Coquina Hotel - 3. Chapter 3

Sunday morning, I decided to spend the day at the Hotel. I remember reading about the history of this area. Before the Hotel, it was a favorite coast for smugglers. The beach area was desolate, and at night when there was no moon, it was easy to paddle a boat to shore. I wanted to see that area.

After breakfast, I told Mr. Burkett I would be at the Hotel all day today. “Have a good day.”

I parked at the Hotel and walked down a path at the back of the Hotel that led to the beach. It wasn’t much of a beach but a beach, never the less. Looking around, I wondered where they would offload the skip from the boat and if there were any places where they would store any illegal goods. As I was walking along the beach, I came to what looked like a cave. I didn’t have a flashlight, so I could only go in so far. I made a note to myself to bring a flashlight the next time I’m here. There was a path from the beach to the Hotel. As I walked toward the Hotel, my mind was on the beach and the smuggling that went on. I still couldn’t figure out how they got the goods up the hill without being caught, mainly if the law had a clue about the smuggling going on.

When I got to the top, I sat on a stone looking out at the ocean. It was peaceful. The sound of the waves could rock someone to sleep. I was a mile away with my thoughts when someone tapped me on my shoulder. I jumped up, and standing in front of me was this tall guy. He must have been at least 6 feet.

“I’m sorry I frighten you. My name is Jon Anderson. I work for Burlington. I’m here to assess the work to be done. “

“I’m Roger Lawson, and I own this property. How far along have you gone in doing your appraisal?” I couldn’t take my eyes away from looking at this guy. He was a Viking god, and when he smiled, his whole face seemed to light up.

“We have broken the project down into three sections, the grounds, the rooms, and the overall building.”

“When are you going to start?”

“I believe you have a meeting tomorrow at 11:00 am with Mr. Jones. He’ll have a schedule and costs.”

“According to the documents I saw at the library, there is an old house on the property. Have you seen it?”

“Yes, come, and I’ll show you. It isn’t in good shape and probably should be torn down.”

We walked with the sea at our backs, through the trees. When we came out from the trees, I saw an old rundown building. In front were a large porch, no roof, and an open door leading into a shell of a house.

“It’s a shame that this house is in such bad shape. I bet at one time it was something to see,”

“Jon, do you think we could rebuild it to what it looked like when it was in good shape.”

“If the foundation is there, I don’t see why not.”

“I would like that. I could live there. When I meet with Mr. Jones, I’ll ask him to include the house in the project.” I could see myself living there, I’d be close to the Hotel, and I would be close to the sea.

I met with Mr. Jones as scheduled. I took the opportunity to mention the house.

“Yes, Jon mentioned that you wanted to restore that house as well.”

“Yes, I plan on living there.”

“I’m not sure if we can find the original building plans, but I’ll check at city hall. If not, I’ll have Jon walk through the house and provide a sketch of the layout.”

I was satisfied with that. We concluded our discussion on the Hotel. I made an upfront deposit and agreed upon periodic payments based on percentage completion with final payment after I had inspected the completed project.

After two months, the first contract payment was due. I met with Mr. Jones in the morning after my workout at the gym. He had a drawing of the building, where he had marked certain areas. Looking at the drawing, I saw the Hotel’s roof showing boards extending from a centerboard to the roof’s edge.

“We had to replace all of the old rafters. That is what you see. We will cover the wood with sheets of wood and then covered that with tiles. It will look like it originally did.”

“What about the walls that support the roof?”

“They are solid. We will power wash them. The room areas have been cleaned and are ready for new flooring. When that is finished, the rooms will be ready for painting. You’ll need to select room colors.”

That Sunday, I went to check out the rooms. I had to be careful where I walked as the wood was rotten in places. On one wall, I could see the support beams for the floor. They seemed to be okay. I wondered why this wood was okay, whereas the flooring wood was showing decay. As I was looking and poking around, someone touched me on my shoulder. Thinking I was alone, I jumped.

When I looked, Jon was laughing.

“You scared me.”

“You were so involved in that wood support beam, I called, but you didn’t hear me.”

“I was wondering why these beams didn’t rot like the floorboards.”

“These support beams are made of oak where the flooring is made of pine. Oak is hardwood, and pine is softwood. It doesn’t hold up as long.”

“Are you going to replace the pine floors with oak?”

“No, pine is okay as long as it is protected from the weather. The holes in the roof allowed rain to enter the rooms. That is what destroyed the pine flooring.”

I thought about what Jon said the rest of the week.

I wonder if there was a way to treat the pine flooring to prevent any future deterioration. I need to talk this over with Jon. I then realized that I enjoyed talking with Jon. He took his time to explain what they were doing and why.

At Mr. Jones’s suggestion, I hired two boys to maintain the grounds. They had completed high school and needed to work. With Mr. Jones’s help, I bought two riding mowers, hedging equipment, and several tree trimers. I also bought a small tractor with a cart.

At the next two-month meeting, we discussed waste disposal. The small town had a system that just met the needs of the town. To the left of the house was a large field. I bought that land from the city and had Mr. Jones designed a septic system for the Hotel and the house. He suggested we build a small pump house in case we needed it. I agreed, but it had to conform to the overall architecture.

Every Sunday, I spent at the site, inspecting and asking questions. It seems more and more Jon was there the same time as I was there. He was my answer book.

“Roger, I think we found something you would be interested in.”

This piqued my interest, “What did you find?”

“Come, and I’ll show you.” I followed him to the basement of the Hotel. He had a flashlight which he showed on a door. I was curious.

“Where does that door lead?”

“I’ll show you.” He opened the door, and there was a staircase that seemed to go down. Then I remembered the cave.

“Are we going to the cave at the beach?”

“Yes, you know about the cave?”

“I found it one day when I was walking along the beach. I only entered it until I came to the stairs. I was wondering how the smugglers got their goods up to the surface. Except for a small path leading to the beach, there was no other way until I saw the cave.”

“I think if you place lights here, it would be an added attraction for your guests.”

“I like to get lights that look like a torch. It would be different; I’ll see what I can find. That reminds me, what are we going to do for electrical power? I know I’ll need a generator for backup if the system goes down.”

“I’m not sure if the town can provide electrical service out here or not. I’ll look into that for you.”

“If I need to provide my electricity, we will need an outbuilding for the generator and a tank for propane. We will need two propane tanks, one for the kitchen and one for the laundry as well. They should be buried remotely from the Hotel but easily to service. I guess I’ll need to bring the propane to fill the tanks from Acra.”

“I’ll check out what’s available in tank sizes and pick a location for them.”

“Make sure they are far away from the hotel in case of a leak or an explosion.”

Walking back up the stairs to the Hotel’s basement, I was in front of Jon. When he reached out and turned me to face him, he kissed me. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

I smiled as I kissed him back. I dreamt of this moment, and now it was happening. Then he chased me up the steps. If he caught me, I got a kiss. I let him catch me a lot.