Read Online Chez Stinky by Susan C. Daffron - Free Book Online Page A

Okay, it had been a while since anyone had been interested, but she didn’t think she was that out of practice and clueless to the signals. But maybe he was just being nice, since she didn’t know anyone in town. “If I’m still at the Enchanted Moose, I’ll have to feed my cat there after I’m done here, but after I do that, I’m free.” Feed her cat? Kat cringed internally. Could she sound like any more of a loser?
    “Wonderful. There’s a restaurant I think you’d like. It’s much better than the one at the Enchanted Moose.”
    Kat hadn’t noticed a restaurant there, but she doubted that anything the Moose would be offering up would count as haute cuisine, since RV parks weren’t generally noted for their fine dining establishments. “Sounds good.”
    “I also was considering the state of affairs regarding the rehabilitation that may be necessary for the roof of the house. I know Mr. Fowler is working on the smell situation, but he may be able to help with the roof issues as well. He has some construction experience, I believe. You might consider giving him a call.”
    “Did you talk to him? How is he doing with the stink? When we were in the basement with Chelsey, I could smell it, but it wasn’t as bad down there as it was in the living room.”
    “Yes, he has isolated the problem and it is upstairs. I believe he is working on it.”
    Kat pressed her lips together and then said, “You can spare me the details. I just hope he gets it done soon. I’d like to be able to stay in the house and get a feel for what’s it’s truly like to live here. I’m not sure I can handle being so far away from everything, but I won’t know until I stay.”
    After returning Chelsey to her nest in the basement and checking cat-food levels, Kat said goodbye to Larry and the dogs and went off to the library and Kmart before returning to the Enchanted Moose. After the exhausting morning, she really wanted to change her clothes and read about how to deal with dogs before heading back out to Chez Stinky for the afternoon animal-care activities. She had checked out a book from the library with the title Happy Hound . Since Chelsey was so obviously unhappy, Kat figured it couldn’t hurt.
    Back in her hotel room, she picked up the phone and dialed Herbert Fowler’s number.
    “Hiya, this is Bud.”
    “Mr. Fowler, this is Kat Stevens. I’m the owner of Abigail Goodman’s old house. I talked to you the other day.”
    “Oh yeah, you’re the lady with the place with the bad stink. Hey, isn’t there some leftie musician with that name? You aren’t a Commie are you?”
    Kat rolled her eyes, “Yes, that’s my house, and no I’m not a Commie. Or a musician. How are you progressing in fixing the problem?”
    “Well, I think I have found the varmint in the wall that done died there. I gotta cut out some wood and some drywall and investigate a little more. Then I can get him outta there.”
    “That would be nice. When can you make that happen? Also, I’d like to talk to you about repairing the roof. Larry said you might have experience with that?”
    “Yep, I got lotsa experience doing roofs. I like ladders. It’s like being a squirrel up there. You can see everything. So does that mean you want me to do up an estimate then? You know roofs, they’re mighty expensive. This is gonna cost ya.”
    “Yes, I understand. Just please do an estimate. And when exactly will the smell be gone?”
    “I can git out there tomorrow. I needed to get some special tools that I got here in my shed.”
    “Okay, I’ll expect you then.”
    After Kat hung up the phone, she wrapped her arms around her waist. She didn’t have a good feeling about Bud’s roofing skills. Or any other skills. At least it was only an estimate. Maybe she could find someone else to do the rest of the work after the smell was gone. She picked up Murphee from the floor, placed her on the bed next to her, and curled up to read her new book. “What are we gonna do,