Page 8 of Daddy Bear Picnic

“We’re a real community here,” he said. “If you needed it, the entire town would pitch in, even if it meant they could just be nosey, which I will assure you is often payment enough for some of them.”

My mom had warned me the place would be bare bones and the utilities would need to be turned on by whichever company was in charge of that. This was my first house. I’d lived in apartments mostly and never as the person who was in charge of all that stuff. “That sounds—perfect, I guess. So, do you know anything about utilities?”

“Not much of an electrician or plumber, but there are people in town who might.”

“And what about companies? I’m gonna have to get electricity and running water back in the place.”

He nodded. “Good thing about that is you can shop around and get quotes from companies,” he said. “You’ll also want a good insurance, although there doesn’t seem like much to steal in here yet.”

“I’ll have you know, some of my artwork has sold for thousands.” I did a spin in the room. “I can’t wait to have them up on every wall. And—” I coughed as a hit of dust his my throat. “Whoa. That was not what I wanted.”

Elijah walked across the room to the window. He flexed his forearm, the veins practically popping out.”Best way to get the dust out, is to bring some fresh air in. Airing the place out will do it some good.”

We went around the house, opening the windows and bringing in a nice breeze. I’d been working on idea from old photos and a floorplan my mom had found in one of the boxes of my gran’s things. It was worn and stained, but it was a great working point.

In the large front bedroom, after opening the windows and exploring the walk-in closet area, I turned to see Elijah standing in the doorway, resting on the frame with his arm flexed against it while his other was tucked against his chest, still flexed. “I was thinking, you might need some muscle around for heavy lifting,” he said. “I noticed a couple of dressers and bedframes that look like they’re not going to be too useful.”

“The dressers are fine.”

Opening his hand, he revealed one of the round polished knobs from the dresser. “They’re falling apart. I can fix them though.”

I didn’t want to keep giving him work, not that I didn’t want to give him work, but I didn’t want to force him to do things. Even if I wanted him around to explore whatever natural musk he carried with him when he walked. I’d caught it now a handful of times in the enclosed rooms.

“My plan involved getting rid of bedframes anyway, but I wanted to keep some of the older stuff like dressers and wardrobes. Also, getting rid of the couch, assuming it’s still that wicker thing with throw cushions over it.” I shuddered, remembering getting poked and prodded by it every time I sat down. “But I do want to upcycle stuff.”

“I love upcycling stuff.” He threw the knob up and caught it again. “Oh, we should check the boiler. Those things aren’t really all too reliable after a while.”

“You’re not working on commission, are you?”

He laughed. “No way, I’m just trying to anticipate things you might need.”

Oh god. He saw me. Like, he really saw me. I didn’t know the first thing about house stuff. If we were more familiar with each other, I might’ve even allowed myself to regress a little too, because he was acting like a total Daddy.

4. ELIJAH

Arriving at the bed and breakfast, Malcolm was electric with idea, blurting out everything he wanted to do with the house. His excitement was childlike and infectious, I wanted nothing more than to let it embrace me.

I knew what y brother was going to say when I told him all the stuff I’d promised to help Malcolm with. He’d tell me I was doingthat thingagain, although he’d never be able to tell me what it was exactly I was doing, but I was doing it.

“When do you think you’ll be able to start on helping me?” he asked. “I mean, first thing that needs to happen is the grass, and maybe taking the fence down.”

“Ok, firstly, I think you should get a dumpster thing on the lawn where you can just throw all the trash into. Ah, but that goes against the upcycling idea.”

“Well, if the wood is bad, it has to be trashed, right?”

I nodded. Sitting in the car in the drive, my brother was out immediately. “Gladys is here. She brought pie.”

“Jeez, that was quick.”

“I’m gonna write my ideas down and then you can tell me how realistic they sound,” he said. “Since you’re like more knowledgeable than I am, and I don’t want to ruin the house.”

“Sounds great, but I don’t think Gladys is here to see us, she’s here for you.”

“Me?” Like a deer in headlights, he looked scared. “Why?”

“Remember, I told you about people from town being curious. She’s the most curious.” And she’d brought pie. I wasn’t surprised she’d brought pie, but that she’d managed to make it so quickly.

In the house, Gladys was wandering around the dining room, looking over all the pictures in their frames and no doubttrying to see how much dust there was. I introduced her to Malcolm and she straightened her back. “You’re just a kid,” her first words to him.

---