What Nobody Saw: Day 13

Word Count: 78,012

Summary of Events:

Walker took the Schissler siblings to his house and showed them the mail, which Frederick confirmed was all from Mrs. Schissler's parents and siblings, and must've been hidden away by their father so as to cut her off from her family. Frederick arranged to meet Mrs. Schissler for lunch to ask her about the mail and told Walker to keep the mail until he called with her answer; while Walker waited for news he and his coworkers started work on drywalling the house now that all the electrical, plumbing, and heating work was done . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Outside of communicating measurements and transfers of materials and tools, Walker and Jay worked in silence, hanging the drywall until they’d completed the area they’d been working on and moved to the next one, hauling as many sheets of drywall as they needed inside from the garage as they went, transitioning onto the main floor, starting from the stair wall and working in a clockwise fashion around the entry and coat closet before putting up the entire ceiling and continuing around the walls and into the kitchen, where they did the common wall with the living room before putting up the ceiling and then continuing with the walls, leaving the back entry to be done later.

They’d just placed the first piece of drywall onto the stairs heading down to the lower main level or upper basement — Walker wasn’t sure if there was a technical term for such a floor — when they heard the front door open.

Once the sheet was secure enough that Walker could let go he headed to the door and found Vance surveying the interior.

“You guys have gotten pretty far,” he said. “Where are the others?”

“Jay’s finishing the sheet and Finnegan’s mudding,” Walker replied.

Vance nodded and followed Walker back to the kitchen, where he was impressed by the progress still.

“How much of this have you done since lunch?” Vance asked.

“The main floor, plus a bit of the upstairs,” Walker replied.

“Not bad,” Vance said.

“How’re Marty and Xan doing?” Jay asked, continuing to measure the wall, writing down measurements on the nearest stud.

“Good,” Vance said, although his tone and expression suggested not good enough.

“You don’t sound convinced,” Jay said, not looking.

“They’re making progress,” Vance said. “It’s just they’re not exactly outpacing any turtles here.”

“Slow and steady wins the race,” Jay said.

“Tell the customer that when the bill’s five grand more than they were quoted,” Vance muttered.

“True,” Jay said.

“Especially when there aren’t really any legitimate delays in the project,” Vance said.

“Problematic indeed,” Jay said.

“It’s nice to see people getting stuff done,” Vance said.

“Glad we can be of service,” Jay said. “Ready for me to read ‘em off kid?”

Walker went over to the small stack of drywall nearby and knelt on the top piece, pencil and tape measure ready.

“Give it to him,” Vance said.

Walker measured and marked as Jay hollered the numbers; he then called it all back to Jay to confirm before using a straight-edge level to mark the important lines to fit along the stairs and such, after which he scored and snapped the shapes.

Vance helped Walker lift the drywall into place and Jay started screwing it in place before cutting out the light box to control the kitchen/dining room lights, as well as lights for the flight of stairs and the basement hallway — based on where the wires trailed.