“You hear those stories everywhere,” Dave said.
“It wasn’t until 1922 that they started to build a bridge to the island from the mainland. The first men across came back telling stories about the abandoned settlement and the graves they found on the north end of the island,” Maggie paused. “But before anyone could come over to verify what the men were saying, a hurricane hit the island. It almost destroyed the bridge and completely washed away any evidence of the abandoned settlement and the graves.”
“That sounds interesting,” Dave said.
“People didn’t start settling on the island until the mid-nineteen hundreds. Even though no one ever found any remains of the old settlement, there have been plenty of ghost sightings on the island,” Maggie said. “One of the most reported sightings was of the Black Phantoms. Every few months someone reports seeing dark shapes wandering around on the beaches at night on the north end of the island.”
“I think that maybe you should take that book back to the library,” Dave smiled, “and stick to your safe tame zombie books or we are going to have nightmares.”
“I think stuff like this is really cool,” Maggie grinned, “maybe we’ll get to see a ghost while we are here. I like scary stuff.”
“Then you should have seen Carl this morning if you like to see scary things,” Dave laughed.
“Make fun of me,” Maggie said, “Go ahead. Just don’t try to hide behind me when you get scared by a ghost.”
“Hi,” Nicole said as she stepped out of unit three, carrying Everly cradled in her right arm. “How are you enjoying the island?”
Dave let out a sigh of relief, glad to have Maggie’s ghost stories interrupted.
“We’re having a great time,” Maggie beamed.
Dave quickly asked Nicole a question before Maggie had a chance to ask Nicole if the motel was haunted.
“Nicole,” Dave asked, “would it be possible to give me a key to unit six? I’m responsible to see that Carl makes it to work on time and well, he has a problem getting up in the morning sometimes.”
Nicole looked uncertain.
“Carl won’t mind,” Dave added, “you can ask him if it is OK if you want. He’s in there now. We just got back from work.”
“That’s OK,” Nicole smiled, “I’ll send Shirley over with a key for you.”
“Thanks,” Dave said, “I appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome,” Nicole replied. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“You can tell me if you have ever had any ghosts at the motel,” Maggie asked.
“If we have ever had any what?” Nicole laughed.
Dave picked up Maggie’s book off the ground.
“Don’t mind her,” Dave laughed, “She’s reading a book about ghosts on the island.”
Nicole laughed, “The only ghost we had here was this one guy that disappeared without paying after his check bounced.”
Maggie looked disappointed.
“I’ll send Shirley right over,” Nicole said as she smiled, turned and walked away.
“What do you say we walk down to Joe’s for some ice cream?” Dave suggested.
“Hummm, ice cream,” Joey said.
“The cat stays here,” Dave said.
“Ah Dad,” Joey protested.
“You want ice cream?” Dave asked.
Joey dropped the cat in the grass.
“That’s good,” Dave said, “Besides, I’m sure the kitty might get scared if we run into a ghost.”
“Smartass,” Maggie said.
Dave grinned.
Chapter 4
The alarm went off again at 6:30 AM.
It was now Thursday morning.
Dave and Maggie had had a good week.
Maggie had wanted to call back to Wal-Mart in Starke and tell them she would not be available to work for a few more weeks, but Dave convinced her to hold off until his boss, Albert Jenkins, stopped by the construction site today.
Dave felt Mr. Jenkins would be impressed with what Dave had accomplished, he had completely demolished the old shopping center and all the debris had been hauled away in only three days.
Dave had Carl and his two buddies working with jack hammers to break up the concrete slab that the old center had been built on and Dave had used the heavy bulldozer to drag the fragmented concrete pieces to the corner of the lot. He hoped to remove the second half of the concrete base today.
As far as Dave could tell, he was three or four days ahead of schedule. He was sure Mr. Jenkins would be impressed, but before he let Maggie call Wal-Mart and tell them she would not be able to work for a few more weeks, he wanted to make sure his boss was happy.
The Starke Wal-Mart would not have any problem with Maggie calling off work for a few more weeks. The employee situation there was like a revolving door with employees coming and going on a daily basis. They would just be happy to know that she would be coming back.
But Dave didn’t want her to call one day to say she wouldn’t be back for a few more weeks and then have to call back the next day and ask if they could put her back on the schedule.
Maggie’s job at Wal-Mart had been their salvation over the last year and he wanted to be careful her boss knew she took her job there seriously and wasn’t jerking him around.
If all went well over the next week, Dave hoped Maggie could officially give up working at Wal-Mart for good.
Another positive development this week was Carl.
Apparently Dave had been making Carl work so hard during the day that he was too tired to go out and get drunk at night.
Dave still had to use the key Shirley brought him for unit six to open the door and yell in at Carl to get him up each morning, but it was much easier than it was on the first day of work.
Dave and Maggie had also continued to enjoy their stay on the island. They found a guy at the marina that would sell them fresh caught fish each day, which Maggie enjoyed cooking in the unit’s small kitchen.
The meals were great and it cost them less than half the price of eating out in the area restaurants.
Even though the money Dave was making on the new job made them feel almost rich, they knew how quickly things could change and they weren’t in any hurry to spend that money on unnecessary luxuries.
Staying at the Pelican Post for free was all the luxury they needed for now. They had the palm trees, the beach and the clear water. They had air conditioning twenty-four hours a day and they were living better than they had lived for a long time. They didn’t need to be extravagant.
Dave got up and finished getting dressed.
He kissed Maggie goodbye and laughed to himself when he saw the Anna Maria Island Ghost Sightings Book sitting on the stand next to her side of the bed.
Next he looked at Joey who was sleeping on the couch. The cat was curled up next to him, also sound asleep.
Dave guessed their family of three had now become a family of four.
Dave stepped outside his unit and closed the door behind him.
“Good morning boss,” Carl greeted him. A large ring of smoke rose above Carl’s head as he took another puff from his cigarette. “I thought I would make things easier for you this morning.”
“The next thing I know you will be telling me that you have given up drinking beer,” Dave smiled.
“Let’s not get carried away,” Carl chuckled. “I’m just trying to be a better employee. I’m not applying for sainthood.”
Dave laughed, “I’m glad you’re up. The owner is going to be at the site today, if he is happy with what we’ve done so far it could mean more work for both of us.”
“That would be nice,” Carl smiled.
“It sure would be,” Dave thought as they got in the truck to leave.
Dave had the rest of the concrete slab piled up at the edge of the lot and was loading the debris onto the dump trucks when the shiny black Escalade pulled into the corner of the lot.
It was now 11:30 and after dropping the l
ast of the rubble into the dump truck, Dave shut down the dozer.
Carl and the two men he was working with, dropped their equipment next to the dozer, wiped the sweat off their faces and sat down in the shade created by the large machine.
Dave climbed down off the dozer as Albert Jenkins got out of his car.
Albert whistled, “I thought when I showed up this morning that half of the old center would still be standing.”
“The old buildings dropped without too much encouragement,“ Dave said. “The hardest part was getting the dump trucks to keep up with us. After the first day they seemed to adjust to our pace.”
“I know,” Albert laughed, “They called to tell me they couldn’t keep up with you with just two trucks so I authorized a third truck.”
“Thanks,” Dave replied, “That helped a lot.”
“I can see it was money well spent,” Albert said.
“Now that we have the slab cleared out,” Dave said, “I thought this afternoon I would excavate the spots for the anchor posts. We could be ready by the end of tomorrow to start pouring the concrete.”
“I’m happy to say I’m pleased with your progress,” Albert added. “I hope you are as good putting up the new buildings as you were in tearing down the old ones.”
“I would like to think I am better,” Dave smiled.
Albert laughed, “I like a man with confidence.”
“Yes sir,” Dave replied.
“The depth where the new concrete base is to go in looks a little shallow,” Albert observed.
“I have to go down another three feet,” Dave replied. “It shouldn’t take me long to complete. I was going to have the men start building the wooden molds while I dig out the areas for the anchor posts. We should be able to finish that this afternoon. We could place the rebar tomorrow morning. It should be ready to pour the concrete tomorrow afternoon.”
“I’ll put in the order for the concrete later today,” Albert said as he studied the grounds. Think you will be ready for the concrete trucks tomorrow say around one o’clock.”
“That sounds about right to me,” Dave replied.
“Good,” Albert replied. “I’ll call in the order while you get started on excavating the final three feet of dirt. Do you like cod?”
Dave looked confused and embarrassed. He thought he knew all the construction site lingo, but he didn’t know what cod meant. Was it a procedure Mr. Jenkins expected him to follow in removing the last few feet of dirt?
“Cod sir?” Dave asked
Albert laughed, “A cod sandwich. The restaurant at the end of the pier has the best cod sandwiches in Florida.”
Dave smiled, “Yes sir I love cod.”
“Good,” Albert said. “I’m buying lunch today. Go ahead and get started while I call in to the office to order the concrete. I guarantee you you’ve never had cod like this before.”
Albert turned and walked over to his car, opened the door, sat down and pulled out his phone.
Dave breathed a sigh of relief and crawled back up on the bulldozer.
“Hey Carl,” Dave called down before starting the dozer. “Have the men grab a shovel. We’re going to remove the final three feet of dirt so we can start building the molds to pour concrete. I’ll clear out the center while you and the others square off the edges. Then Mr. Jenkins is going to buy lunch.”
Carl smiled and gave a thumbs up as Dave started the engine on the bull dozer.
The men started to work along the perimeter as Dave drove the dozer into the center of the lot where they had removed the old concrete slab.
He lowered the bucket and began pushing across area.
He made four passes across the area, digging down a foot deep on each pass.
He then scooped up the dirt and piled it next to the road. They would load it onto the trucks later to be hauled away.
After removing a foot of dirt across the entire project area,
Dave went over everything again to take off another foot. It was safer to go down a foot at a time in case he ran into any buried utility lines that hadn’t been identified by the utility companies before the project began.
It wasn’t a common occurrence, but it had been known to happen.
It was better to be safe and minimize any damage, just in case.
Dave was making the final pass and was half way across the project area when Carl and one of the other men ran out in front of the bulldozer waving their arms to get Dave’s attention.
Dave stopped the dozer and quickly glanced at his watch. It was only 11:50. He knew the men were excited to be having the boss buy them lunch, but they still had another ten minutes before lunch time.
The men gathered in front of the bulldozer. The large blade of the machine kept Dave from seeing what they were looking at.
When Carl stepped to the side and motioned for Dave to cut the engine, he decided he better go have a look.
Dave shut down the engine and crawled down the side of the machine.
The men were unusually quiet.
Dave walked around the front of the blade and saw the men staring at the ground.
He looked at the ground in front of the blade and froze.
In front of the blade were three old wooden coffins that had been pried up out of the ground.
The coffins had been broken open. Next to the coffins were three bodies. Skeletons were the more accurate description of the bodies.
The bodies had dried gray skin tightly stretched over bone. They were dressed in the remains of some kind of clothing that had mostly rotted and fallen away from the bodies long ago.
The bodies were lying in broken distorted positions. The jaw bones on the skulls hung open as if in some kind of eternal cry of agony.
Dave didn’t know if the contorted expressions on what was left of the faces had been caused by being dug up by the bull dozer or if the bodies had been buried that way.
In either case, they looked creepy and scary as hell.
They all stood in silence, staring at the grisly scene in front of them when Albert Jenkins walked down to see what had happened.
“Holy Shit!” Albert yelled.
“What do you think this is?” Dave asked.
“I don’t know,” Albert replied. “They look old. I hope we just ran into someone’s old grave site. We ran into something like this down near Orlando a few years back when we were building a casino. It turned out we hit an old Indian burial ground. The entire project had to be shut down and moved a few miles away.”
“What do we do with them?” Carl asked.
“We have to report this to the authorities,” Albert said, “but before we do, let’s see what else is here. If it is only these three I think we will be OK. The authorities will just have us move them to a cemetery somewhere else.”
“Grab a shovel and see if there are any more coffins around these ones,” Albert said. “Then I’ll call the damn police.”
“Why do you think the people that build the old shopping center here didn’t find this?” Carl asked.
“The old center was built on a slab that was only about eight inches thick,” Dave replied. “They didn’t put in much of a base and so they didn’t have to dig down this far.”
“Or they did find the bodies and quickly covered them up with a thin layer of concrete,” Albert added. “They just didn’t tell anyone about it. We’ve had our share of sleazy construction outfits down here over the years.”
They all grabbed shovels and started tapping around to see if they could find anything else.
They worked through lunch and then an hour beyond that.
When they were done, they had found another twenty-five coffins.
“Shit,” Dave said sounding confused, “What have we gotten ourselves into.”
“I don’t know,” Albert answered, “But for now it damn well means we’re done here for today. I guess I better call back to the office and cancel that concrete order for tomorrow.”
“Does this
mean the project could be cancelled?” Dave asked sounding worried.
“I hope not,” Albert replied, “I have a lot of money tied up in this project. As far as I know there isn’t any record of there being any Indians living here on the island. I’m hoping they will just let us relocate the remains and get back to work.”
Albert crawled out of the project site and pulled out his cell phone.
Dave started the bulldozer and backed it out of the pit and parked it at the corner of the lot.
The police arrived fifteen minutes later and ran their yellow crime scene tape around the entire block.
They informed Albert that they had called the FBI and that someone from the appropriate agency would be here tomorrow to examine the site and determine what had been found here.
After the government had made their analysis, Albert would be notified. They told him he would probably not hear the results until at least Monday of next week.
Albert called the men together after the police had left.
“Gentlemen, it looks like we are done here until at least Monday,” Albert said. “Since you have all worked hard and are at least three or four days ahead of schedule, you will continue to receive your regular daily wages until I find out if we are going to be shut down here permanently or if we can just relocate the remains and get on with our work. So gentlemen, enjoy your long weekend. I will have the office contact each of you by next Tuesday to tell you what happens next.”
The men didn’t seem too disappointed and headed for their trucks with smiles on their faces, glad to be leaving early.
“Dave, if I could have a word with you before you leave?” Albert said.
“Sure thing,” Dave replied. “Carl, I’ll meet you at the truck in a few minutes.”
Carl nodded and walked to the truck.
“Dave, I think we are going to be fine here. The officers said they weren’t aware of there being any burial grounds on the island. Besides, since there had already been a shopping center on this land for the last fifty years, we should be allowed to relocate the remains or just repave over them and finish our project,” Albert said. “But in the event things don’t go our way, I would be interested in offering you a job on some of my other projects if you would be willing to continue to work for my company.”
Now It Begins Page 5