Lexie's Last Resort

Exploring 1

Sam was off to check out the other buildings in town. First stop, the General Store to see if there was anything that would help with the drainage issue in the Saloon. Maybe some form of hose or tubing. Otherwise she would have to get some in from the next town, when they went for gas and supplies, which she would have to do sooner than she had planned. Being without electricity was a bit more of a hardship than Sam had anticipated, too. It was going to be tough, but it would be a real life learning experience for both herself and Lexie. Lexie and she were already bonding over learning how to pump and boil water and gather wood. The outhouse had been an experience for both of them, as well. That issue was not necessarily bringing Lexie closer, though. She was absolutely appalled and protesting, on that front. Indoor plumbing was something they both really wanted to get fixed. In that sense they had bonded over it, but Lexie blamed it all on Sam, so it was a bit of a sticky-wicket.

At the door, to the General Store, Sam noted that the windows had dark green curtains and that there was a sign for haircuts in one of them. That was interesting in her opinion. She unlocked the door and stagnant air smacked her in the face as she opened both doors wide. Leaving them open to cough her way in a few steps, she was able to see nothing. It was really dark. She slid carefully across to where she thought one of the windows would be and opened the curtains all the way. Then she moved to the opposite window and repeated the process. Coughing up more dust in the process she assessed the newly lit room. There was an oppressive feeling here that there had not been in the Saloon. There was just nothing but shelves of hardware and things you’d expect to see in a General Store. But as she moved closer to the counter Sam noticed something that was completely out of place. An old electric cash register from the 1970s or 1980s and that meant there had to be power here! What a discovery! She searched the wall by the front door again and sure enough there was a light switch. She almost skipped over to see if it would work. Fluorescents, she hadn’t at first noticed lining the middle of the store, whined and beamed on. She took another more thorough look around the room and noticed some non-perishable items on the shelves that were clearly much more recent than the 1800s the exterior of the building suggested.

Going behind the counter there were two doors one to the right and one to the left. She chose the right one first, because ‘you always want to be right.’ She came into a fully plumbed barbershop parlor. There were three sinks with three tall wide mirrors behind them and three dark green leather chairs in front of them all along the wall that would back up to the left room. There were also two shoe-shine chairs along the window wall of this backside of the General Store. At the end of the room there appeared to be a separate entrance into this barber shop. There also appeared to be a door heading into that left side of the building. Sam decided to see where that door led.

It led up a set of stairs. There was no connection to the store from here and she would have to go investigate that in a bit. But she was curious to see what was above the barber shop. It turned out to be an entire two bedroom apartment. It covered the entire length of the building. It must have been an addition in the 1980s. The décor indicated its age. It came complete with an indoor plumbed bathroom, with a shower-tub. Sam’s relief, at this, was immediate and she couldn’t wait to go back and tell Lexie about the bathroom.

She just needed to know what was in the room on the left under the stairs. So she left the upstairs apartment and headed back through the barber shop, to the General Store back room. She headed determinedly, to the door, but before she reached the handle, she felt a distinct shove away from the door. This held Sam up short. She assessed the room. There was nothing out of place and no one, but Sam was in the space, so she said to the room, "I do not see you, but I felt your presence. I understand that you would like this room to be off limits. This property belongs to me and Lexie now. We will be around. I can tell you that we will be respectful, of you, if you will us. I will leave this door closed, for now, but I will be back, at some point, to assess the room beyond. Please let me know if the apartment above is okay for us, by making a knock once for yes or twice for no." The knock that came was so loud and close, she jumped. "Thank you. See you later then, friend!" With that, Sam skirted the counter and ran back to the Saloon to let Lexie know the good news about the upstairs indoor plumbing! Sam let Lexie know the downstairs General Store back room was off limits until she had a chance to get in there. She omitted the part about the spirit guarding the room because it would only freak her daughter out. Lexie was thrilled to know she could get a real shower! Sam still wanted to boil the water from the well for drinking and cooking to be sure they didn't consume any parasites. Lexie wasn't big on the chore, but was quickly terrified, of the consequences, so she acquiesced.

One thing Lexie had inherited from her very disconnected father, was a real sense of worry and fear. Lexie took things very seriously from a very early age. Sam had learned that making clear all the consequences, of an unpermitted action would help Lexie to toe the line. This worked a majority of the time, except when worry overrode normal reason, as happened now. The fear and worry over parasites, now consumed the teenage mind and she refused to bathe in the water from the tap. Sam really got easily irritated by this fear, but knew she had brought it on herself by making things a bit too plain. Now her baby girl was in a super tizzy. Sam worked to compromise with her daughter, that showering instead of bathing wouldn't hurt, but Lexie wouldn't be convinced. So Sam agreed, she could use the freshly boiled water, if she kept up with making sure there was plenty for meal times, after a bath. This calmed Lexie considerably.

Just being able to use a real bathroom was a luxury they weren't expecting and it relaxed them both. After both had been in the apartment and the General Store, building for a while, they were happy to head back, to the Saloon, though. They agreed there was an unfriendly vibe in the whole place. They would continue to live in the Saloon and just use the modern conveniences above the barber shop when necessary. The electricity there came in handy, too. Now the generator could be used for other things like heat instead of charging phones and laptops. They worked out that, when they were over to wash and use the facilities, the girls would plug in and charge up, so by the time they were finished with the bathroom, their phone or laptop would be charged, too.

Sam did locate some hose and a shovel, to use in the bar to make a sink for doing dishes and draining it off. She was still wondering at how pristine the Saloon seemed compared to the General Store, which looked much more recently used and yet much more musty and unkempt.

Sam walked back into the Saloon determined to figure out a way to drain in the bar and have it be her permanent kitchen. As she entered the bar she noticed a wooden panel out of place on the lower countertop. She lifted the wood away and inset in the bar was a plumbed basin sink. There weren’t any faucets for running water but she could drain out of the bar without having to damage any of the beautiful wood. Sam move to the furthest north corner cabinet below the drink rack and the cabinet seemed to be a cooler so she emptied the perishables from her portable cooler into the cabinet. She drained all the water that was no longer ice from her portable cooler into the sink basin and listened to it drain down, unimpeded. She smiled wide. Life just got so much easier. She spoke to the bar at large, “Thank you, Bar Keep.” She leaned the bar top panel against the wall and began looking through every cabinet to see the kind of storage and any other wonders she might find. There wasn’t anything else of note so she pulled her cooler out of the sink and headed for the front door. She went to her car to load the cooler, for when they went shopping again.