The Drip, a novel by Michael Gullo
“I see what you did there, kids. No walk up this morning.”
“Figured we’d get started and catch up when you came down.”
“Devin, you’re a thinking man. But your pay scale don’t include making the homeowner walk all the way past the pond and down the hill all alone with the bears and Bobcats and stuff.”
“Why carry a gun everywhere if yer gonna be scared?”
“Cody signs in with the jab. Rusty? You got any smart mouth looking for a workshop?”
“Nope.”
“Me, neither.”
“Tanner volunteers refusal.”
“So here’s the day’s bullet. Rusty and Cody, you’re on the wrench. How’s that going?”
“Yeah, we went a little overboard, and lucky we did. There was some water in there. Had to bar and blow it a few times, but we got it cleaned up.”
“Gahhllee, bossman, you gave him the easy job. I had to take that whole back cage off and get all the muck out the engine bay, off the fan, the belts and clean every pulley. The battery got me worst. Smashed my finger getting it out.”
“Buddy, are you okay?”
“It’s fine.”
“We have a doctor. She’ll come look at it.”
“Nope. Just a loose nail.”
“Okay. Option’s yours. And – I didn’t assign the cleanup steps. That was you guys. I’m the homeowner, you’re the boss.”
“Not how it looks from here.”
“That’s your imagination.”
“Yeah, right. So we’re about to start her up in a few. Changed the oil, changed every filter. It’s like a brand new machine.”
“It is a brand new machine. Try and remember all of that detail in your invoice this week, Cody.”
“Yeah, do you want to try and start it?”
“Is it ready?”
“I think so.”
“Then crank it up, buddy.”
“Nothing?”
“Gahhllee, I didn’t connect the battery.”
“Bummer. Check it all. Keep me posted. Tanner and Devin you’re with me.”
“So, do we need any tools?”
“You left all the wire work tools in the shed, so probably not.”
“That mud hole sort of filled in where the machine was in it.”
“It’s neat, actually. Like we said the other day, when that sets up it will be like concrete. I’ll actually have to run some heavy mulch in there, or it’ll channel out in the rain.”
“Convenient – we have to cut all those trees we piled dirt onto.”
“The Gum trees might live actually. Those are some freaky trees. All those Poplars are history though.”
“Why the Gum trees live?”
“They selected for this. Bottomland silts them in and the occasional flood, and they get filled in a lot. They just grow new roots out of the trunk, and keep on truckin’.”
“Learn something new every day.”
“That’s the job in a cliché.”
“So, what are we doing today?”
“Right now I’m walking past these solar arrays and making sure all the clamps are in place, watching the horizon for bears, then I’m going to ask, did you make up all of the disconnects?”
“Yes. I got that finished, and I landed this end completely. Panels are ready.”
“I know the shed side isn’t done yet because I haven’t seen you in my home, and I don’t think you fit behind the chair to hide.”
“So, we need to land the shed side, but it’s ready. I’m just waiting for the go-ahead.”
“The instinct is perfect – Look out, Kitty. We’re coming in.”
“She wants out?”
“Yup, watch this --- so it’s my turn with the install, but it’s your turn to learn.”
“Battery time?”
“Yup, and if we can get it assembled before the others gain, we might be close to balanced. For now, draw me a sketch of the twelve – too bad sixteen didn’t fit.”
“Got any paper?”
“So happy you asked. This is your notebook. You need one. This is a big job that’s gonna last a long time. We’re going to do thousands of things, and you need to take notes. First note, cat hates outside right now.”
“That’s the most pathetic face I’ve ever seen – and the peep. She’s got more drama than you do.”
“That’s not pathetic. Look at those eyes. She’s Batman posing for the movie poster and she’s not pleased with the Riddler left her outside alone right now.”
“So, you just had that ready for me? Did you cue up the cat too?”
“I never stop thinking about it, Tanner.”
“I’m starting to get that. It’s starting to happen. I was up all night last night thinking about the skid.”
“Up all night. That’s not the same as never stop thinking about it. That’s stress. Stress will yank that stool right out from under you. The secret is complementary hobbies.”
“How do you get a complementary hobby for Rusty and Cody?”
“Besides the obvious, what’s stressful about them?”
“They take off for lunch every day on their own for one thing, but right now it’s mostly Rusty.”
“Don’t leave me room to speak --- I did notice he wasn’t making eye contact today though, and he’s quiet-ish.”
“He’s got home problems.”
“Take the floor, Tanner. No need to leave me a turn.”
“Right. So, um.”
“Secret. Got it.”
“Yeah. He’s got home troubles. I guess DCS is involved. He’s been staying at his brother’s house, and somehow a home visit was scheduled, and he has a week to get moved into a place where the girls have their own room.”
“Does he know how serious that is?”
“I think he does. He’s ate up. He doesn’t have two thousand dollars to get an apartment fast enough, and he wanted to know if we have anything in the operating budget, and we don’t because Cody voted to take the full twenty per hour.”
“Lessons learned are super, but this one isn’t a lesson; this is the State, having learned its lesson, protecting the endangered kids with equal measure that they protect the ones that only appear endangered next to the measuring stick.”
“I’m surprised he’s even working.”
“What else can he do? And that’s the surest sign that we need to find a way to get him to fess up to me so I can get on top of this.”
“He won’t do it.”
“He has to. I watched DCS take kids all my life at that daycare center. You’ve never seen such agony. I’m not saying DCS is wrong. That’s not my place. There’s real pain out there that you and I can only imagine because we can read words, but to take breaths in some of that pain is more than I ever wish to know.”
“Probably won…”
“I don’t want to shut you down, but that machine just cranked up, and even if Rusty don’t feel the joy right now, Cody will no doubt be in that machine and heading this way with it to show off. The goal. The only goal. Think hard and only positive. The goal is to get Rusty into this conversation so that you don’t have to get caught betraying his confidence. I won’t break your trust unless I have to – but know that I have to, and let’s figure this out. I will give him that money if I have to hock the Hummer, and I intend to have it in his hands within the hour.”
“Maybe – I mean it’s not that secret. As long as it’s me that tells him that I had to tell you. I think he’d just be relieved.”
“Now you’re talking.”