Ben sat back down, shaking his head. Jacob, who occupied the next seat, patted him on the shoulder.
“I think I said it all. We workers don’t like the fact that 300 pounds of our hard-earned money was spent on Saturday night. We think that there should be some sort of rule regarding the amount of money people can spend.”
“Oh, my god. I work and bring in money,” Isabella shouted out.
“Not much…” someone said at the back, causing a general eruption of discussion. Some people started standing up and Poppy started crying.
“ENOUGH!” Deborah shouted sternly, bringing the volume back down. “We all bring different things into this place. Money isn’t the only thing. I thought that was the whole point of this project.”
Gareth stood up, removing his flat cap and leaning thoughtfully on a sturdy walking stick. “I’d like to add some’in’, too. I’ve spent everyday I’ve been ’ere workin’ them fields and I can tell you now, boy, if you think that ain’t work, muck in and join us.”
“We understand your point but we would still like some rules,” said Jacob.
“Like what?” asked Deborah.
“Like something that stops people spending all my money,” Ben offered.
“It’s not your money anymore,” Sunny replied a bit too smugly.
“It bloody well is,” Ben shouted back.
“That’s not what you agreed to,” said Deborah, coolly.
“I’m not here to fund a jolly boys’ knees-up when there’s work to be done.”
“We just need to agree on some ground rules,” said Jacob, slyly becoming the voice of reason in a situation he helped create. “Why don’t we just nominate someone to hand out the money, someone who can decide if it’s going to be used sensibly?”
“Sensibly? You mean someone who will stop it being spent on things you don’t approve of more like,” Sunny said, sarcastically.
“Not at all,” Jacob added reasonably. “Just so we avoid situations like this. I appreciate that some of us need to go out occasionally.”
There was a murmur of approval from about half the group. Sunny shook his head.
“Who do you think should do it?” someone at the back asked.
“Deborah.” someone else shouted.
“No. I’m too busy with the restaurant and Poppy.”
“How about Ben?” asked Jacob.
“No way,” said Sunny, with venom.
“Put it to the vote,” replied Jacob.
“Fine.”
A rumble of approval went around the group.
It took about 15 minutes for the necessary organising, with Jill handing out small pieces of paper and pens then collecting them all back in and counting the results. While this was taking place, people began milling around and talking amongst themselves. When they sat back down, in different seats, the divide was clear to see. Jill took the podium again.
“I have a result. It was very close with just 1 vote difference but Ben has not been nominated to look after the money.”
“Woo hoo,” Sunny exclaimed, happily.
“I think we should adjourn this meeting,” said Jill over the growing noise.
“I don’t think so,” shouted Ben. “I don’t see the point in any of this anymore. I’m not going to stay here and be treated like this.” Many of the crowd to the right of him were nodding in agreement, with some getting to their feet and jeering at those seated opposite.
“It’s not like we’re getting anything out of it,” someone shouted.
Gordon watched for a few minutes before walking out from behind his camera and making his way up to the rusty statue. The 2 mobs failed to notice him. “What’s the point?” he shouted over them. “What’s the point? You want a prize?” The word ‘prize’ had the desired effect and they quietened down. “I’ll tell you what then: if, after the 6 months, the majority of you feel that your life would be better living here rather than back at home, as a community you can have the deeds to this place. I’ll sign this place over to you. How’s that?”
A ripple of stunned silence reverberated around the once unruly horde.
“How would that work?” Ben finally responded, sceptically.
“There are 31 of you, including the children. Let’s say… if 20 or more of you want to continue living here after the 6 months, then I will sign over this place to you. As a community though, so, if you want to sell it, you would have to get everyone living here to agree to it.”
An excited chatter erupted from the group along with several ‘Oh my gods’ from the direction of Isabella.
“I would imagine that, after all the work we’re going to do to this place, it’s probably going to be worth somewhere in the region of 2 million. How’s that for a prize?” And with that, he walked off in the direction of the beach.
*
Gordon had made his way past the fields and was heading down the thin winding path towards the gentle crashing of waves in the distance. By the time he could feel soft sand underfoot, the big red sun had dipped into the ocean, beginning to extinguish itself and bathing him in soft warm light. As he let it wash over him, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and smiled as a familiar face greeted him.
“All right, lad?” He offered a hand. “Hello, Bill.”
“You seen the news?”
“Yes. How did you find me?”
“Your mum told me. She’s worried. Ain’t heard from you for a while. You should phone her. Told me all about you working on a television show. Didn’t know where else to go…” Bill pronounced television, tele-vis-ee-on, like it was a new invention. Gordon roughly put his arm around Bill and began walking up the path.
“I think we need a drink.”
*
DAY 11
Sunny – 12:32
I am amazed at last night’s meeting. I really thought we were all going to go our separate ways. I can’t believe we could actually win this place. It’s fantastic. I’m really going to start pulling my weight around here. I should make it up with Ben and the workers really. Have to speak to Izzie and Sophia. I’m sure we can mend some bridges.
Deborah and Howard – 16:12
The atmosphere around here has certainly picked up.
Yes, dear. It sure has.
I wonder if this was the plan all along.
It could have been.
Would you go and get Poppy, Howard?
Yes, dearest.
I can’t believe Howard didn’t say anything at the meeting yesterday. He left it all up to me as usual… I’m sorry. I’m not normally like this but I’ve got nowhere to vent my feelings and I’m so angry. He’s just the same in the restaurant. If I wasn’t there I’d hate to think what would happen … or what wouldn’t happen. Oh dear.
Jacob – 16:46
Glad we’re not going home but we still have some problems to work through. Not sure about this new person.
Bill – 16:54
Don’t know why the lad made me come in ’ere. If you’re watching, my beautiful, dearest wife, I know I’ve made some mistakes but…Well, you know. Erm… I best go.
Poppy and Tom – 17:30
I like the farmer. He’s funny. Oh, and he has big red cheeks.
And a beard.
And a hat, Poppy.
He likes carrots, but no other fruits.
Oranges, maybe.
Let’s find him an orange.
Ben – 19:12
I’m definitely staying put now. This place is worth a small fortune! Might talk to Gordon about Bill staying though. Not sure we need another non-worker around here. Got to think of the budget. It’s only fair, after all.
Gordon – 23:19
Can’t believe how nice most people are being to me. Suppose when there’s money on the table it changes things.’Snot really how I wanted things to turn out but what can you do? Sunny wants Isabella, me and Sophia to make more of an effort with the workers, as he sarcastically calls them. Deborah came to me in a bit of a state asking if
I could delete 1 of her diary entries and I told her I would. The most ridiculous request to date was from Ben and Jacob. They came to the production hut earlier and asked me in their patronising way if Bill should be allowed to join the show at this late date. They kept going on about budgets and not being able to afford another non-worker. I almost punched Ben. I tried to sound professional when I politely denied their request but I’m sure Jacob could tell I was drunk. Bill and me got through quite a lot of Sunny’s homebrew.
*
DAY 17
Ben – 06:15
I’m up and about and again on my own, watching the sunrise. I know it’s a Sunday but come on!
Jacob – 14:27
I’ve been over the rules that Gordon laid out for us and I’ve come up with a plan. It states, and I quote, that ‘all other rules will be decided upon by majority vote’. So with a majority vote I can add another rule that allows for people to be voted out of the community. So, if I can get 20 people behind me, we can kick out all the others and sell the place the moment 6 months have gone by. Obviously, it will have to be the non-workers who go first. I think I’m about ready to recruit Ben into my idea. Only 18 to go!
Isabella – 16:18
Oh my god! I’m so bored. Sunny’s pretending to be nice to everyone and it’s getting on my nerves. He even hung Jacob’s clothes out. He’ll be ironing next! Bring back the real Sunny.
Ben and Jacob – 19:09
I’ve been having a good old chinwag with my old friend here and he’s come up with a marvellous plan.
It’s only a plan at this stage.
But it’s bound to work. What’s 2 million divided by 20? I do believe it’s a cool 100 grand each. Not bad for 6 months work, eh?
We have to be clever about this, though.
It’ll be easy. I’m sure of it. I can think of at least 12 people who will be into it.
We still need to be sensible.
Of course, of course, but what about all the renovation work? If we kick out most of the non-workers, this place won’t be worth 2 mill?
Don’t you think I’ve thought of that already?
So?
We time it just right. We gather all our troops and when the time is right, after the renovations are complete, we strike. Kicking them out.
That’s genius my friend, genius!
I thought you would like the military analogy.
It’ll be just like the great purges all over again! We’ll show them work-shy bastards a thing or 2.
Gareth – 20:54
Bill’s right at home in the fields. My type of gent. We’ll get on great. Started seeding the carrots this morning but he won’t use any type of unnatural fertilizer. Says he’ll plant nothing but organic these days. Don’t say I agree but got to respect the man.
*
DAY 21
Jacob – 10:31
Ben and me have been busy little bees. We now have several people who can see the merit to our plan. Very exciting. Like being a secret agent. If I went over to the non-workers side and told them of Ben’s plans, I could play at being a double agent for a bit. I wouldn’t do that, of course. Can’t really trust the non-workers. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to recruit most of the half-workers but at least they place some value on earning money and I might be able to convince them to go back to working full-time.
Isabella and Sophia – 23:46
Had a great evening!
Oh my god. Wasn’t it good?
Yeah. We spent the evening drinking on the beach. The weather was perfect. We had a fire going and Sunny was played the guitar.
He was so good! I love him.
We watched the sunset over the island…
You mean you and Gordon watched the sunset.
What you smiling at?
You. You know?
What?
You and Gordon. Oh my god. You’re so right for each other.
I don’t think so.
Come on! Where are you sleeping tonight?
Don’t say that. Not on here.
Why not, silly?
I don’t want this to go out and certain people seeing it.
Who? What does it matter?
Okay, look.
What’s that?
It’s a ring.
Oh my god!
I’ll tell you outside.
You’re eng…
Shhh, outside.
Isabella – 01:12
Oh my god! Do I have some gossip for you lot? Sophia has a fiancé! She said she ain’t seen him for a while but they ain’t broke it off or anything. I feel so bad for Gordon. Why wouldn’t she say? And lead him on like that? She still loves him or something. It’s mad! She reckons Gordon’s just a friend. I can’t tell anyone. Even Sunny. I’m sure he would tell Gordon. Oh dear.
*
Gordon was sitting in the mock production office as he had taken to doing of late. Just sitting and thinking - mainly wondering about how on earth he had arrived at this point in his life. Try as he might he was finding it more and more difficult to remember his past life. He could reminisce about cleaning plates in the café or attending school many years before but the time he spent on Bill’s carrot farm and getting to this place was becoming a blur. Like watching a home movie through someone else’s eyes and every time he pressed play on the memory, another sheen of Vaseline was added to the lens. He realised he had created this place amidst all the lies but, for all his self-analysis, he couldn’t remember where they started or stopped. It was an enormous ball of tangled string with no obvious beginning or end. A saving grace was that if he thought for too long, Sophia’s face would occasionally pop into his mind, creating a smile and erasing all other thoughts. A polite knock on the door caused all further contemplation to cease.
“Come in.”
Joan opened the door, entering the small room. Gordon hadn’t really spoken to her that much in the last 2 and half weeks. She peered at him over her half spectacles. “I have something for you,” she said happily.
“Okay.”
“First, I would like to thank you for including me on the TV show. It’s been really good – well, apart from the odd argument. I’ve made some really good friends.” She smiled and tears seemed to well up under the surface of her eyes, magnified to Gordon under the lenses.
“That’s okay. I’m glad you’re getting something out of it,” replied Gordon, professionally.
“Here. I want you to have this.” Joan placed a thick envelope on the desk that Gordon was seated at and swiftly exited the room, closing the door behind her. Gordon opened the package and spilled out the contents, creating a pile of dirty and well-used banknotes on his desk. He smiled, genuinely touched.
12
"Money can’t buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy.”
Spike Milligan
He pushed with both hands. The doors creaked and moaned under their palatial vastness. The mess of ornate gold carvings and antique polished wood moved slowly, causing him to slow his approach. Inside, now, he jogged forward, the heels of his expensive shoes clattering on the polished marble. He shuffled rapidly down the corridor. The guards nodded, helping him with the last door. As it swung inwards, he realized that this room always took his breath away with its circular design, the walls dripping with gold leaf and complex cream cornicing, vases, busts and art placed in every conceivable free space, all illuminated by a domed stained-glass window in the ceiling that shot out different tints of light at oblique angles over the masterpieces on the walls.
He trotted up to the desk in the centre of the room. The commander-in-chief looked up expectantly from a mound of paperwork and raised an eyebrow.
“Sir,” he said with a mixture of respect and excitement, “I’ve found the missing money.”
“Really! Excellent work. Do tell.”
“Thank you, Sir,” he gushed. “It was stolen from the factory that destroys. We didn’t see it earlier as the thief kept the money on site.”
/> “So, where is it now, then?”
“This is where it gets interesting; it seems to have been taken to a cult of some type.”
“A cult?”
“Yes, Sir. I’ve done some checking and there seem to be several outstanding warrants on the members, including 1 for murder and 1 for serious fraud.”
“Ah… a haven for miscreants and treachery.”
“Er… I suppose so, Sir.”
“Well, I won’t have it. I won’t have it.” He banged his fist on the table to emphasise the point.
“How do you want me to proceed, Sir?”
“Take them down, eh?”
“Arrest them, Sir?”
“I said, take them down. They’re as guilty as each other.”
“I see… It might take some organising to make it lo…”
“Don’t bother me with details.” He waved his hand around. “Just get it done.”
“Yes, Sir.”
*
DAY 29
Gareth – 12:13
Bloody idiots, the lot of ’em! I’m glad to be in the fields all day.
Sunny – 13:02
I so torn about what to do. I feel like I would be betraying Izzie and the others but I have to think about the future. This would pay off all my student loans and sort out everything else. It’s not like I’ve known these people for all that long anyhow. I don’t know… I do feel bad.
Deborah – 16:20
I don’t really know what’s going on around here anymore. Jacob and his military sidekick have been cooking up some sort of wild scheme that they’ve been trying to get support for. I told them straight out that me and Howard wouldn’t be part of it. Since then I’ve not really spoken to them and a lot of other people. There’s a real divide in the group.
Isabella – 17:32
The Shift of Numbers Page 14