Starting from Scratch Ch. 01

The sun was setting behind the mountains casting in dynamic shades of pinks and reds while the valley was cast in hues of dark purples. They turned off the road onto Margaret's private drive and drove for another two thousand feet before they came to her house. It was a largely white country home with a large front porch, and a small back porch, and looked like something he would have found back home in Florida or Alabama. Not colonial, but something pretty damn close.

"Come on," Margaret called as she hopped out of her truck, "We'll need to take all the food in tonight, or the critters will get into it. After that, we can park the truck in the barn and unload it tomorrow."

Parking his motorcycle, Thomas walked over and helped Margaret for the next thirty minutes as they unloaded the food and put it all away in the freezers or refrigerator. Afterward, Margaret escorted him to the barn where she showed him how everything worked, what his chores would be, and what she expected of him. She parked the truck in the barn, and then they headed to the house. This time she led him inside via the back porch.

"Okay Thomas," Margaret said as she led the way up to the screen door, pulled it open, went inside, and waited for me to follow onto the porch, "I will only say this once, and God, for your sake I hope you get this faster than my late husband did. The back porch is the mud room. After a long hot sweaty day mucking out stalls, you do not walk into my house with nasty dung-covered boots and dirty, muddy, sweat-soaked clothes."

Her words were accompanied by a look that said bad things would happen to him should he ever break this rule. Then she gestured to two doors that entered the house, "From here, as you can see, there are two doors. The one to the left goes to the breakfast nook and from there the kitchen. After early morning chores, you may take your boots off and come in here for breakfast. The door to the right leads straight to the bathroom. Just inside are hampers for dirty clothes. After working all day you will shed everything here, toss your clothes in the hamper, and then take a bath before you come into my home. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," Thomas answered with a confirming nod.

"Good," Margaret replied with a smirk edging on a smile.

Turning away she led the way into the house and headed to the bathroom. There was a short hallway with the utility room off of it where the washer and dryer were, and at the end was the bathroom. It was simple enough with a vanity, a linen closet, double sinks, a toilet closet, and a bathtub.

"This is the bathroom. Simple enough," Margaret said as she looked around and then led Thomas out and into a hallway, "A few years after we moved out here, we decided we needed more than just a bathtub to soak in after a long hard day."

Margaret opened another door and walked through as she continued, "So we had an addition added on to the house. We bought one of those ten-foot diameter water troughs used for watering cows, and we set it up in this room as a large heated soaking tub."

It was true. The room was built like a large bath house with bamboo floors, cedar paneled walls, and a large cut-out where the three-foot-tall ten-foot diameter water trough was sunk into the floor.

"Nice," Thomas said, truly impressed.

Margaret smiled and then pointed as she said, "The room is set up like a Japanese bathing room. There is an open show where you can wash up and rinse off before getting into the bath, and then there is the linens opposite of the shower on the other side of the door."

Leading him on a tour of the house, she showed Thomas her room and then the four guest rooms.

"Pick whichever room you wish," Margaret offered once the tour was over.

Thomas picked the room closest to Margaret's room since it had a breathtaking view of the mountains. Afterward, Margaret led him to the living room and showed him the dining room, and the kitchen. Once the tour was over, Thomas left to go take a shower while Margaret made dinner.

He used the small bathroom, which he now called it, in comparison to the bathing room. It was only once he was done that he realized he didn't have any clothes except his worn-out and dirty tweed suit. Embarrassed, he walked in shame with a towel wrapped around his nudity back to his room only to find five pairs of jeans, five shirts, five t-shirts, five pairs of socks, and Margaret very carefully setting a belt on his bed.

She looked up at him, and for the first time in his life, he felt what it was like to be ogled. Margaret looked him up and down and then back up with an unreadable smirk and said, "I thought some of my husband's old clothes might fit you, and now that I see you... Yes, I think these will fit you fine."

"Thank you, Margaret," Thomas replied with a near bow while clutching at his towel to keep it from falling to the floor, "You have done so much for me already, I deeply appreciate it."

"Don't worry," She purred as she walked by him and out of the room. She paused at the door and again looked him up and down before continuing, "You're gonna earn every penny of it. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes."

With that, she was gone.