Parking the truck, he called Nancy and Ramon over.   After whispering to the two of them for a few moments, Ramon nodded his head and went to get Sam.  Nancy smiled and hugged Allistor before walking off to find and distract Chloe.  She and Lilly would take her out for some extended gardening time.

Ramon and Sam returned with Michael and Meg, all of them grinning like fools.  They got to work unloading the truck, then picked a spot near the back of the cavern and got busy.  A short discussion, a division of labor, and the sounds of sawing and hammering commenced.

As they worked, Allistor pushed the Harley over to the market kiosk and got to work on the auction listing.  He wished for the hundredth time that month for the internet to still be working.  He loved Harleys, but couldn’t be sure of the correct model year of the bike.  And it would have been helpful to have some factual historical information on the company.  Still, he did the best he could, then he uploaded the listing and rolled the bike inside.  He’d learned that the kiosk would do a full scan of the bike and offer 3-D holo-images as well as detailed dimensions and other information like fuel source, tank capacity, and estimated range on a full tank.  If he’d done that with the Mustang, it might have sold for even more.  Lesson learned.

When Ramon and company were finished with their little project, they radioed Nancy that they needed her help. Allistor grabbed Amanda from the infirmary so she could participate. Two minutes later, Nancy and Lilly brought Chloe back inside.  Ramon pretended to be upset.  “Sam was doing some woodworking, and he cut himself pretty bad.  He could use one of your potions!”   He winked at Nancy and pointed toward the back wall where Sam was laying on the floor, playing injured.

Taking the hint, she took off at a jog toward Sam.  Ramon scooped up Chloe, and the rest of the group followed.   As Sam theatrically moaned and groaned, hamming it up for Chloe’s benefit, Ramon set her down.  She looked on, her face scrunched up in worry, until Nancy declared Sam all healed and told him to stop being such a big baby.

When Sam got to his feet, he said, “I was just working on the hutch here, and the dam-…er, the gosh-darn saw slipped.  Thanks for making it all better, Nancy.”

Chloe’s eyes widened.  Her focus, previously on the wounded Sam, moved past him to the wooden structure behind him.  Max, his nose having alerted him to new visitors long ago, was sniffing around it, tail wagging.  He gave a muted woof as he poked his nose at it. “Hutch?  Like… for bunnies?”