Hando Washes Out

The scaffolding made a tremendous crash when it rolled off the battered old flat bed lorry. Miss Peeg was up and at the door in an instant fearing the worst. When she saw it was Hando on the back of the truck unloading his gear…it was the worst.

Hando jumped down off the truck and walked around to the driver’s door handing him some money. The lorry drove off leaving quite mess on the sidewalk outside of Richie’s office. Hando lit a cigarette and looked at the pile of scaffolding he would have to assemble.

"You couldn’t have unloaded in the alleyway…how are people supposed to pass by?" Miss Peeg wanted to know.

Hando glared at her, "did you see anybody out here helping me?"

Miss Peeg glared back, "I wonder…did you ask anybody?"

Hando ignored her and kicked a piece of the ironwork to the side squatting down he began pulling the joining pieces out of the pile.

"You can’t block the entry to this office…I say…you can’t…"

"I heard you the first time and as soon as I figure out what’s what it ain’t gonna be in front of the door."

"And just how long do you think that might take?" She asked arms crossed

Hando threw his cigarette toward the street, "as long as it takes…I ain’t a scaffolding expert."

Miss Peeg stepped over to the pile and surveyed it for a minute, "The long pieces are the up and downs, the short pieces are the horizontal ones, this grating is what you stand on…"

Hando sat back on his butt stretching out his long legs, "well thank you very much," he said sarcastically.

Miss Peeg turned and went back into the office to finish typing the brief for Richie. Later she looked out the window to see Hando had all the long bits in a row and all the short bits in a row and the connecting pieces in between. She smiled to herself and sat back down at her desk.

By noon he had the scaffolding assembled and had it pushed away from the door when Richie came in from a meeting in Coffs. "Good to see you getting started," he said to Hando as he passed by.

"You can tell Miss Peeg the doorway is empty," Hando said. Richie glanced back at him and entered his office.

Richie left around half past two noting that Hando had a pressure washer around the side of the building looking for a water hook up. "It’s in the back just around the corner," he said shaking his head and walking on to his car.

Miss Peeg was just coming from the restroom when the first blast of water hit the side of the building several pictures went askew on the wall. The second blast was followed by a loud noise followed by water hitting the window and knocking it out half flooding her office before she made it to the back door and the faucet.

The pressure washer was still thrashing around on the ground but it was the sight of the scaffolding in the tall hedgerow that separated the office from the boarding house property that caught her attention; it being painted bright yellow it stood out against the dark green. A movement in the hedgerow turned out to be a pair of Doc Martins and she sidestepped the scaffolding and made her way over to find the rest of him.

The two turquoise eyes that stared out at her reminded her of a wild animal caught in the bush, "Give me your hand," she said pushing the branches aside. Once he was out of the hedgerow he appeared to be all right except for the cuts and scratches along his arms and on his face and head. "Come inside." She said pulling him along.

Hando was dazed, he couldn’t figure out what had happened, the thing seemed to have a life of its own and he couldn’t control it.

"Water…in your office?" he said following her down the hallway. "Ah shit," he said seeing water dripping off the ceiling a soaked carpet and sofa. Luckily Miss Peeg’s file cabinets and desk were on the opposite side of the room and escaped damage.

"Yes," she said, "I quite agree with you. Mr. Roberts will have to be called of course…and he’s just gone home for the day; he won’t be pleased."

Hando could care less about Mr. Roberts it was the window and the damage to this room that upset him, it would no doubt about it be added to his bill.

Miss Peeg watched his face and looked over him all scratched and dripping wet. "Hando," she said, "would you like a cup of tea?"

His expression was carefully guarded when he turned, "yeah I think I could use a cup of tea."