Jeremy doesn’t even think to tell Ben and Lois about his arrival, until he has joined them at Otherwise. Of course, he may have correctly deduced that Emily would, right away. But Ben supposes that his son has always had a project-oriented mind, and was simply focused on the next task, then the one after that. For example, Jeremy barely has his bags unpacked before he convinces everyone of an idea that others first initiated, which is that they move all the farm equipment to one side of the spacious barn and clean it out, to use as a clubhouse or possibly even a display space. Then he pitches in and leads the troops on a cleanup mission.
Or so it seems to Ben, anyway. He admittedly has his hands full getting up to speed here, first in meeting Harry Kidwell and learning everything he needs to know from a business standpoint – which isn’t much – and then a much more informative kitchen walk through he and Lois undertake, with the informative and competent seeming if not exactly cheerful Chef Jen. It is a surprisingly clean and modern looking kitchen, with concrete floors, the fashionable white tile walls in most places, and brand-new equipment where needed. Among the few exceptions held over from its previous incarnation are an old iron stove and an Italian brick oven. There is one weird stain on the floor, in the back of the kitchen, near this reach-in cooler, which is neon green and brown, in alternating swirls, or more accurately that the brown is atop the green, resembling maybe a little bit of mud mixed in with antifreeze. Kidwell says they soaped and scrubbed the hell out of it, though nothing seemed to work, but that they can paint or treat the floor if Ben and Lois like.
Kidwell is tinkering with the idea of a small menu for visitors, one day a week during tours, which will probably end up being Saturdays. Aside from that, paying residents get their three meals a day for free, and non-alcoholic beverages, too, but otherwise are on their own nickel. As for the current staff of five, plus Grace, Harry says that if they’re meticulous enough about their bookkeeping, then he is fine with just letting them eat whatever they want.
After he leaves to inspect the barn cleanup efforts, and they’ve learned the lay of the land from Jen, Ben and Lois knuckle down to unpacking their boxes, and carving out their niches here. Which spaces to operate in, and who will be doing what. Jen says she is totally fine with creating menus and making food all day, admits she doesn’t mind avoiding interaction with the residents and especially any visitors. And this suits Ben to a tee, he knows Lois feels the same as well. Based upon what little they’ve seen today, it’s obvious Jen knows her way around a kitchen, and is coming up with some amazing looking, slightly rustic but trendy, back-to-earth type concoctions. If all the Ados must do is handle the business end, interface with the public, and lend a hand executing the meals, then this could really wind up being a plum gig.
Actually, it already seems like a plum gig. As he’s unpacking one box – conveniently among those they’d not yet deconstructed back at the house – which contains a personalized knives set he loves but probably won’t need much, Ben looks out the trio of windows, situated high above the sink, thinking about their incredible luck in landing this. It feels like just the right amount of work to keep them busy all day, but not killing themselves, and, more importantly, no longer stressing over whether a lease or electric bill will get paid for their own declining business.
These windows are too high to see anything but sky from here, but it provides some wonderful, mood enhancing light, even on such a gloomy day as this. Nothing could really interfere with his good cheer today, anyway, not even Lenny’s shattered legs. He and Lois had done their homework, of course, checked out everything they could about this Harry Kidwell. Everything they read seemed to indicate that he was, while a bit of a goofball (those with money are usually termed eccentric, and this certainly applied to him), also a highly successful businessman, well-known throughout this Stokely region. He had suffered some failed enterprises, of course, but if anything, the biggest knock against him is that he’s apparently obsessed with making a buck, leading some to speculate that his aw-shucks charm must be some sort of act.
Well, Ben doesn’t care any about this, so long as they can make this particular enterprise work. Well, and naturally, so long as they are paid. He seriously doubts this will prove a problem, however. As Lois tells him she’s heading up to their room to unpack some things there, he nods and starts in on another box himself, this one containing business related materials. They weren’t quite sure what all they’d need here, nor how often they would return to Jenson, and therefore had packed ledgers, stamps, an adding machine, an accounting program for the computer, and really just about anything they were using in their office at the ice cream stand.
The one here is a little more cramped, but that only makes it all the more cozy. Ben can’t quite explain it, but he already loves being in this office, even though it never seems to get all that warm. Something to do with soft yellow overhead light, maybe. There are two desks in here, or more accurately one somewhat large, battle scarred wooden desk, which faces the doorway, and this other improvised setup beside it, a pair of shelves along one wall which are crammed with papers and a computer rig, some filing cabinets beneath. The lower shelf sits at a level reachable by chair. Harry explained that the previous kitchen manager for some reason didn’t want the computer on his own desk, but they can of course move it if they like. Otherwise, there are stacks of old paperwork filled boxes lining the left wall – if facing forward from his desk, permitting just enough of a path between here and the doorway – and there is nothing behind him, unless counting a pinned calendar, the whiteboard beside it. If seated at the desk, he can just barely make out one corner of the service counter, a little more were he to lean over to the left and crane his neck.
It’s just snug enough, without feeling cramped. That office at the ice cream stand was always a little too spacious, and dingy no matter how well they lit it. He will probably move the computer back over to this desk, as Harry suggested. The only thing he doesn’t like, he thinks while standing, though he can’t explain it – then again, can anyone really verbalize their tastes in interior decorating? – is this junk on the wall behind him. Maybe he’s subconsciously worried about jabbing his back into it, for example that whiteboard ledge with the markers on the bottom. Whatever the case, he takes it and the surprisingly current calendar down, leans these items casually atop that row of boxes. There, he reckons, glancing back at the space from his doorway. The room is perfect now.
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