Page 84 of Wild Oblivion

“I’m sorry, I don’t.”

Still bothered, she asked. “That older gentleman… isn’t he a little past his prime for this kind of work?”

“That’s actually my grandfather. He wanted to spend the day at work with me to see what I do. Kind of like a ride-along, I guess.” Then I said aside, “He used to work for the city. It makes him feel good to get back out in the field. It’s important to stay active and connected at his age.”

She finally softened. “That’s so sweet. He’s lucky to have you.”

“I’m lucky to have him.”

She smiled. “Well, thank you. Do you boys need anything to drink? You’ve been working all day.”

“No, thank you. We’re fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Well, I’ll just call James and tell him you’re finishing up.”

44

The woman pulled a phone from her pocket and dialed.

James answered after a few rings. “Hello?”

"James, it's Sally next door," she said with a smile in her voice. "I've been trying to get hold of you all afternoon."

"I saw that you called,” James replied, his voice crackling through the speaker loud enough for me to hear. He sounded tired. "Our flight got delayed, and we just touched down. What’s going on?”

"Well, there's been a work crew at your house all day. I just thought you should know. Something about the sewer line. I'll let you talk to one of the workers." Sally handed the phone to me.

I took the phone and put a smile in my voice. "Hey James, Tim Dalton, public works. We had a problem with the line and wanted to get that taken care of before you started experiencing problems. It could have backed up and flooded theentire house. But we were able to get to it before that happened. Have you been having any trouble with the toilets? Any foul smells coming up through the drains?"

"You know, I called someone three months ago about that and never heard a peep. And now you guys finally show up!?"

I lifted a surprised brow. "Well, you know how the city is. Sometimes tickets get lost. We should be finishing up in a couple of hours. I’ll send the crew back out tomorrow to do a final lookover to make sure everything is in order. When will you be back in town?"

"We were supposed to be here for a week, but my wife’s mother fell. She’s in the hospital, so it looks like we’re heading back tomorrow,” he said with a defeated sigh. “It’s been one of those days.”

"Sorry to hear that.”

"Do you need to get into the house for anything?”

"No, we should be fine," I replied.

"There’s a key under the rock by the pool, and the code is 1515 to the alarm."

James was an overly trusting soul.

"Good to know. If you'd like, I can check all the internal plumbing lines before I leave to make sure there's no backup or sewer overflows. I'd hate for something like that to sit if there is a problem.”

"Thanks. I appreciate that.”

"I'll stay on top of everything and have Sally call you if necessary."

"Thank you."

"My pleasure, James. I hope your wife’s mother is okay."