This Old House of Bondage
"Chunk, or stream?" Khan asked after Rachel shut down the chainsaw. She was helping him clear the yard of his latest acquisition, and he had taught her the basics of using the saw. He brushed the sawdust off his chest, surveying the yard and the small house he had purchased. She walked over to get her water bottle, to buy time as much as to satisfy her thirst.
OK, Chunk means he wants to flip it,
she thought as she eyed the back of the little house he had bought last month.
He said he paid, what, 55 for it? Then new roof, other bullshit, call it ten grand extra. If he sold it, he said it was worth 75, so he'd only make ten grand. For him that's a small chunk.
She smiled at him as she walked back to him, handing him the water bottle, which he killed in a long swig. It was pretty hot out here for the middle of May. She had put her long brown hair in pigtails to keep it under control while she worked. She fiddled with one as she kept thinking, fast.
Stream would mean renting it out, getting an income stream. If it's like his other places, he'd get about $600 a month, after taxes say five...
She was desperate to impress him. If she had a crush on him when she became his Apprentice, six weeks of sex had made her obsessed with him. She would actually get wet watching him work. Not knowing the right answer, she split the difference. "For you, chunk. For me, stream." They had finished felling the dead tree and cutting it up into rounds. Khan started picking up the heavy rounds and flinging them casually into the trailer as he motioned for her to continue. "You already have three little rentals just like this one. Another would just be a hassle to you, so even if you only clear ten grand, better to get out quick and on to the next project. Me, on the other hand, getting $500 a month for me is a big deal, it's worth the hassle." She helped picking up the heavy wooden rounds. She struggled with two hands to walk one of them over to the trailer. In that time, he had picked up four more and tossed them two handed as easily as passing a basketball. She picked up a few more, but when he started scooping some up one handed and tossing them like toys into the trailer, she just stopped and gawked.
He is SO strong. He could toss me around like a piece of firewood if he wanted. Please, Mr. Lumberjack, I've been a naughty log....Wow. That was so lame. SO lame.
"You working or watching?"
She hid her embarrassment by rolling her eyes. "You're just showing off now. I mean really. What, are you part Terminator or what?"
Her comment made him falter and pause in mid throw, more than she would have thought. "Let's say good genes. My Mother was a Sikh, from northern India. They're known as tall, proud warriors."
"Wait, you're part Indian? You never said anything about that before."
He stopped and looked at her intently. "Does it matter to you?"
"No, uh, no, it's just, I dunno, I never put two and two together. You don't talk like an Indian, so.."
"I've never been to India. I was born here. I served in the Army as a translator. Yet all of that counts for nothing because a bunch of terrorists ran some planes into New York last year."
Rachel tried to lighten the mood a little. "So, your Dad must have been huge, then."
"Finish coiling up the rope. We're done with that here."
"Was she a mountain climber? Did she climb him?"
"You are beginning to annoy me."
"Let me guess, she got drunk at a bonfire, met a Sasquatch, he promised he'd pull out?" she teased.
Khan threw the last of the wood into the trailer and walked over to her, calmly.
"Papa was a Belgian, actually. Large build, from good Teutonic stock." He pointed a finger at her nose. "Do not take this as a test, or challenge. Do not ever speak badly about my Mother, or my heritage, again. Ever."
She stared at his large dirty finger. "I'm sorry! I didn't realize... "
He placed his finger on her lips, quieting her. "And now you do realize. Thank you for respecting that."
She hadn't really seen it before, but now that he said he was half Indian she could see that. She had assumed his features and mocha coloring were more from just working out in the sun.
Embarrassed, she turned and started tying up the bundles of brush with twine for something to do, using awkward knots. She tried to break the tension by changing the subject.