Chapter No.59. Change.

Sylvia returned and her sudden appearance alerted the Steris family. James was especially concerned when he saw that she was upset about something.

"My mother died," she blurted with tears glistening in her eyes. "I tried to revive her, but it didn't work."

"Oh my!" Janet said. "We're so sorry!"

"Let's go see what we could do," Robert said.

They appeared in Sylvia's mother's bedroom and realized that her mother had deceased. Robert tried to revive her, but his effort failed.

"I'm not sure why I can't resurrect her. I don't think she died all that long ago."

"Maybe this has something to do with us reversing time," Janet suggested.

"That could be."

"What am I going to do now?" Sylvia cried.

Janet went to her and put her arm around her. "We're here to help you. I think the first thing to do is call the police and inform them that she has died."

"What am I going to tell them if they ask how she died?" Sylvia asked.

"Just tell them that you don't know. Tell them that she was perfectly okay when she went to bed."

"We'll leave now," Robert said. "After they take her away, you can come to our place."

Sylvia nodded, but her eyes were still filled with tears.

The Steris family didn't get any sleep that night. Sylvia appeared and plopped down in a chair to cry.

"I think this might be God's way of telling us that we need a new venue," Robert said. "I think that Sylvia's mother was supposed to die so that her daughter could become part of our family."

"What do you mean?" Janet asked. "Are you suggesting that we move to another country?"

"No, nothing like that. I think we should move to a house that's more . . . shall we say more private."

"You mean something out away from the city with more land."

"Yes, maybe something that needs some loving care. We should be able to get a good amount for this house now that I did some renovations." He turned to Sylvia. "Did your mother have a will?

"I don't know. She might have,"

"Before we do anything, we need to see that her mother gets a proper send off," Janet said.

"Yes, I agree. Does she have any family still alive?"

"I don't think she did," Sylvia said. "My father died six years ago, and she didn't have any siblings."

"Okay, maybe the house will fall into your hands, but you're not of age to do anything about it."

"Perhaps there's a way to take care of that problem," Robert said. "We could legally adopt her and assume her mother's assets."

"I know a good attorney that might be able to handle that," Janet said. "He a member of the credit union."

"Good. Let's do this one step at a time."

"If you adopt her, would that make her my sister?" James asked.

"I don't know what the law says about that," Robert said. "But it doesn't matter. We're effectively above the law."

James didn't know how to take that. Did it mean that they were going rogue?

The next day, arrangements were made for Sylvia's mother's funeral. Two days later, Father Johns handled the mass and the burial. However, he was confused about what had happened.

"Why couldn't you resurrect her?" He asked Robert.

"We're not sure. It might be because we had to reverse time to prevent this area from being completely destroyed in a military attack on us, or it could be that God wants to make sure that Sylvia is a permanent part of our family. We've initiated an adoption and we're going to move."

Father Johns' right eyebrow shot up. "Really?"

"Don't worry, we'll still be members of your congregation. We're just moving to a less crowded location, one that's more easily secured."

Father smiled. "Oh, I see. We would hate to lose you."

"None of what we do is without God's wishes. God works through imperfect people like us to accomplish a perfect plan. The Bible has several examples of that, especially in the Old Testament. We are entering a new more difficult phase of our mission. Hopefully, we'll be able to do what's right according to God's plan."

"We'll be praying for your success," Father said.

"Thanks. We need all the spiritual help we can get."

Father fully understood that wish.

Janet contacted the lawyer to start the process of adopting Sylvia and arranging for her mother's assets to be placed in their control as administrators of their new daughter's affairs.

She also contacted the real estate agent to begin a search for a new home, one that was more secluded. Carl Orsby, the agent, found a possible home and arranged for the Steris family to check it out.

The house was situated on seven acres of mostly woods. It had a brick driveway that led from a two-lane road up to a dated brick two-story colonial with four chimneys. The inside needed lots of work.

"Okay," Robert said. "What do you think?"

"This would be great if we were the Addams Family," James quipped.

"We would need a butler by the name of Lurch and an Uncle Fester for that."

They laughed.

"I think we can remodel this place and bring it up to more modern standards," Robert said. He turned to his wife. "How much are they asking for this?"

"I think it's two hundred and fifty," she replied.

"If we combine what we'll get for our house and Sylvia's mother's, we should be able to swing it, especially since we'll be doing the renovation."

"I can do some adjustments to our account in the credit union," she said. "Nothing illegal, just some needed improvements."

Robert smiled. "I'm sure you can, madam secretary."

She laughed.

Several weeks later, the new Steris family was ready to renovate. Robert turned to his wife. "You can do the kitchen and dining room. James and Sylvia will do the bedrooms and baths. I'll handle the new roof, plumbing, electrical and heating and colling, as well as the basement."

"How elaborate can we go?" James asked.

"I suggest that function should trump form. Basically, your mother and I need the master suite, and you two need rooms that suit you. Pretend that the fourth bedroom and bath is for guests."

"What are we going to do for a pool?"

"I'll take care of that when I do the plumbing. I think I can stick a pool chamber on the back of this beast."

"Cool!"

They separated to do their assigned tasks. Janet looked over the dated kitchen and sighed. It needed a lot of improvements. She started by inserting a large brace above the wall that separated the dining room and kitchen and then caused the wall separating the two to disappear opening up the space. She rearranged the kitchen so that it had much more working space, including a sizable island and then redid the floor in terrazzo tile and the benches in a pleasing marble pattern. He next job would be to replace the dated appliances.

James and Sylvia went to work on the upstairs bedrooms, starting with the master suite.

"This room looks like it belongs in a funeral parlor," James quipped. "Let's give mother a nice walk-in closet."

"We'll have to make some rearrangements to the walls to do that," Sylvia said.

"I think this plan would work," she said after causing an architectural design to appear in the air.

"Yeah, that would work."

She smiled.

Robert began the necessary work to replace the plumbing, electrical wiring, and the heating and cooling system. But first, he needed to update the aging basement. That required creating a completely new drainage system around the house's foundation and then replacing the foundation with more solid concrete structures. Then, he replaced old wooden beams with new steal I-beams.

The electrical system was abysmal. He replaced it with a modern system with a solar panel system connected to a battery array, which would serve as a backup to the normal electrical system. The plumbing required lots of work. He replaced all of the clay and iron pipes with PVC and copper and connected the water system to an electrical system that was computer controlled.

Surprisingly, there was a pool behind a neglected patio at the rear of the house. It hadn't been used for several years. After cleaning up the area, Robert replaced the pool's plumbing and chlorinating system and then redid the pools surfaces, replacing them with a solid marble.

The next step was to create a literal room around the pool, something that would protect it.

The new Steris family stood outside the house, considering how to make it more secure without making it look like a bunker.

"I think the roof should be done in metal tiles," James said.

"They are," Robert said. "They're also solar panels too."

"That's wild!" James said. "Two functions in one."

"I think that the outside just needs cleaned up," Janet said. "Maybe with a solid granite."

"Yeah, that works!" Robert said.

"Hey!" James said, pointing to a structure off to the side of the house. "We forgot the garage."

"Yes, you're right," Robert said. "Let's make it look as if it was part of the main house." He waved his hand and the garage was attached to the house and had a drive way leading to it.

"We can make little improvements as needed," Robert said. "I think it looks good enough."

"And then some!" Janet quipped.

They laughed.