Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Luke
L uke sat on a large tea chest, kicking his legs as he ate his breakfast bagel. Next to him Erica ate an apple.
“You’re making me feel unhealthy,” Luke muttered, side-eyeing Erica’s choice of breakfast.
“I’m thirty months pregnant. Everything gives me heartburn. Someone said to try apples. So I’m reluctantly eating an odd-shaped apple from Freya’s parent’s apple tree.”
“Thirty months? Wow that’s longer than an elephant. I’d forgotten they had an apple tree. Me and Freya used to steal all the apples and take them down to the coves where we would hunt for treasure. Anyway, you’re not anywhere near your due date.”
“I feel like I am. Another month or so, and then I get to cuddle him or her.”
“I’ll be an uncle. How scary is that! ”
“You’ll be a fabulous uncle. Balance out Jason’s gruffness and Archer’s seriousness. Daisy will spoil the little one and bring her sunshine to the table.”
“Are you nervous?”
“No, strangely calm, like I was always meant to be here and meet Archer. Build a family with him and all of you lot.”
“And building up all this, too,” Luke said, pointing to the warehouse behind them.
“I know. I’m more nervous about how that will work than bringing a human into the world. I’m an outsider basically telling the residents of Copper Island they need to share their belongings.”
“You’re thinking of the island, sustainability, carbon footprint. I bet this place will be busy every day.”
“Are you going to tell me who you have to help out today?”
“Here they come now,” Luke said, pointing to the end of the quay.
Freya, Heidi and six kids were strolling down the concrete path. One kid was on the other side of Freya, and the other five kids were on the other side of Heidi.
“Kids?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry. I have their parent’s permission, along with the head teacher’s agreement. They’re going to do detention here every Saturday until the end of term.”
“Isn’t that Ralph’s kid, Kenny?”
“Yep. I found those kids kicking the shit out of him a couple of months ago. Then I found out they were bullying him out of his pocket money because they assumed he had money because Ralph was up at Turner Hall.”
“Christ, if only they knew the reality,” Erica said, tossing the apple core into a makeshift bin. “Well, I dislike bullies as much as I dislike the casting couch, so let’s get them to work.”
Luke hopped off the chest and strode towards Freya, hugged her and kissed her cheek.
“Ew, gross, man,” the ring leader of the bullies said.
“Button it, kiddo. We spoke about this on the way here. The better you behave, the quicker this will be over. You annoy me, then the pain lasts longer,” Freya said, still in Luke’s arms.
“I think I might quite like you,” Luke said.
“What? You already quite like me, Luke Turner.”
“Oh yeah, keep forgetting. Right, this way.”
Luke led the boys while Heidi and Freya splintered off to find Erica. Kenny fell into step next to him as they entered the warehouse.
“Why do I have to be here too? I’m quite happy at school with detention,” he mumbled.
“Life lessons, mate. You’ll learn a lot over these next seven weeks.”
Once they were deep into the massive warehouse the size of a football field, he told them to gather around.
“All right. The aim of today is to get as many of the higher boxes down to ground level. They’re old, sturdy and can be reused, so there is no throwing them down to the ground. Four of you work in pairs, two on each side and hand them down. One of you will be outside with me sorting through the contents.”
“What about Kenny? What’s he going to do?” the ring leader asked.
“Kenny is your supervisor. He’s going to make sure you work for the next four hours. You’ll get a twenty-minute break after an hour and forty-five minutes. They’ll be drinks and snacks outside waiting for you. If I hear you giving Kenny a hard time, then things will get harder because I will make sure things get harder for you. So pick who is coming outside. It doesn’t matter who is first, as you’ll take a turn outside sorting each week. We reckon there are over a thousand boxes in here. Those on the floor are bigger and can stay where they are. By the end of the seven weeks, this place will be empty, and your time served will be your punishment done.”
Not a peep out of the five for a few moments, and then rumblings between them about who would stay and who would go. While they battled it out over rock paper scissors, Luke took Kenny to one side.
“Here is a clipboard with numbers on them. It’s supposed to be the inventory to this place, but I don’t hold much faith as this was emptied before it was handed to us. On the side of each tea chest is a shipping number. Find it on the list before they hump it outside and tick it off. If the number is not there, they use this spray can, and number it yourself and add it to the sheet. Got that?”
“Yes, Mr Turner.”
“Luke’s fine, mate. I need to get this place ready before the baby is born, so your assistance in ensuring everything is accounted for will be a big help. Managing people who hate you will always be there in your life. Learn how to manage that now, and then when you get to university and then the workplace, you’ll know how to deal with it. Don’t be an arsehole.”
“Got it.”
“Great, give me a shout whenever you find a box with something in it.”
“Right.”
By the end of the morning and the allotted four hours he put the kids to work, they hadn’t cleared a great deal of the warehouse. He was glad now that he’d negotiated seven weeks with the parents and school. He’d offer Kenny evenings when his dad worked late.
The five teenagers ended up working as a team and working hard. He guessed they needed a little direction with something productive to do. Heidi and Freya had headed up to the cottages with Erica, who faked exhaustion. He knew she was faking it when she sat on the back of the golf buggy, wiggling her fingers as they retreated. He didn’t care. Living on the island, he hadn’t sorted out his routine to work out, so humping boxes all day was perfect exercise.
Kenny came sauntering out of the warehouse with his jumper tied around his waist. His t-shirt was wet from the exertion of directing the others.
“Did you have a good morning?” Luke asked him, handing him a bottle of water.
“I did. When you first told me I had to get them to work, I was ready to sneak out the back. But I didn’t want to let you down, and it worked really well in the end.”
“How did you manage it?”
“We worked together mapping the warehouse first, sectioning it out so we could achieve our box goal each Saturday.”
“That’s smart,” Luke said. “Good management comes from the top. A good manager makes sure the people they lead are working at their best.”
“I think that’s the problem with the school,” Kenny muttered.
“You don’t like Mr Morris?”
“I don’t think any kid likes their head teacher, but he’s so angry and bitter. For some reason, he truly hates the Turners. I made the mistake of telling him that you helped me with some issues, and he hit the roof. Apparently, I should have gone to him, but he isn’t that approachable.”
“Well, I had strong words with him to get you all here for seven Saturdays. I’m glad you found it a good experience. I’ll see you next Saturday?”
“Yeah, for sure. Look, Luke, I found this tin. No one else saw it. When I was on the top tier looking down, I saw a blanket and a kerosene lamp. It looked like someone was camping out, so I hopped across the boxes to get rid of it in case whoever it was came back. Except it looked girly, and it was wrapped around this tin.”
Luke looked down at Kenny’s hand and saw a metal-style lunch box. It was dented, with the green paint peeling off, showing the gunmetal grey underneath. If Luke wasn’t mistaken, it looked like a military box of some kind.
“Did you open it?” Luke asked, reaching for it.
“It’s locked or jammed, but it’s heavy, and I can feel things moving inside.”
“All right, I’ll take a look. Thanks for keeping this quiet. It doesn’t look like the junk we’ve ploughed through today. If you see any more like this next week, give me a shout.”
“Sure, Luke. See you next week or around Turner Hall with Dad.”
“You need a lift home?”
“Nah, gotta meet my Dad at the chippy, reward for working with you guys.”
“Enjoy,” Luke said quietly, staring at the box.
He looked up, and Kenny was heading towards the fish shop at the end of the quay. Luke then looked up at the massive warehouse and wondered what other treasures they’d find. Erica had lost her mind over the vintage clothing she found in a suitcase. He wondered if he should check with Cynthia if they could sell what he found in the warehouse. Cynthia had given them the warehouse and its contents, so he figured it was all theirs.
Luke dragged the few boxes they’d used as seats into the siding of the shutter doors and then pulled them closed. After clipping on the padlock, he scooped up the tin and hopped into the golf buggy heading for the cottages.