Help Jenny

“I help Jenny with the basement,” you say, “it’s my stuff after all.”

“Good point,” Connor says, “I help in the basement too. I need to see what we can turn into money.”

“Great, then I join Alima,” Allie decides, “we come to the basement when we are done. Gina how about … Gina? Well I assume she is in the garden again.”

“Fine, then let’s start,” Jenny says, “and you, Beta, better pray that this will not cause any trouble for the group.”

Everyone heads in the direction of Jenny leads you to a door you never noticed before. According to Connor, the door was locked when they checked it the first time. To your luck Jenny can pick locks and afterwards they changed the lock. The basement is impressive. It goes down a stair and afterwards over the whole length of the mansion and the backyard. There are dozens of rooms. Some are locked, some are open. On the wall is a panel with hooks on which keys hang. However, the lights are old and most cables you worked a lot on the electricity upstairs and it seems you have to continue down here.

“We will start in this room,” Jenny tells you and opens a room that is packed under the floor with boxes, “we look in every box if something useful or valuable is inside. If not, we carry the box to the entrance hall. What we don’t need will be donated or thrown away. Is the alright for you, Max?”

You nod. It is common for Jenny to take the lead. You don’t have a problem with this, even if it is about your property. Together you look through the boxes. Some contain really strange stuff. However, you notice regularly that Jenny glares at you. She seems pissed since Lilly asked to stay at the mansion too.

“Jenny, I can see that you want to tell me something,” you say after a while, “what is it? Is it about Lilly?”

“You shouldn’t have given in so easy,” Jenny mumbles while looking through a box with books, “it’s not the first time her aggressive nature puts the whole group in deep shit. You should have let her struggle. At least for a while. Otherwise she will not learn it.”

“I agreed to your plans too,” you reply and check if the tool set is complete, “and you haven’t had to convince me long.”

“That’s not the same,” Jenny replies strict, “my plans are peacefully and perfectly thought out. But …. I guess you are right. I hate such conservative bastards too and I would not like her to get in trouble. Just … keep an eye on her. She has to learn to keep her fists to herself.”

You continue to work in silence. Some of the boxes are just filled with old stuff you hardly know what it is. Others are filled with tools, books, really old toys and sometimes you find something really strange. In one box Connor finds an old pistol. He checks the internet and says it is a flintlock pistol from 18th century. He doesn’t know if it is worthy, but the local museum will be happy and eventually pay you a little for it. In one box you find almost new washbasin faucets. You can use them for the renovation. And Jenny finds a box full of old clothes still in their original packing. They will keep the homeless people warm in winter.

And so it goes on. Sometimes it is just crap, sometimes funny but worthless plunder and sometimes a real goldmine. You have no idea what kind of guy has such a strange storage. However, after you put down a box with expensive looking cups wrapped in paper, you find a small box on the floor. It is a ring-box. And when you open it, the ring still stuck in its pillow. It is a very expensive looking ring. Golden and with a fingernail-big ruby on the top.

“Hey, Jenny, look what I found,” you say and show her the open box.

“Beautiful,” Jenny says impressed, “pretentious, but really very beautiful. If the ruby is real, we could buy a lot of solar panels for this little thing.”

You hardly listened to her. For some reason this ring exerts an impressive fascination on you. You wonder why. You never wear jewelry.