House Renovations

Dad is still capable of completely blowing the lid off of everything. Still.

This morning at breakfast he announced that he wanted to completely renovate the house. Not only that, but he was hiring an outside architect to do it.

I nearly choked on my pancakes. I hated to say it, but the renovations are long overdue. The house has looked exactly the same since I was a little girl.

"I think we need to spread it out," I told dad. "If I adopt the kids, they're gonna need a place to play."

Dad agreed. Of course, as dad is, he has his own ideas on how the place should look. After all, he was the one who commissioned the place, but mom was the one who actually hired the architect. Hence, the house has a lot of her practical touches.

"Savannah, I'm letting you oversee the renovations."

"Me?" I asked.

"I think it's time," he said, with the familiar twinkle in his eye. "As the house is going to be yours soon, it's time for you to put your stamp on it."

If that weren't enough, I have my suspicions about Donovan, the maid who comes and cleans things -- at least, that's what we pay him to do.

When I walked into the bathroom that's attached to my parents' bedroom suite, I caught him trying to take off the attached silver faucet. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm just cleaning off your faucet, miss."

"No you weren't. You were trying to take the faucet off!" I took a deep breath and fired him on the spot.

I later learned why I had to fire him. I discovered he's a kleptomaniac! Sheesh, I'm surprised other things haven't turned up missing.