“It’s me Frank,” he said.
Frank smiled. “How’s business?”
It took him a moment to realise that Frank was asking how his old job was going. “I’m not doing that anymore Frank,” he said. “I’m in the reconditioning business now.”
The smile faded but Ben could still see it just beneath the surface. “It’s a shame. You were good at it.”
He had been good at it, he’d gone further than either his father or Frank himself. Even now the salvage teams stuck to a more limited radius as ordered by Nicholas. “I’ve got a family now Frank,” he said. “I can’t go wandering anymore.”
“It’s a shame,” said the old man but his eyes were closed and a moment later he was asleep.
The nurse returned with a jug of water and a cup that Ben recognised from one of his own salvage trips. She smiled at him and he guessed that meant he was allowed to leave. He took one last look at the old man and then at all the old people who were suffering because there was only love and kindness to treat them with.
He found his mum standing at the entrance. Frank’s girls were where he had left them.
“You can go through now,” he said.
They smiled at him and then disappeared down the corridor.
“Has she come back with ointment?” he said.
His mum turned to look at him and it seemed as if she didn’t know him. “Who?”
Ben was about to remind her when he looked down and saw a glass jar with a creamy paste inside it. “Come on mum, lets get you home.”
She nodded but looked at him warily. He led her out of the hospital and across the island to the jetty where he had left his boat. It took a few days for him to accept it but eventually he came to realise that he had made his decision to go to London that day in the hospital.
6
The three men in the boat were silent as two rowed and the third looked into the distance. He could hear the sound of children laughing and splashing in the water. The winter flu had passed but it had left its mark; there were fewer old people in Sanctuary now. Old Frank hadn’t made it and neither had the Eisley sisters, among others. A lot of the children splashing around in the water would grow up without knowing their grandparents.
The Island lay ahead. The frame of a new building stood bare and skeletal beside the market. It was an election year and Nicholas was busy fulfilling many of the promises he’d made four years ago and probably not thought about since. He had successfully held a referendum that meant, for the first time, a General could serve more than two terms. The people milling around the Village Hall were either registering to run against him or protesting about something.
The boat reached the jetty and Ben jumped out. He wrapped the rope around a pole and tied it off. By the time he had finished Aaron and Anthony had joined him on the dock. Anthony held a scruffy leather folder.
The deck was slippery beneath his feet and in places he had to step over cracked wood and rotten panels. The whole thing would need replacing eventually but, for now, they were just making repairs where they were needed and using the resources to build a pub.
Ben led the way through the people who had gathered outside the Village Hall. He recognised some of them but didn’t stop to say hello or find out what they were doing there.
It was light and airy in the hall. A skylight had been installed and there was now a walled off section at the rear where Nicholas conducted his private business. Two men stood in front of the door.
“The General is busy,” said one. He looked ten years younger than Ben but he was about a foot taller and tough.
“We’ve got an appointment,” said Ben. Another new initiative, not so long ago there was no need to make appointments to see Nicholas.
“Wait here,” said the other man. He was smaller than the first but had a permanent expression of anger. It struck Ben how much things had changed recently, once upon a time he had known the name and face of everyone in the village but these two were completely new to him. They didn’t appear to recognise him either.
“What’s your name?” said the little man.
“Ben.”
The little man disappeared into Nicholas’s office and the big man stood there watching them suspiciously. A moment later the little man returned.
He nodded at them, “in you go.”
Anthony and Aaron followed Ben through the door into the small office. It smelled of tobacco and thick smoke hung in the air.
“What can I do for you?” said Nicholas. He sounded tired and he looked old. His mouth hung down at the corners, he was starting to get jowls.
Aaron opened the battered folder and placed it on top of the scattered papers on Nicholas’s desk.
“What’s this?” he said.
“It’s a plan for a journey to London,” said Ben.
They watched in silence as Nicholas bent his head to the document and started to read. After a couple of minutes he began to shake his head.
“Oh no. No, no,” he said.
Ben looked at Anthony and Aaron but they didn’t seem to know what to say.
“No this won’t do at all,” said Nicholas and looked up. “You can’t really expect me to approve this.”
“Why not?” said Ben.
“The resources, the man power.” He closed the folder, he couldn’t have read it all. “There’s no way.”
“But what about the medicine?” said Ben.
“The medicine that’s twenty-years out of date?”
Ben had not considered that. It had been twenty years since he’d encountered a sell by date. “The supplies then.”
Nicholas shook his head. “We’ve got supplies.”
“They won’t last forever.”
“No but neither will anything you find in London. We need to focus on sustainability; farming and fishing. We can’t continue living on the remains of the old world Ben.”
The words rung in his head even after they had left the Village hall; ‘we can’t continue living on the remains of the old world.’ Even as they climbed onto the boat and pushed away, in silence, it was all he could think. The worst part of it was that Nicholas was right. Maybe London would keep them going for a while longer, maybe decades, but eventually it would run out and the longer they waited the harder it would be.
It would be difficult for him to transition to a life of farming but at least he had seen a farm. There were people, now adults, living in the village who wouldn’t be able to picture a farm and they certainly wouldn’t be able to run one. If they continued to live off the old world until his generation was gone what would happen to those they left behind?
No one spoke as the boat cut through the water. The splashes of the oars sounded monotonous, the laughs and screams of the children they could hear were painful. Ben tried to shrug it off, it just wasn’t meant to be. He tried to ignore the fact that he was disappointed, that he had been looking forward to one last trip. That wasn’t going to be his life. His life was here in the village and now it always would.
Fight
1
Kirsty Lorimer looked at her three friends and tried to bite back the sense of revulsion she felt. Margaret, Anne and Charlotte sneered at her, their faces masks of disdain.
“You wouldn’t dare,” said Margaret.
No, she wouldn’t, if they wanted to know the truth. Never in a million years. If her father found out she was even considering it he would kill her.
But her father wasn’t there. He was at the pub where he was probably drinking himself silly on out of date scotch. She had the whole boat to herself which was why she’d thought it would be fun to invite her friends over. That and it was far less likely he would come home and beat on her if there were witnesses.