CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY EIGHT – HELPING HANDS

To their surprise and immense relief, the responses came flooding back almost immediately. Within a matter of hours, Claire and Jasmine had managed to rally an entire crew of close friends and acquaintances, all eager to lend their strength and skills to the herculean task ahead. Some like Kate and Raj had direct experience with construction work, while others like Jess and Nate were simply bodies willing to take direction and put in the hard labor. By dawn's first light, the full team had assembled in the building's lobby like a well-equipped militia - toolboxes, ladders, buckets of mud and spackle at the ready. Wilkins emerged from his apartment with his usual sneer, clearly ready to get his morning ration of harassment in towards the hapless sisters. But the sneer quickly withered when faced with the sheer numbers and determination radiating from the crew. "Just...just what in the sam hill is all this then?" He blustered, hand falling from where he'd been preparing to jab an