[Kentucky Brothers 01] - The Journey by Wanda E Brunstetter

splatter of raindrops against the roof of the buggy and the steady
clip-clop
of the horse’s hooves on the road. Titus was glad when Suzanne didn’t question him further about Phoebe. It wasn’t something he wanted to talk about right now.
     
    When they arrived at the trailer, Titus hopped down from the buggy, untied his horse, and led him to the barn, which wasn’t in much better shape than the trailer. Then he returned to the buggy for his groceries. “Danki for the ride,” he said, giving Suzanne a nod.
     
    “You’re welcome.”
     
    As Suzanne’s horse and buggy pulled away, Titus hurried into the trailer. When he entered the kitchen, he screeched to a halt. A huge puddle of water sat in the middle of the floor.
     

C HAPTER 7
     

 
     
    I t rained all night, and Titus had trouble sleeping, with the constant
ping, ping, ping
of the water dripping into the pan he’d set on the kitchen floor. No wonder the house smelled so musty. This probably wasn’t the first time the roof had leaked. To top it off, he’d discovered some fresh mouse droppings under the kitchen sink and inside a couple of the cupboards. He figured he must have at least one mouse in the house. He’d have to see about getting a couple of traps to take care of that.
     
    Guess I’d better climb up on the roof and see about patching the place where the water’s been coming through before I leave for work today
, Titus thought as he forced himself to crawl out of bed the next morning. He would have done it last night if it hadn’t been raining so hard. So he’d put up with the dripping and spent the evening cleaning out the propane refrigerator, as well as the cupboards, before putting away his groceries. As soon as he got his first paycheck, he planned to hire a driver and go to Hopkinsville to get a new mattress for his bed. If his new job worked out well and he decided to stay in Kentucky permanently, he’d need to find a better place to live, because this trailer wasn’t fit for the mice.
     

     
    “I can’t believe Allen would expect Titus to live in Vernon Smucker’s old trailer,” Suzanne said to her mother as they scurried around the kitchen getting breakfast on the table. “I didn’t get to see the inside, but if it’s anything like what I saw outside, Titus has a lot of work ahead of him to make that place livable.”
     
    “I never thought much about it, but you’re probably right,” Mom said, turning from the stove where she was frying some bacon. “Vernon’s trailer has been abandoned for quite a while now, and it’s probably not fit for anyone to live in. I think we ought to talk to my daed and Nelson and see about getting a crew of people together for a work frolic soon. The trailer might be livable if a group of us helped fix it up.”
     
    “Who are we helping?” Grandpa asked when he and Nelson entered the kitchen.
     
    “Titus,” Mom answered. “Suzanne said the trailer he’s living in looks pretty bad from the outside, and I’m guessing it’s going to need a lot of repairs inside as well. So I was thinking we ought to have a work frolic to help him fix the place up.”
     
    “That’s a good idea,” Nelson said with a nod. “Titus told me yesterday that the place is a mess.”
     
    “I’ll talk to some folks in our area and see about setting a date for the frolic,” Grandpa said. “If we’d known sooner that Allen was bringing someone to work in the woodshop, and that he’d have him stay in Vernon’s old place, we could have had the trailer cleaned and repaired before Titus got here.”
     

     
    Titus was relieved when he found a ladder, a hammer, some nails, and a roll of tar paper in the old shed behind the trailer. He would use the tar paper to patch the wooden part of the roof, and when he had the chance to buy some shingles he’d finish the job.
     
    As he set the ladder in place and began to climb, a bird chirped from a nearby tree. “I’m glad someone’s in a happy mood this