Out of the Frying Pan

Uncle Hayes at the Campbell Mansion, Part 14

I figured the front room and the dining room would take most of my time. The butler’s and cook’s quarters would be the easiest and the parlor wouldn’t be so bad. The kitchen, I thought, is always the hardest, and this one is no exception. It needs new tile and the pantry with all the shelves need painting, not to mention pulling out the stove and refrigerator and replacing the kitchen sink.

After my new curtains were hung, I got back over to the main house at about one-thirty and started cleaning and patching holes in the walls. I took down the doors and removed all the switch and plug plates. While I was working, I made a mental list of other tasks that would come next.

The windows on the first floor were a bit bigger than the ones upstairs but still had sixteen panes of glass in each one. Painting each of the little wood pieces between the glass is always a chore in itself. So far the window putty looked good, not cracked or missing, but that would have to wait until I was working outside.

All of the rest of the trim was stained wood and varnish except for the windows themselves, they were white. The floor in the front room was nice, needing just some light sanding and the only part that was going to take any time was around the fireplace. Ash has a way of staining about anything, even with a large hearth.

The dark oak trim that went up to meet the mantle was nice. I wondered if it was a mirror or a painting that hung above it at one time. I could see the ouline that was left by something.

The bathroom that was off the front room would be simple. Its floor was tile and had tile up the walls halfway. The toilet, pedestal sink, glass towel bar and the mirror with lights on either side were fine but there was some patching needed. They must have been big believers in pictures.

I decided to come back the next day and start sanding. I guessed that the front rooms were more for show since they were kept in much better condition than the upstairs rooms had been. It might not take as long as I thought.

It was starting to get late and I was tired, probably because I hadn’t had enough sleep because of that dang haint. Oh well, I’ll just clean up my tools and come back tomorrow for another day. I decided to leave the lights on where I’d been working but shut them off in the kitchen. First, though, I used the kitchen sink to clean my tools, after all I had to replace that sink anyway. I figured I'd just go out the back door when I was ready to leave.

While I was there in the kitchen, I had an idea. Tomorrow I’ll bring my radio over here and turn it on while I’m working. The background noise will help me to keep my mind on what I’m doing instead of thinking about some haint. Why didn’t I think of that before? I decided that the next time I went to town, I’d get me a new radio to use in the garage apartment and keep my old Philco over at the main house to use. Now I feel better about the whole thing.

Back at the apartment, I turned the radio on and read my newspaper while I ate, then went directly to bed. No haint-watching tonight, I’m too tired. It was around nine-thirty.

As soon as I laid down, I couldn’t help it, I started thinking about the haint. Dangit, I couldn’t go to sleep until I at least looked – curtains or not.

...To be continued...