Chapter 37 - Life

With the truck trundling along over the bumpy roads, Cam held onto the door handle as they hit pothole after pothole.

“Good grief, this road needs some work.” She laughed.

Concentrating on trying to avoid the bigger holes, Lucy grinned back. “Yeah, not my speciality, but maybe the new owners will fix it up.”

Cam gazed out of the window at the beauty of it all: trees from root to tip, all stretching towards the sky, and the sunlight that flitted between the leaves and branches made the entire place feel magical. Running alongside was the small creek for which the road was named, sunlight glistening on its surface. Untouched, it really was just enchanting, and she found herself wanting to jump out and explore it all.

“I’m glad I came over. This is nice.” Cam spoke quietly. “We haven’t had much time to catch up.”

“True. I like it when you and the gang visit.”

Cam laughed; it certainly was a gang when they all arrived. “We do tend to travel in a pack.”

“I love this place for its peaceful and quiet existence. You know, for years it was what kept me comfortable, but now, things are different,” Lucy said, eluding to the years she spent hiding from the world and keeping herself to herself. “Now, it’s nice to have people visit, to have friends.”

“I think we will probably visit more often now we have the kids. We both love it here,” Cam agreed. “When I arrived in LA and started to build a life there, I could never see myself living anywhere else, but here…I dunno, it’s…there’s just something about it, isn’t there?”

“Yeah. I came here to escape, but I can’t see myself ever leaving now. This is home for me.”

As they rounded the bend, a large building came into view, a big wooden and stone structure that looked like something out of the Gold Rush era.

“Wow, it’s gorgeous!” Cam exclaimed. “I was thinking it would be like an old windmill like we have back home.”

“Yeah, it’s something else, right?”

Cam jumped out of the vehicle as soon as they came to a stop. She looked around and took in the view of the lake in the distance. Up close, she could see how much work the building needed, but the stonework, which was the foundation of the building, looked pretty solid. Some of the wooden planks needed replacing, and a couple of windows needed some new glass, but the place was inspiring.

Lucy pulled some keys out of her pocket and opened the large door, its hinges creaking as she pushed the heavy wood that dragged along the floor.

“Job one, re-hang this door and oil the hinges.” She laughed as Cam passed her and entered the building.

It was a large open space, almost like a warehouse. Any mechanical elements had long gone, and the space was empty, other than the supporting struts that held the upper floor in place. Though it was dusty and in need of a good sweep, it occurred to Cam that this would have been a glorious sight in its day.

“Right, let’s get to work.” Lucy grinned, tossing an electronic tape measure at Cam.

“Okay, Boss. Tell me what you need and I’m there.”

“Switch that on, point at one side, and then line the laser up with the opposite wall. The distance will flash up on the screen. Jot that down on here.” She handed Cam a notebook already with the page turned over to one that had a basic layout of the building drawn out. “Once we’ve done that, we can add any areas of work to the drawing with a little star marking, and a note below,” she explained, pointing to each element as she talked.

“I wonder what will come of it?” Cam asked as they made their way around the building, floor by floor. With three in total, plus the extended part of the building that had been added on towards the back end, there was so much potential for anyone with some imagination.

Lucy shrugged. “To be honest, I think anyone who buys this is buying the land and will knock this old building down and build something new. I told the owner that, but he still thinks it’s worth doing the work and hoping that it will be enough to encourage someone to work with it.”

“Yeah, I hope so. Would be a shame to lose such history from the area. I bet there are loads of stories about this place.”

Lucy checked over her notes and added any final comments. “Well, we will have to wait and see. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to bring it back to life.”