Windwood Farm (Taryn's Camera) Read Online Free PDF

from messing with it, but she was ready to admit there was something special about it.
    Re agan nodded. “Part of that is because it’s stone. Part of it because we’ve kept it covered and those old trees right here keep it shaded. I’ve patched the roof up over the years and there’s not a drop of water that can get into the house. It will come into the cellar, of course, and the whole thing smells musty. I’m sure if we knock out some of those walls we’re gonna find black mold up to our ears, but it is still standing.”
    Making both physical and mental notes while Reagan talked, now she stopped. “So why do it now? Why tear it down? Why not build around it? Restore it?” It really did break her heart to think of something that had stood there for so long to be knocked over in the name of a subdivision and “progress.”
    “I don’t have the money. People look at me and think I do, but I don’t. I borrow it, same as everybody else does. I have debts, too. I had a guy look at it once. He said it would cost as much to fix it as it would to build a new one. The foundation is fair, as far as we know, but you’re looking at a house that was built two centuries ago and hasn’t been updated since. No plumbing, no electric, weak floors, needs a new roof…It’s just not my project. And then there’s the other thing...nobody here would want to live in it. Would take an outsider. Fact is, if it wasn’t for the Stokes County Historical Society throwing a fit over it, I wouldn’t have even called you here to do your thing to it. No offense or nothing,” he added hurriedly.
    Taryn nodded. That was usually the case —the owners rarely took their own initiative in these matters. She was used to it. But at least Reagan was honest about it. But what had he meant about nobody from there not wanting to live in it?
    “Well, I hate to see it go , but then I hate to see all old houses go. It’s yours and you can do what you want with it. I can get started this evening,” she said as she stood up and dusted off her pants. “I like the sunset light the best, next to early morning. But I’m not really a morning person. Take me about three weeks finish, maybe a little longer. I’ll say five weeks to be on the safe side.”
    “No worries,” Re agan smiled. “We don’t plan on doing anything with it until the end of summer. I’ve got my hands full with some other business as it is. Feel free to poke around and do what you have to do. Just don’t get hurt.”
    “Thanks. I usually spend the first few days just kind of getting acquainted with the place, looking around, doing some sketches and photographs.”
    Reagan shrugged. “However you have to work. My wife? She’s a photographer too. Mostly kids. You do a lot of houses like this?”
    “Not so much anymore,” Taryn answered quickly. “Mostly museums and historical sites. I don’t do a lot of private homes anymore. This one …called to me, I guess you could say. Or else the ladies at the historical society were pretty persistent.”
    Reagan smiled. “Well, they are that, I can attest.”
    “I have my cell on me if you need anything,” she said as she started toward her car.
    “Oh,” Re agan called after her. “You won’t need it. Can’t get a signal out here. The company says there’s coverage but this must be a dead zone.”
     
     
    W hen the Stokes County Historical Society first approached Taryn about the job, she was reluctant. She didn’t do jobs associated with many private homes anymore. This was for reasons of her own, but mostly because the owners liked to nose around and make her nervous and she enjoyed having free run of the place. It had taken some pleading on their part for her to accept this one, and she did so only after they assured her it was vacant and nobody would bother her. And, of course, once they assured her that they could actually afford her. She hated to be petty about the money thing, but she really did need it.
    It was