As promised, Gus & Bobby arrived first thing and got straight to work upstairs; I continued with the front hall. I cannot begin to tell you how much I despise wallpaper! I should say old wallpaper. The modern stuff slides off the wall with a little steam, but his early 20th century stuff is impossible! What did they use to hang it? There is no way that wallpaper paste is still this adhesive after nearly 100 years. Super Glue has nothing on this stuff. I scored and scored, and steamed, brushed on solvents, you name it. This stuff just wasn’t going to budge.
Hands covered in blisters, I decided to pack it up early. Mostly because I was ready to tear down the walls, paper and all, but partly so I had an excuse to shower over at Logan’s one more time. As I was about to open the kitchen door, Emma called to see if I was up for dinner and drinks. We agreed on 5 o’clock at the Lock 33 Tavern so we could grab the early bird special.
Logan was still out on the water, so I decided on a good long shower. Fully aware of the fact that though my next bath would be in a new (to me) fully operational tub, it would be in a neglected old bathroom with peeling plaster and broken tiles; I proceeded to savor every moment in the bright clean bathroom. Emerging after a solid 45 minutes, I found Logan unloading the last of his passengers for the day.
“You are early today.”
“Am I?” I replied as coyly as I am capable, which isn’t very.
“You normally show up closer to dinner time,” he said with his Cheshire grin.
“Are you implying that I am a shower & meal mooch?” I feigned offense.
“I’m not implying”, he shot back with a wink.
“I’m meeting Emma across at the tavern at 5, so I had to change things up today.”
“Girls’ night?”
“S’pose so.”
“Enjoy. I’ll see you at ‘shower-time’ tomorrow”, he said as he went in to hoist the boats for the night. I started to tell him about my new bath, but decided to wait just in case Gus and Bobby needed more time.