Vamp-Hire by Gerald Dean Rice Read Free Book Online Page B

Pop-Pop.
    He didn’t know how the man had gotten the
impression he was the help and it seemed the perfect opportunity to
be near his actual home. Nick nodded, then headed toward the
wheelbarrow of bricks a dozen or so feet away. He dumped his duffle
bag on top of it, then grabbed the handles and began circling
around the house.
    Once he was in back he found men around a
flattened section of bare land. They had begun putting in sections
of brick and what looked like the beginnings of a patio.
    This further angered Nick even though he
could see once finished it would be very complimentary to the
house. He came to the realization he didn’t like change, although
he had such little memory of anything at all, just about everything
was change.
    A sweaty olive-skinned man with a mop of
black hair and scruffy beard came up to him and nodded, digging
into the wheelbarrow with both hands and taking the bricks over to
one of the other men. It was unseasonably warm for this late in
autumn and a day primed for doing outside work.
    Nick could have easily walked away unnoticed,
but he realized he wanted to be here. Even though the work upset
him, he felt it was important somehow to be a part of it. He pushed
the wheelbarrow over to the two men laying down brick and began
helping them. After an hour or so there was a huge walkable section
of patio and it would certainly look nice once it was
completed.
    Someone came around and passed around bottles
of water and Nick did what some of the other men did, taking a deep
swig of water before pouring the rest of it over his head.
    After a half hour or so someone else tapped
him on the shoulder and pointed over his head.
    “Ed fell off the roof,” the man said. “I need
you up there more than down here.”
    Nick turned for the nearest ladder and made
his way up. He picked up a claw hammer and studied what a man
nearby was doing, tearing off shingles and exposing the wood
underneath. After a moment he thought he had a basic idea of what
to do and followed suit.
    They broke for lunch a few hours later, a man
coming by, tossing sandwiches and bottles of water to everyone.
Nick sat on the porch with three men who didn’t speak English and
ate his in silence. It didn’t taste like anything to him and he
suspected even if his taste buds were working properly it wouldn’t
have. The mouth-feel of bread and meat with what he supposed was
mustard was tolerable and his stomach didn’t object to it.
    He spotted the tall, older guy who had
slapped him on the shoulder earlier, talking to someone and
pointing at the house. Based on Phoebe’s messages, she hadn’t
wanted any of this work done. She had been very apologetic in the
voicemail, respecting the agreement she and Nick had made. From the
very start he had pegged her for someone who always followed the
rules and thought that would make for easy going between them.
    Nick didn’t blame her for any of the work
Pop-Pop had begun on the house, especially considering he was now
participating in it. He figured they would have to get into some
kind of conversation about what was going on. He hadn’t figured out
how that was going to happen yet.
    Phoebe usually came home around six. He snuck
a peek at his phone and saw it was one-thirty. He hadn’t seen
anyone go in the house, but wondered if there was work going on
inside as well. He concentrated on the old man, trying to listen to
what he was saying. Surprisingly, he could.
    “I need to have this all done by
five-thirty,” the older man was saying. “I want that egress window
done. These guys are done with lunch, get somebody in the basement
now.”
    The other man nodded, then headed in Nick’s
direction.
    “Necesito a alguien que trabaje en el
sótano.”
    “Uhh,” Nick said. He was what people would
have described as olive-skinned and could have been easily mistaken
for a multitude of nationalities. Since he was sitting next to a
Mexican man, the man Pop-Pop had been speaking to must have