Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience. Chapter 20 We'd made good progress on our new house and were getting to the finishing stages of the outside. We still needed to get the shingles on and then we could start to work on the inside. One morning we were surprised to see a whole flotilla of boats coming up the channel towards our island. When they arrived we discovered we had almost every able bodied person in the community. Leading the group were Elizabeth and Constable Ron. "We felt we needed to do something to show our gratitude to you," Elizabeth said to me, "so we decided to bring out a work crew to help." I hugged Elizabeth and told her how much we appreciated it. While Elizabeth and I were hugging one another, Ron was busy organizing the crew, assigning tasks to various individuals and getting volunteers to help with each task. Not to be left out, Elizabeth got some of the ladies busy getting the lunch organized and making sure there was plenty of cold water available. Lunch time came and the mountain of food that had been laid out soon disappeared as everyone ate their fill. Wasn't long after lunch that Ron was trying to get the crews reassembled and back at work. About mid-afternoon, the supply boat arrived with a couple of the largest barbeque grills I've ever seen on the deck. Willing hands soon had them unloaded along with a number of large cooler chests. It wasn't long before I could smell the charcoal burning and could see the ladies getting ready for supper. As I stood there watching, Jennifer came up and stood beside me looking at what was going on. "Wally, did you know about this?" she asked. "No, I'm as surprised as you are." I replied. "I wonder who decided to do this?" "I'll bet you any money that it was Elizabeth. Since she sees almost everyone at one time or another in the store, it would be easy to see if folks thought it was a good idea. I'm sure that if we checked, we'd find there is a `committee' that ran this and I bet I know who would be on that committee. Let's see..." and Jennifer ticked off on her fingers as she named about 7 of the ladies in the community. "Those 7 plus Elizabeth and Helen would be the core of the group. I'll bet she managed to twist the arms of a bunch of other folks to do something specific." I had to agree with her. "I'm going to find Elizabeth and talk to her. Coming with me?" Jennifer smiled, took my hand and off we went. As expected, when we confronted Elizabeth, she admitted the idea was hers. "This started out to be a simple gesture of thanks to you Wally for all you've done for everyone in the community. As I talked to a few people the idea seemed to take on a life of its own. Someone - I don't know who - suggested that you might like a bit of help finishing up your new home. Suddenly I found we were going to have a `house raising' like the early folks used to do with a barn. Before I knew it, I had so many offers I had to have help keeping track of things. "Ron heard what was going on and offered to help organizing the work crews and he and a couple of other guys have made sure that all the menfolk knew what they were going to do and Helen and I did the same with the ladies. Jerry offered to bring the barbeques and steaks over and help with the cooking. "So there you have it. Our version of a `house raising'. Elizabeth folded her hands in front of her lap and smiled. Jennifer grabbed her and hugged her for all she was worth. "I knew you'd be the guilty party. It is such a wonderful surprise." Suppertime rolled around and the aroma of grilling steaks was making many a mouth water in anticipation. Finally Ron called a halt to the day's events. He got the crew `leaders' together to see what was left to do and between them they agreed on a list of things left to be done. While Ron was getting the list completed, Elizabeth was getting supper served. Jerry turned out to be a wonderful barbeque chef and everyone found a steak that was done just the way they liked it. As soon as everyone had their plate filled and had found a place to sit, I decided I needed to say thanks. "Folks, Jennifer and I are overwhelmed by your kindness and generosity. I don't know how I can ever repay you..." Elizabeth jumped in and stopped me. "Wally, you have shown your generosity time and time again and this time it is we, the community, who are giving back a very small fraction of what you've given us over the years." Ron got up and joined Elizabeth. "Wally, I have to second what Elizabeth has said. Even something as simple as agreeing to look after Jennifer meant I didn't have to worry about her. Many a time you've quietly done something and as a result, a potential problem disappeared. On behalf of everyone here and all those who couldn't come - thank you from the bottom of our hearts." Everyone in the group started to applaud, much to my embarrassment. I thanked Ron and Elizabeth for their kind words and thanked everyone else for their help. I turned to find Jennifer standing there with a loaded plate for each of us. ***** Supper over, everyone loaded up the boats and headed back to the main island. Before he left, Ron gave me the list of things that they'd not been able to get finished and, characteristically, apologized about that. Over the years that I've been here, Ron and I have become good friends and I told him that Jennifer and I appreciated everything that he and the rest of the community had done. We asked Elizabeth to join us and after thanking her as well, we told Elizabeth and Ron of our plans, asking them to keep them a secret - at least for now. Finally, the last of the boats left headed home with Ron's boat bringing up the rear. Jennifer and I stood there on the shore watching the flotilla sail away with tears of joy and gratitude streaming down our faces. ***** The next morning, Jennifer and I took Ron's list and headed over to the new house to see what we could do. We were astounded at what the crew of workers had accomplished in such a short time. The house was now completely enclosed with all the doors and windows installed and the roof completed. All of the wiring was run although there were a couple of connections to be made and some of the fixtures to be installed. Inside the cabin I found a note from the electrician saying he'd be back to do the rest once we were ready for him. We also discovered that all of the plumbing had been run in, but again some connections needed to be made. That was something we could do as it was a fairly simple task. The kitchen area had been made ready for the cabinets and some of the cabinets had been installed. Those that hadn't were ones that we could easily deal with. Upstairs, the rooms still needed a bit of work but that wasn't urgent as we'd not be using those rooms for a while - at least I hoped it would be a while. Downstairs, our bedroom was pretty much ready move into. Shortly after I moved to the island I was given a large garden tractor and a small single axle trailer. I'd made good use of this, hauling heavy items up from the beach and other such tasks. I suggested to Jennifer that we go back to the cabin, load some stuff in the trailer and together with a lunch and some water to drink, head back to the new house. "If we take a load of things over each time we'll soon have a lot of the stuff moved." I said to Jennifer. I'd not paid much attention to what Jennifer was putting in the trailer, but when we got to the house and started unloading, I saw a blanket and some towels. `Oh yeah, we've got to perform that ceremony now that the house is closed in.' I thought. I found I wasn't wrong. As soon as we got to the house, Jennifer grabbed the blanket and my hand and pulled me into the room that would be our bedroom. "Hurry up, get undressed," she said as she stripped. "Today we'll make love here, tomorrow in the kitchen then the living room and finally the two bedrooms upstairs." "What, not going to do the bathroom?" I asked teasingly. "Nope, gonna save that for when the water is running so we can do it in the shower." She said with a big grin as she sat down on the blanket. "Hurry up, get over here." I did as I was ordered, wisely not saying `yes dear'. I'd no sooner got on the blanket when Jennifer pushed me down on my back and mounted me. She was so aroused that it took no time at all until she came. Her arousal must have been infectious as I came soon after her. Another chapter to follow soon!