Rummaging Tuesday (12 Sep 2001) Thomas and Agatha help clean out the church basement.

The Winthrope Household
A moderate sized two-story home that sits far back on a wooded lot on the edge of town. It has been painted ivory, with a trim of dark brown, and numerous windows of the classic sliding frame sorts adorn the upper floor, two per room, with much the same for the lower floor save for one large bay window. A full covered porch spans the front, complete with a swing hanging from two chains. Some oak and pine trees surround the house, one practically close enough to brush the house with its leaves.

The evening that Thomas got home from doing research with Agatha on Ainigton, he went to his father, to discuss the idea of building a tree house.

His father, a very practical and realistic man in his own mind, wasn't quite as enthusiastic about the concept as Thomas might have been, but he did however voice his own opinion that such an exercise might be a good "character-building" exercise for Thomas, and also a good opportunity to learn and apply useful skills. However, there was just one problem: to build a tree house, you need a tree ... and when it became apparent that Thomas's ideal tree house would not be something in the back yard, then it became just as apparent that his father was less positive about the possibility of implementing such a plan.

The whole discussion was a bit of a disappointment -- a bit of raised hopes, dashed by the intrusion of practical realities. When Thomas checked some maps to find out for his father just whose land the "Gnarly Tree" fell upon, it became clear that it fell on the very fringes of Danzwyck property. In other words, he'd need the permission of the Danzwycks.

However, his mother took him aside briefly just before bedtime, assuring him that she'd see what she could do. Maybe she could talk to someone....

After a mad rush of bathing, brushing his teeth, and his usual futile attempt to tame his mop of hair, Thomas heads off into town. His backpack is in the usual place, slung over his shoulder as he wanders down the road and into a local store. On a whim, he purchases another one-hundred feet of rope and stuffs this in his backpack. He then makes his way down to the public library, ideas of tremendous tree-houses running through his mind. He heads in, and begins looking around for a section on fiction, namely anything involving being stranded on tropical islands and thus perhaps referencing building shelter.

Ginny Hortons is in the library again, still helping out as a library assistant, but she doesn't give Thomas nearly so much trouble as she did the day before. She still gives him this suspicious look, as if expecting him to be up to untold mayhem -- such as delivering on his threat to climb the bookshelves to reach the higher titles -- but she can't seem to find anything to pin on him this time, or perhaps she's too distracted to give it her full attention. (It could have something to do with Genji Hikaru also being in the library, checking through the periodicals.)

Tom finds a few interesting items and scribbles down some notes on the paper he halls around in his backpack. After he spends about an hour in the library, he returns the books to the shelves and heads toward the exit. He grins and sticks out his tongue at Ginny, then glances toward Genji. He then slips out the doorway and back into the street. He looks around, then up at the sun, and mutters, "Hmm. I wonder how much longer Mom will be at Danzwyck Stables."

By the sun, it's into the afternoon now. Tom had quite a bit of reading to do, after all. The boy hears a jingle, and out of the corner of his eye might have seen a cat scampering off ... or maybe it's just his imagination. Probably just his imagination. In any case, his mother might very well be back by now. Though she takes a ride with his father in the morning, she usually takes the walk home in good weather (and it's fairly cool today, though the skies are grey and might rain a bit later on), or arranges to get a ride home with someone else when it's not so fair.

Tom moves through the town again, dodging the people milling about on the street. Occasionally, he zips between buildings instead of sticking to the streets, just to make the trip quicker. Plus, it might confuse the cat that is -- well, which he imagines is -- following him again. Within a short time, he's leisurely walking down his street, toward his home.

As he approaches his house, he can see that the front door is open (with just the screen door closed), and he can hear sounds of his mother doing cleaning or at least rummaging through the supplies. Yes, she's home all right ... and there's no sign of that cat.

Tom pops through the doorway. "Hi, Mom!" he calls out. "I'm home. How'd the morning go?"

"Just fine, Tom!" Sara Winthrope calls from the hall closet. There are sounds of rummaging about, as she pulls out a box of cleaning supplies she usually only hauls out when it's time to do heavy-duty spring cleaning on the house -- and it's most assuredly not spring, and nobody told Tom there were any relatives visiting. "I have some good news!"

Tom looks dubious. "Um, let me guess. I have to help clean, because we have company coming, right?" he ventures.

"Something like that," his mother laughs, "though, honest, it's better news than that." She sets the box down, and starts sorting through the supplies, pulling out some light work gloves and a cleaning apron. "I did a bit of asking around at Danzwyck Stables, while I was out there today. You see, at church, you know how crowded the Sunday School room is, with all the big and little kids having to share the same space? Well, since our little town is growing, the Deacons have suggested that we need to expand the space for our Sunday School classes...."

Tom runs his hand through his hair, the information sinking in, as well as the implication. His expression is mixed, unsure of how to take the information. "So," he ventures slowly, "am I to help clean a new location for it? Is this some sort of ... trade ... to use a tree on the Danzwyck property?"

"Exactly!" his mother says. "I do hope you don't mind. You see, the church basement has been piling up with ... well ... junk since the church was built. Mr. Danzwyck is on the Deacon's board and therefore partially responsible for the effort to clean out part of the basement to make room for a new classroom, since, well, it was his idea, after all. I simply mentioned your interest in a tree house, and the possibility that you might have some spare time to help carry junk out of the basement. There might even be something you can use -- Remember the old Easter Passion Play years ago? Well, you were small, then, but ..."

Tom covers his mouth, halting a laugh as he thinks back to the play and a few "incidents" that occurred in it. He was younger, but the memory is still vivid in his mind, especially the poor "angel" on the line. The stage crew just couldn't keep her up and he dips causing the occasional gap from the crowd. He regains his composure and nods, saying, "So, the junk in the basement is to be tossed, then? Anything I want to hold onto to use, I can keep for such?"

"To a certain extent," his mother says. "There are a number of items that might be in good enough condition to put into a rummage sale, but anyone who helps clean out the church will at the very least get first pick of things before they're put into the sale -- and probably a bit of a better bargain. I can't really say what might be down there -- least of all what kind of condition it might be in after all this time, and being stuffed into some cobwebby corner. But I do remember those backdrops -- your father hurt his back moving one of them! -- and that would be a lot of wood. I think it's safe to say they wouldn't be putting those in a rummage sale." She looks up from sorting out some of the cleaning supplies to smile at Tom.

"Oh!" exclaims Tom, face brightening at the thought. He did forget about the backdrops that were down there and how much could be done with them, after being repainted. It would look kinda silly to have a star-walled tree house, after all. "Well, cool. When should I begin?" he asks.

Basement of the Redeemer
This brick-walled basement is dusty, dingy, and cobwebby, a repository for assorted supplies and junk for as long as the church has been here, and without any serious effort to organize it in all this time. Navigation is tricky to say the least. Here and there are chairs -- sometimes broken, and meant to be mended "some day" -- folding tables, old materials, worn-out hymnals, extra light bulbs, a disassembled artificial Christmas tree and trimming that's hauled out each winter, and peeking out here and there are dust-greyed once-colorful flashes of sections of the backdrops from the old Easter play from years ago, and a Christmas play even further back. Stairs lead up to the baptistery and classroom areas in the back of the church, with another flight of steps leading directly out back, with slot-like windows letting in dim light, supplemented by the occasional functional light-bulb. (Most can't be reached to be replaced).

Deacon Elders oversees the operation. Ironically, he's one of the youngest on the Board of Deacons, though he makes up for it with a bushy beard and mustache that gives him more of a lumberjack look than anything to match his name. "All right, kids," he says, "what we're going to do is just try to haul out what we can, so we can get some room to move down there. We won't be working very long, especially not if it starts raining -- but we sure appreciate you all showing up to help out."

There are not only kids at the church today. There are adults, too, of course, including Tom's mother, but the kids have been assigned to tackle the entry-way coming in directly from the back of the church -- which also happens to bring them into proximity with some of the more interesting items, left over from the old plays. "Now, remember," he says, "keep a note of any junk you think you might have an interest in, but anything that can be sold is likely to go into the rummage sale, so we can raise some money to help build the new Sunday School room -- so you won't be having to share with the little kids anymore."

Tom and Agatha represent about the mid-range of those present in terms of age. The youngest would include a couple of Tom's "fans". And the eldest would include ... well ... some of the freshmen.

It seems that Ginny got off her library assistant duty -- perhaps at the arm-twisting of her mother, or just to earn extra brownie points at church -- to join in. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that Genji is here as well.

Andrew and Boris are present, too, but since they're a bit bigger and older, they've been assigned slightly more labor-intensive jobs moving furniture around inside the church, to make some temporary room for some of the boxes that need to be sorted through. Thus, once things get underway, they leave the basement entrance to head into the church proper.

Agatha puts on her heavy gloves, and asks Tom, "Where do you want to start?"

Tom nods absently, listening to the Deacon. He also glances around the room, taking note of those who are here. Upon seeing Ginny, he cringes slightly, thinking, "Gah, why did she have to be here?" He then blinks, broken out of his thoughts by Agatha's question. He dons his gloves and looks to Agatha. "How about the old play sets?"

Deacon Elders repeats several of the same instructions the kids have already heard before. Ginny obediently stands to attention, nodding and smiling through the whole thing, doing her best to look perfect as usual, but it's mostly just warnings to beware of broken glass, to be sure and use gloves, be careful of nails sticking out of any of the old broken wooden chairs and such, to be sure and hold onto the bottoms of any boxes when lifting them, and so forth.

The girl nods, and says, "Yeah, those look like two-person pieces." Agatha eyes the path between the old props and the entry, to see if any smaller pieces need to be cleared out first.

There are a few boxes of Christmas decorations that are going to have to be the first to get hauled out -- and many of them are marked "FRAGILE". Those definitely won't be up for grabs or for the rummage sale, and they're put near the door simply to make them the most accessible, since unlike most of what's down here, they're actually taken out every year. Similarly, there are a number of boxes of extra light bulbs and plates and such that -- while not on the "get rid of" list, are just asking to get broken if they're still around and in the way of kids hauling chairs and large pieces of plywood.

"I'm gonna get that box of bulbs out of the way," Agatha tells Tom, and heads over to pick up the indicated box.

"Yeah," says Thomas, "I think we need to move those boxes first, or we might break them when we move something big." He then follows behind Agatha. "I'll grab a couple boxes of plates and cart them out."

The bottom of the box has been closed in the "fold the corners over each other" method, and threatens to pop out the bottom -- but fortunately Agatha has been properly warned by Deacon Elders.

"Be careful with those," Ginny says, stating the obvious. "Really, I think the high schoolers should be trusted with the fragile items."

Agatha nods to Tom, and also keeps an eye out for a ladder; it would be better to have the light bulbs actually lighting the place, if she could get up to change the burned out ones. She pretty much ignores Ginny.

"Really, Ginny? I thought the reason you got a job at the library is because you can't break a book if you drop it," comments Thomas as he hefts up a box and heads for the stairs.

There's a stepladder just beside the stairs, though it's awkwardly enough placed that the ornaments have to be moved before it can be reached.

"Why don't you get that box then, Ginny?" Agatha suggests, pointing to one of the remaining boxes of ornaments. "I want to get out that stepladder and see about adding more light down here."

Just then, Genji comes back down the stairs, after carrying out a box of old communion glasses. Ginny's frown immediately changes to a far more genial composure. "That's a brilliant idea, Agatha! Here, I'll help you with that." She carefully picks up the aforementioned box, making an "oof" of effort as she does so.

Agatha pauses to make sure the older girl isn't going to drop the box, then sees if she can reach the stepladder now.

"Oh, hello, Genji. Pardon me," says Thomas as he steps away from the stairs to let him pass. He then heads up the stairs to deposit the box of plates out of the way and make his way back down into the basement.

Deacon Elders, meanwhile, after instructing Peter and Catherine a bit more diligently, finishes up, and heads out. "All right. I'm going to help make some room outside. Call me if you run into any trouble down here, all right, kids?"

The stepladder, incidentally, is cleared and accessible ... though it'll take some more work before any of the dead light bulbs can be reached to actually screw in some replacement lights.

Genji nods and smiles politely to Tom, quiet as usual when not in his "element" (which would be instructing others in karate, most kids would suppose), and picks up a crate with a few dusty books in it, making another trip. Ginny times herself perfectly to be making her way up the stairs much the same time he is.

Checking to make sure the ladder will hold her, Agatha sets it against the wall for stability and then checks to see how well it lets her reach the ceiling before actually trying to change a bulb.

The step ladder is actually more than tall enough to allow Agatha to reach the ceiling. In fact, it's a bit awkward to move around, due to its size. It's more appropriate for decorating the fully-assembled Christmas tree, but should do the trick -- with proper clearance -- for light-bulb-changing as well.

Tom trundles back down the stairs and looks about for the next set of items that should be cleared. "Hey, Agatha, you wanted to get to the burned out lights, right? Let me see if I can clear a spot to one," he says, and heads over to an area close to a burned out light. There, he checks the state of the boxes there -- their weight and apparent stability.

This box, unfortunately, is filled with hymnals. Fortunately, it has some handles in the side. Unfortunately, they're "handles" in the sense of holes meant to put one's fingers into, and one of them is torn. Fortunately, it's on a table, so one needn't stoop down to reach it. Unfortunately, there are also some upside-down wobbly old chairs also sharing table space precariously with the box of hymnals.

Fishing out a fresh bulb from the box-of-bulbs, Agatha says, "Thanks, Tom! This ladder needs some room."

Genji comes back down again, trailed by Ginny. "Do you need any help with that?" he asks Tom. Ginny looks as if she's about to offer to volunteer as well, and then she gets a good look at what the box is filled to the brim with (heavy books), and the condition of the box, and instead finds an old dented globe to carry out.

Peter and Catherine, meanwhile, take one of the wobbly chairs, and, between the two of them, haul it up the stairs.

Agatha sets aside the light bulbs for the moment, and goes to help clear the chairs off of Tom and Genji's table. She tests the weight of one first, after seeing Pete and Cathy carrying one out.

Tom adopts a thoughtful expression. "Well, that's gonna be a pain, crud." He then nods to Genji. "It would probably be safer with two people moving it." He grips it at the sides and starts to slide it slowly off the table, slipping his hands underneath it as the edge comes off the tabletop. "Grab this one edge, then side, and I'll grab the other and we should be able to move it easily."

Agatha finds the chairs to be fairly light, actually, if bulky. Peter and Catherine are probably being a little overly cautious about breaking things.

Genji nods and helps by gripping onto the box. "Mph!" he comments. "This is heavy!" And, indeed, it is, and the condition of the box is less than ideal. The sides of the box buckle as the edge peeks over that of the table, and then, with a rip of old cardboard, the side of the box tears open, as the books bulge out!

Figuring she doesn't need to be too dainty with chairs that are probably going to be scrapped, Agatha holds one as least awkwardly as she can, and carries it towards the stairs.

Aside from the seat coming loose and flipping up against the back, Agatha gets the chair up the stairs without incident, save that Ginny happened to choose that moment to come down, and the older girl is forced to backtrack to get out of Agatha's way. Once Agatha is past, she notices the predicament of Genji and Tom, as they struggle to keep the box from disintegrating. "Oh no!" she calls out, and hurries down the stairs.

"Crud!" exclaims Thomas, halting the movement of the box off the table. "Hey, does anyone here have any duct-tape or strapping tape? We need to reinforce this box before moving it." He then shrugs to Genji. "Sorry, I had hoped it would hold. After all, they moved it down here once. Guess mildew got to it."

Genji nods, struggling to shift his hands to keep the books from spilling off. Together, the two boys manage to shove the bulging box back onto the table.

After dropping off her chair, Agatha starts back down and notices the problem. "Why didn't you just take out some of the books first instead of trying to carry the whole thing in one trip?" she asks.

And at the same time, Ginny suggests, "Why don't you just take some books out of the box, and make a few trips? That's a bit --"

"Jinx!!" Agatha crows, pointing at Ginny.

Ginny glares daggers in Agatha's direction. "Don't be so childish," she says, coldly, then quickly recovers. "See? Agatha agrees with me."

Tom laughs at Agatha, then glances at Ginny. "Well, the box already torn. We need to close the tear, even with removing books, Ginny," he says.

Agatha picks up another chair from the table. "Let 'em figure it out, Ginny. Take a chair instead," she suggests.

Ginny just rolls her eyes in resignation, and follows Agatha's advice, taking another chair.

Genji scratches his head, then says, "I'll go ask Mister Elders," and heads back up the stairs.

"Wait, Genji! Better idea," Tom explains, "Remove some books, then rotate the box to press the tear into one of us. That way we can prevent spillage, and still get it up. We can get one of the deacons to tape it later."

"Ah," Genji says, nodding. "All right. Here. You take the side with the tear, and go up the stairs first. I'll take the other side, so more weight is on my side." Genji is two years older than Tom, and visibly stronger, so it's a far more appealing plan than the alternative.

Tom nods and starts pulling books from the box and setting them in a neat pile on the table. Once he gets about half out, he carefully rotates the box so that the tear faces him, then nods to Genji and says, "Okay, there we go, let's give this another try." With that, Tom starts to slide the box off the table again, working his hand under it.

Genji helps Tom with the box, and though they have to wrestle with it, with a few threatened spills along the way -- and another disapproving "Boys!" eye-roll look from Ginny -- they manage to get the burden up the stairs, and set it down with a heavy WHUMP on the sidewalk outside.

Tom looks over to Genji as they head back down the stairs. "Want to help me carry up the books I pulled out of the box?" He then looks over to Ginny. "Hey, you're an expert on moving stacks of books, right? Why don't you lend a hand to Genji and me in getting the rest of them upstairs?"

Now that the chairs and most of the books are removed, Agatha tries moving the table out from under the burned out light.

The table's legs make a horrible shriek as they scrape against the concrete floor. Catherine lets out a squeal, dropping a box marked "fragile" as she claps her hands to her ears! Peter lets out another squeal, as he grabs the box in question, then falls on his tail, with the box landing in his lap. "Ow!"

Agatha stops pushing and grinds her teeth! "Gah, it'll have to be lifted!" she laments.

Ginny has a similar teeth-gritting expression on her face, after the "fingernails-on-chalkboard" sound of the table legs scraping against the floor.

Tom winces. "Geez, Agatha, wait a moment and we'll clear the rest off the top and help you lift it out of the way. Ow."

Genji comes in after Tom. "Looks like she has it cleared off already. Here -- We'll move some of the boxes around it, so we can get around, and we can all lift."

Agatha nods, and picks out a nearby box that doesn't look like it'll disintegrate.

There's another box of hymnals that looks in as bad of condition as the one Genji and Tom just hauled (barely) up the stairs, and that's well enough avoided. However, a box with some more communion glasses in it, while having fragile contents, looks safe enough to carry out, provided one keeps the bottom held shut.

Tom nods. "Right-o." He makes his way over to the table, pausing to look at it a moment. "Hey. I think this table can be disassembled. Perhaps if we just tipped it to its side, we could remove the legs. It would take up much less space that way. Plus, it would be easier to move." He then ducks down and looks under the table, trying to verify it actually can be broken down.

Carefully, Agatha picks up the box of glasses so that she can hold the bottom well. "Sounds good, Tom. I'd hate to try and carry it up those stairs in one piece."

Sure enough, there are some nuts, one at each leg, which can be pulled off. The legs that wobble on the table happen to already be loosely attached, so it might be possible to finger-loosen the nuts off further. The other two legs, however, look to be more securely tightened, and a wrench (9/16ths, maybe?) or a good set of pliers would be in order.

Tom looks up and says, "Yep, looks like we can remove the legs. Ginny, could you go ask for some pliers, please?" He then looks to Genji. "Think you and I can tip the table to the side? We could then get the legs off. It'll be easier to carry up without them."

Ginny smirks. "They do learn!" she says, then frowns suddenly -- perhaps realizing that Genji has just been caught in her derision. She quickly turns away and grabs a string of Christmas lights to carry up the stairs -- definitely not a full load, but enough excuse to leave the basement for a moment.

Agatha follows after Ginny with box of communion glasses. If the boys get the table on its side, there should be room for her to maneuver the ladder into place.

Genji nods, and helps Tom tip the table over. The loose legs creak a bit as a bit of strain is briefly put on them, but once the table is on its side, it's evident that no harm has been done.

Tom nods. "Cool. Thanks Genji." He then goes and attempts to loosen and remove the leg in the air.

Ginny comes back down a short time later, with a pair of channel-locks. "Are these what you want?" she asks, handing them to Genji.

After a few moments, Agatha comes back down as well, and checks to see if she can fit the ladder in place yet.

"Hey, Ginny, thanks. One more thing," he says, "Can you hold the table up on its side? Genji, if you'd like to work on the tighter legs, I'll get the bolts out of this end if I can."

Ginny just nods, and gingerly moves to get out of the way. No, the table isn't quite out of the way just yet, but with a coordinated effort on the part of the two boys (and Ginny), they manage to get the legs free -- Tom removing the two that can be hand-loosened, and Genji getting the tighter ones up top. The two boys manage to roll the table on its side to the stairs, then carry it on up, while Ginny gathers up the legs. At last ... the path is open for Agatha!

Grinning, Agatha starts hauling the ladder into place.

skreeeeeeeeeek! Fortunately, by this time, the others are outside, so they can't appreciate the wood-scraping-on-concrete experience.

Despite the momentary unpleasantness, Agatha manages to get the ladder into a good position underneath the burnt-out bulb, and not within dangerous range of extremely fragile items.

Tom again comes back down the stairs a minute later. "Hey, want me to help steady the ladder, Agatha?" he asks. "Just in case the legs aren't level."

"Sure, Tom," Agatha says after picking up a fresh light bulb from a box and climbing the ladder.

Tom moves over to the side opposite Agatha and grips the ladder firmly, trying to ensure that it doesn't rock.

With Tom's help, Agatha makes it to the top (or, that is, as close as she can without hitting her head against the ceiling) without incident, and within easy reach of the dead bulb.

The girl reaches out to the dead bulb with her gloved hand, and tries to unscrew it, hoping it doesn't have gunk or rust or bug-guts making the socket stick.

Some flaky powder drops from the threads, and the bulb makes some squeaky-grinding noises briefly as Agatha turns it free, but nothing so dramatic. Tada! She has a dead bulb.

Switching hands, Agatha tries to putting in the new bulb, twisting it in with little turns so she can jerk her hand away quickly if needed - she's burned her fingers before.

"Careful, Agatha," says Tom, "If it doesn't go, don't force it and snap off the bulb glass."

The light immediately blinks on, but Agatha avoids any nastiness, since this was obviously a very real possibility present to mind. And then ... there was light.

This portion of the basement is now considerably better illuminated ... including the backdrops stacked up within arm's reach behind the table, blocked off by a few more boxes.

Tom looks over the backdrops, mind churning over ideas for a bit. Just a few more boxes to go then ... cool stuff!

Agatha climbs back down with the dead bulb. "That's better! Now we can see how much more work we have to do...."

Some while later, more boxes have been moved, and Agatha manages to claim new territories by screwing in more light bulbs as the opportunity presents itself. Tom's shrewd engineering of making sure to keep Ginny and Genji together does wonders for improving Ginny's disposition (and Ginny probably isn't unhappy about it, either). Pete and Cathy mostly just carry a few small items at a time, tending to stay away from the obviously fragile items -- especially after that near-mishap with the box of glasses earlier.

Tom watches Ginny and Genji with amusement and makes a mental note to corner Ginny sometime and offer her a deal: treat them more civilly, and he won't make sure Genji sees her when she's being condescending. "Cool," mutters Tom, "Now, let's see what we have and what I can use...."

At last, with a respectable headway made on this portion of the basement, finally the kids have made it to the good stuff. Before them, stacked against one of the walls, are several layers of painted plywood -- scraped here and there by the rough act of putting them down here and leaning boxes and such against them, but still depicting a number of interesting backdrops, such as a starry night sky with hills and sheep (okay, so that must have been from Christmas), the interior of Herod's Palace, the tomb (with a big round table top used to represent the "stone"), and other less easily identifiable scenes.

"Should we tear these down, or do they want to use them again?" Agatha asks out loud, hoping whomever actually knows will answer.

There's are also several boxes marked "costumes", some sort of a disassembled wooden framework with a slightly rusted set of pulleys and some heavy rope, a pair of angel wings ... and various other curiosities.

Ginny says, "Let's not tear things up, Agatha. We'll just take what we can outside, and Mister Elders can tell us what is to be done with it."

"Actually, I want them," comments Thomas, "I have a use for the wood and such. I'm going to ask about it." He nods to Ginny. "So, shall we split up and each take a piece, say, Genji with Ginny and I with Agatha?"

"Sure ... let's move out the costumes first though," Agatha says. "I'm sure those will at least go to the rummage sale."

Ginny's expression does another one of those miraculous transformations. "That sounds like a good plan!" she says, before Genji can object.

Thomas nods to Agatha. "Pity Rebecca isn't here, she'd probably want to look through them. I wonder if we should bring Elinor to the sale. Maybe she'd find something she'd like."

Peter has already opened up one of the boxes marked "costumes", and pulls out some sort of floppy piece with studs in it. Part of a Roman Centurion's outfit? "Cool!" he says, as he pulls out the rest of the costume.

Tom grins. "Need armor, Agatha?"

Ginny frowns. "Peter! We're supposed to move these costumes, not play in them," she scolds.

Agatha smirks at Peter, and says, "That's an interesting way to carry them out." Then she perks up at the notion of armor, but doubts she'll find any to fit her. "At least we know they aren't infested with lice or mice now."

Thomas walks over to a box of costumes and lifts it up. "What a lovely thought, Agatha," he comments and carries it to the stairs, then up.

Peter says, "Right, Agatha! I can carry it out more easily by wearing it, see? I can carry a box while I've got a costume on." He grins, as he puts on the battered helmet (paper mache, or something much like it, in less-than-pristine condition), which goes down over his eyes, leaving just a big grin visible on his face. "No mice in here!"

Ginny just rolls her eyes again, then goes to one of the boxes. "Oh! This is terribly heavy. Genji, could you help me with this?"

"Just don't trip on anything, Peter ... and take the helmet off so you can see!" Agatha remarks, before taking one of the heavy boxes herself.

Tom rolls his eyes at the top of the stairs upon hearing Ginny. He doesn't comment; he just takes the box outside and drops it off.

Genji smirks, and pokes Peter lightly in the side. "Ya!" The little kid squeals and wiggles, quickly yanking off the helmet to look for his "attacker", but Genji has quickly recovered to a nonchalant stance, innocently whistling as he walks on over to help Ginny.

After a while, the costumes have been moved out with a number of props. Mister Elders came down to help with the backdrops, which were thankfully disassembled into sections, making them more manageable than one might have otherwise supposed. By the time they manage to get the last one out, though, it becomes pretty evident that the weather outside is going to get wet, and the focus therefore shifts to moving the items again to the Sunday School room upstairs, and other areas, where some of the adults are helping to sort through the items.

As it is, the kids that helped with emptying out so much of their section of the basement get a fair chance at sorting through the goods as well.

"Why, sure, Tom," Mister Elders says, "if you can make good use of this plywood, you're welcome to it. It's going to just be scrap, after all."

"What about this thing, Deacon?" Agatha asks, testing the somewhat rusted pulley mechanism. She already knows who'd want the wings, if they can be separated from the flying harness.

Peter holds aloft a wooden gladius. "Cool!" he exclaims, holding it aloft. "I'm going to ask Mom if I can buy this."

Tom smiles, "Thank you, Mr. Elders. I'm sure I can put it to some use. I bet I can get my dad to help me move it back to my house temporarily until I can put it to use." He then looks to Agatha. "I've got some ideas on uses for all this, even the pulley. Care to hear about them, or have you got something in mind?"

Mister Elders laughs when he sees it. "That's what's left of our 'Flying Angel'. A bunch of two-by-fours and some old pulleys, really."

"What do you have in mind for this stuff, Tom?" Agatha asks, indicating the pile of backdrops and other scenery.

Tom leans in and whispers to Agatha, "Think 'tree house', think 'elevator', built with those pulleys. Think 'fort', from which we can base our game-adventures." He grins and looks over the junk, happy to see the backdrops are made of fairly thick plywood -- good enough for a flooring with the right frame.

Mister Elders, meanwhile, moves along, inspecting some other items. He tests a wobbly chair. "Goodness. I don't think anyone will be wanting to sit in these..." Genji has taken off now that the moving is done with for the day, and amazingly, Ginny has vanished shortly thereafter. Boris seems rather taken with some old sports equipment, and is thus too busy to torment any of the younger kids when the adults aren't looking.

Agatha's eyebrows go up at Tom's description of a tree house. "Hey, cool! But how are you gonna get all this stuff to the tree?" she asks.

Cathy stands up next to a cracked standing mirror, trying on a much-too-large-for-her "Mary Magdalene" costume, and posing.

Tom whispers back, "We'd probably have to pull it apart to some extent to do it. I think I could get Dad to help some, too. Plus, we could temporarily use those pulleys to lift larger parts up." He walks around some of the stuff and says, "Think Alice would want a 'round' table for the court?"

Peter puts the gladius back down, and then starts tagging after Tom. "Hey! What're you guys whispering about?"

Oops! "Um, nothing, Peter. Boring stuff, really. Things we might need to do over at the old Manor for Mr. Kuning and so forth," Tom explains quickly.

"Secret stuff," Agatha says to Peter, and boggles at the thought of a tree house big enough to hold the prop table.

"Oh!" Peter says. "The haunted manor? Secret stuff? COOL!"

"I won't tell anyone!" the little kid promises, but he makes no sign of going away.

Tom waves a hand. "It's not haunted. It's just old. I'm helping clean it up for the new owner. Really boring, lots of sweeping and dusting..."

"Oh," Peter says, wiggling his nose.

"Well, I'm gonna look at some of those costumes," Agatha tells Tom. "Let me know when you wanna move this stuff or take it apart."

"Peter!" Catherine says, unwittingly coming to Tom's rescue. "Mom said you can be a Centurion for Halloween!"

"Hey, Peter," Tom suggests, "I bet he could use someone to help shovel out the old stables..."

Given the choice between shoveling stables and being a Centurion, Peter takes the obvious choice -- he goes back to the box with the gladius, the battered helmet, and the "armor".

Tom pulls out his notepad and scribbles down what he finds. Copious plywood, some tables, a few pulleys. He then starts a "things needed" list: Paint, a saw, a hammer... He also places a checkmark next to things his dad may have around or perhaps something Agatha could borrow from her father. He then carefully looks over the plywood, looking for rot.

Just then, Tom's mother walks in. "Tom! It's starting to rain outside. Here's your parka," she says, then looks around. She tut-tuts when she sees Peter with the costume, and sighs. "You know, I think that's the real reason we never put on another play like that again. We should have done another Christmas play. Children playing Herod and the centurions ..." She shakes her head, then waves off that thought. "Find anything interesting, Tom?"

It looks like one of the pieces of plywood that was located near one of the windows has suffered from some water-warping -- but then, the irregular cut of this particular piece (for the "tomb") somewhat limited its usefulness as building material anyway. For the most part, the wood is in fairly good condition for Tom's purposes.

Tom looks back at the table, pondering the idea of making one side rounded and "tower-like". He then looks up. "Oh, hi, Mom! Thanks for bringing that in. Yep, sure did. I think these old sets will work great. More than enough and I'm making a list."

Mrs. Winthrope smiles. "That's very organized of you. Your father would be proud. I'll just set this here." She puts the rain poncho down on a chair nearby. (Calling it a 'parka' wasn't quite correct.) "Oh, hello there, Agatha!"

Agatha waves to Mrs. Winthrope from where she's helping get the costumes inside, before they get wet. At the moment, Agatha seems to have just discovered a box that contains another Centurion's costume. The helmet, alas, is in even worse condition than the one Peter found. The rest of the costume, however, is in much better condition.

"Mom," Tom begins, "think Dad would help me move some of this stuff? Some is kinda heavy."

"Certainly, Tom," Mrs. Winthrope says. "He'll be bringing the truck over anyway after work. I'll come back and check on you later, when he gets here." She heads out to assist in moving a few more items inside, though it looks like most of it has been moved in already, and thus spared from the rain.

The breastplate and skirt might be usable, Agatha thinks as she comes back out for one of the remaining boxes, only to find everything has been brought in.

Tom nods. "Thanks! See you in a bit." He then looks over the stuff once more, noting to take the square pieces. The tomb parts just aren't all that useful. He nods once more, then turns to go see if Agatha found anything cool.

"I think I can use some of the leftover armor," Agatha reports with a grin, and looks over the remaining props. "What're you writing down?" she asks Tom.

Tom tucks the pad away. "Just what might be useful and what we might need. Does your dad have any saws or hammers we might be able to borrow sometime?" He looks at the pile of costumes. "I doubt they have anything an explorer would use ... unless there's a cloak in there. Even so, it will probably sell too high for me."

It looks like the other set of centurion's armor consists of a "breastplate" (not really metal, but made of upholstery with a metallic sheen to it, and some nice embroidery work which must have taken someone an awful lot of work to get stowed away in the basement), a skirt, some hanging strips of "leather" with brassy studs in them, and a crushed helmet with a brush on the top, plus some sandals and leg-wrappings, a gladius, and a wooden shield -- small enough to probably be better called a "buckler", but nonetheless still fairly heavy for its size, making it questionable whether it would be practical as a play-thing.

Most of the rest of the costumes are really just robes and drapes -- a basic robe to wear, sometimes with an "overcoat" or "vest" piece, and then a sash or a drape to go over from shoulder to hip.

There are few props of a very portable nature -- one "spear" used by one of the centurions, the two swords to go with the centurion costumes ... Tom seems to recall some cups used for the Last Supper, but ... There's someone carrying a box labeled "Last Supper". It looks like Mr. Winters.

Tom notices Mr. Winters and sets down the costumes, heading over to him. "Um, sir?" Thomas asks, "I hope I'm not bothering you, but I saw you at Church the other day. I was wanting to ask the names of your niece and nephew who are visiting in case I meet them around town."

Mr. Winters pauses, and looks down to Tom. "Hmm? Oh! Yes. Little Max and Sabrina. My brother and his wife are up in the mountains, hiking and camping, and -- well, couldn't exactly take Max along. He and his sister are staying with us a few weeks."

Tom nods. "Thanks, sir. I've seen them since and wanted to say 'hi'. But, I feel silly asking their names and such." He pauses, as something occurs to him. "And I thought I saw a cat following Sabrina. Does she have a pet?"

Mr. Winters laughs at this, and shakes his head. "Sabrina and cats -- You'll have to take that--" Just then, there's a honk outside. "Oh! That's the Missus. I'll catch you later, Tom." The box in his hands rattles, and he heads outside, into the rain.

Tom watches Mr. Winters rush out and gets an exasperated look on his face. "So close, argh!" he mutters. He then wanders back to the costumes and looks one last time, "Man, with all these robes, we shoulda make Simon a monk...."

Mr. Elders laughs, when he sees Mr. Winters head out. "Heh. Bought those cups for his nephew, would you believe that? Curious boy, that one." He shakes his head, and gets back to the business of rolling the "stone" over into one of the corners of the classroom.

"Really?" Tom says to Mr. Elders. "That is interesting. Very interesting." He looks back at the wood. "Mind if I don't take the tomb sets? They're too oddly shaped to really use, I think."

"I don't mind at all, Tom," Mr. Elders says. "It all would have probably been hauled out as scrap or trash anyway. Hmm. Well, probably it could be cut up for some signs for the rummage sale. No, Tom, you just take what you need of the plywood." He grins, and rests the "stone" against a wall.

As for the costumes, the previous observation holds true -- most of them are just robes of various colors and slightly varied sizes. There's a crown for King Herod, made of some sheet aluminum that was crimped here and there to give a suggestion of filigrees, and with some pasted "gems" to decorate it, but most of the roles in the Easter story didn't call for extravagant costumes.

Tom nods again. "Thanks! Cool! I'll get it out of here as soon as I can." He then grins. "I think Agatha is really taken with that gladiator costume. She likes knights and stuff, it seems. When will the sale be? I think Elinor might be interested to see the costumes and such."

Hearing her name, Agatha looks up from the costumes and gives Tom a little wave.

"Well," Mr. Elders says, rubbing his chin, "that hasn't been decided. If you find anything you want to buy before the sale, well, any of the deacons is authorized to set a price on it. That's how Mr. Winters got those goblets just now. The backdrops are free for you, of course, Tom, so long as you can haul them off for us." He winks. "As for the costumes, those are definitely destined for the garage sale. It's fair to say we're not going to do another Easter pageant again -- not with children, in any case. If you're interested in costumes, though, you might want to check out the Christmas costumes in the other room -- not your size, of course, since those were for the live nativity we did two years ago."

Tom nods. "I'll think on it. I don't think there's anything I might be able to use, but, hey, hanks again! Do you need any more help with the basement?" He glances back toward Agatha. "I also better see if she's gonna get anything, and what. I'm too curious, I guess."

Mr. Elders shakes his head. "We can use more help, Tom, but not today. We moved all the small things we could around the stairs leading to the baptistery and the classrooms, but all the large items will have to be moved out the back. By the time this rain lets up, it will probably be dark, so we're just as well to pick up again tomorrow. But you're quite welcome to show up again tomorrow any time you like. I'm off tomorrow, too, so I'll be here all day."

Tom nods. "Cool. I'll stop by tomorrow, then. Thanks again for the wood. I'd better go see if Dad has shown up yet. He should be here any minute and we should move fast to get the wood, since it's raining." He waves over to Agatha next. "Hey, I'm gonna try and find Dad and get out of here. See you later!" With that, Thomas retries his poncho, and heads toward the doorway to look for his father.

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This site serves as a chronicle of sessions in an online roleplaying campaign moderated by Conrad "Lynx" Wong and May "Rowan" Wasserman. The contents of this site are (c) 2001, 2002 by Conrad Wong and May Wasserman except where stated otherwise. Despite the "children's fantasy" theme of this campaign, this site is not intended for young readership, due to mild language and violence.