to keep some of the tools that Brenda is missing from her own toolbox.

"So, guys, know anywhere I can sell these tools. Miss Claire said we can make the old shed into a gym, which would be handy. Save us some money in paying for some public gym. What d'you think?"

Joe nods, looking at the tools. "I think that would be a great idea. Some of these don't look like they've ever been used. A friend of mine's dad own a construction company, let me see if I can swing a few bucks out of him."

"Nice one, Joe. Do you mind, anything will do, just so we can get some half-decent equipment to chuck in the gym." Smiling, Darren continues,"I just wanna get a punchbag to start, but some freeweights would be cool too."

As he finishes he takes out his phone to send a text.

"Better check if I'm needed at work first, before I start losing all my time in this," he says, chuckling.