Jeff picked up his copy of The Glen Times and took it back into the kitchen. He would read it while he ate his brekkie. Sitting on a stool at the counter top, he didn’t see the need of using the dining room; he started eating his Weetbix and opened the paper. The headlines stopped him in his tracks…

"Oh fuck, not the Rev," he sighed. A wave of guilt crashed over him. He still hadn’t gotten around to fixing the leaky pipes at the mill.

Throwing down the paper, he got up and put on his work boots. He ran outside and jumped into his ute, skidding on the gravel in his haste.

It only took a couple of minutes to get to the mill. He sighed with relief; it didn’t look too badly damaged. He could see that the cleanup crew had been and gone. As he opened the driver’s door he could smell the smoke, but as he walked closer to the door another, cleaner smell reached him…freshly cut wood. Opening the door, he went inside and soon found the smoke damaged room, only it didn’t look smoke damaged anymore. There was a new wall up. He ran his hand over it thinking that whoever did the work had done a first class job.

He smiled as he walked back through the mill to where Alistair had told him the problem pipes were. Despite what had happened, this was still a good place to live. The neighbours gathered together to help in time of need as well as in time of celebration. He was determined to do his bit.

Jeff started at the top of the mill and checked every inch of piping in the building. Some of it was okay, but most of it really could do with being replaced. He went back to the ute to get his notepad and looked up at the clear blue sky.

"What ya think, dad?" he asked out loud. He seemed to hear Harry’s voice come back with the answer he would expect.

"Don’t patch it up, son. Do it right."

Jeff smiled again. He already knew this wasn’t going to be a patch up job. The Rev. deserved more than that. It was a big job, but with the place empty, he was sure he would get it done before Alistair was well enough to come home. If he put everything else on hold and started right away, he should be finished by the end of the week.

"I’ll make a good job of it, dad…and this one is on the house."

After measuring up for materials, Jeff jumped back in the ute ready to go pick up what he needed from Coffs. On the way back through town, he made sure to stop and put his name down for the volunteer fire crew.