The Shift of Numbers (6 page)

“No, no, no. We
’
re here to help him…but it would be best if you waited downstairs.”

“
Okay
.”

Richard’s
fiancé
e
walked down the stairs and sat on the bottom step. Upstairs
,
banging and the unmistakeable roar of a blowtorch could be heard over
Richard’s
incessant shouting. After about 10 minutes
,
muffled shouting and heavy footsteps
were apparent
.

“We
’
re c
oming down,” shouted the doctor.
“Clear the way
!”

Richard’s
fiancé
e
opened the front door and held it open.

“Is he out yet?” c
ame a quiet voice from behind her. She jumped and quickly looked around; it was 1 of the men from Richard
’
s work. She recognised him from the meeting.

“What are you doing here?” s
he demanded.

“I’m lookin
g after the interests of Shure S
tock.”
Before she could quiz him any further
, Richard was
man-
handled
down the stairs.

“I can see you all perfectly well. I can see you all
,” h
e kept repeating as they brought him into the garden.

“Where’s our money,
you idiot?” s
houte
d the man from Richard’s office
.

Richard’s
fiancé
e
started to cry.

“I can see it,” shouted Richard
. “A
ll you need to do is look,” and
he
pointed into the distance towards a thin column of black smoke. “Look.”

Several hours later
,
Richard
’
s fiancé
e
was opening her second bottle of wine. After deciding she had drunk enough courage she walked upstairs and opened Richard
’
s office door. Inside
,
it smelt earthy with
a
sweet hint of mashed carrot. It was remarkably tidy with crates of carrots lining the far wall. Underneath the
desk was a duvet and pillows. O
n top
,
were 3 cookbooks and a blender containing what looked like or
ange
milkshake.
She walked
to the crates of carrots and pulled them over. 100s of carrots spilled out over her feet
. S
he picked 1 up and threw it at the window, then the blender, then the cookbooks,
then
more carrots.

*

The next morning
,
Gordon walked up the long road to the farm wi
th his colleagues, all full after
a hearty breakfast. As they neared the gate where Bill n
ormally stood
looking at his watch
, whispers went
round the crowd
:
“Where’s Bill
?
”,
“He’s not there”, “Do you think something’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” s
aid Gordon to the nearest worker.

“Bill’s not at the gate. H
e’s always at the gate. Something’s not ri
ght,” h
e explained with a worried look on his face. As they all reached the gate
,
the foreman walked through and
,
after looking around for a while
,
he turned to face the crowd of workers.

“All right you lo
t, settle down. We know what
jobs are for today so let
’
s just get on with it. I will speak to Bill later. We
’
re in Field 2 today. Let
’
s move.” The crowd of workers obediently followed the foreman
,
grumbling all the way.

Gordon wa
ndered slowly down the hill towards the former
Scientist’
s hut thinking he would be in for the easiest day
’
s work of his life but
,
as he approached
,
he noticed smoke rising from the chimney of the hut.
After overhearing muffled swearing from inside
,
he knocked quietly on the door.

“Come in, come in,” c
ame the abrupt response. Inside
, among
the
rows of labelled jars and lit
b
unsen
burners
,
there was Bill huddled over a pile of messy papers. Without looking up
,
Bill said
,
“I can’t make head
nor tail of it.
We
’re going to go bust. T
hat’s all there is to it.”

“What are you trying to do?” r
eplied Gordon cautiously.

“I’m trying to make some more of that fertili
s
er that fool of a
Scientist was making. If I can’t get
more of it
,
we won’t
be able to make enough carrots
and I’m finished.”

Gordon wasn’t sure why Bill was being so honest with him but he figured that illegally burying a body must bring men closer together.

“Did he have any instruc
tions or a formula to follow?” a
sked Gordon.

“He did, but I can’t follow it. Here
, you have a go.
I need to put the men to work.” Bill strode purposefully out of the hut thrusting a pile of crumpled up papers into Gordon’s hand. Before he left and walked up the hill
,
Bill poked his head round the do
or and said, “You’re a good lad.
I know you won’t tell any of the other
s
about this,
okay
?”

Gordon just nodded.

*

Joan was frantic; she had been phoning Richard’s office at Shure Stock for 2 day
s now and getting no response. I
n fact
,
no-
one
was answering any telephones in the whole office. She had even gone next door to see if
Richard’s
parents knew what on earth was going on
but
,
again
, no reply. There was even a few
days
’
worth of milk on the front door
step until Joan decided to put them in her fridge.

“Just sit down, love.
I’ll
make you another cup of tea,” s
aid Pete in his most calming voice after watching his wife pace around their front room for another 20 minutes.

“I won’t sit down. And I don’t want another cup
of
tea. Is th
at your answer to everything?” r
anted Joan at the top of her voice.

“A nice cup of tea wouldn’t hurt
,
would it?”

“I don’t want tea. I just want
to know what has happened to
our money. Where the hell
has Richard gone? And why is no-
one answering the phone?”

“I’m not sure what’s going on over there but I’m sure it will work itself out. Even if we lose the money
,
it
’
s not the end of the world
.
W
e have some saved up and we own this house. It was a risky investment anyway. Carrots…I ask you.” As Pete was talking
,
a pained look came over Joan’s face and she sat down.

“Do you know how much money we invested
,
Pete?” asked Joan, looking directly into Pete’s eyes.

“Of course.
10 thousand pounds.
Now do you want that cup of tea? It will calm you down.”

“Sit down, Pete.
I have something to tell you.” Pete sat down opposite Joan
,
a puzzled look creeping across his face.
“I didn’t invest the 10 thousand like we
talked about.
I thought it was a sure thing. All those thi
ngs Richard kept saying to me. G
od
,
I feel like such a fool now.”

Pete stood up
,
his left hand trembling a little. “What did you do?” he asked nervously.

“I invested a 100 and 50 thousand pounds in the carrot farm.” And
, with that ad
mission
,
Joan began to cry.

*

Gordon had been working on following the
Scientist
’s formula all morning w
ith varying levels of success. He knew what the
end-
pr
oduct
was supposed to look like:
a strange shade of greeny-blue
; and what it smelt
like
:
a distinctive blend of cabbage and cheap aftershave. But the best o
f his efforts were wildly off. H
e knew
,
given time though
,
he could manufacture the formula. Walking up the hill and completely lost in his own thoughts
,
Gordon walked past the house where his lunch was waiting for him. It wasn’t until he had an impromptu coughing fit
that he realised where he was. He was about to turn round and walk back
to the front of the house when something caught his eye. It was Bill
’s wife in the back garden. H
e probably wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for the sun occasionally glinting off the trinkets on her fingers. She appeared to be burying
something in the back garden. I
t looked like a large casket of some sort. Gordon shook his head, filing the information
,
and walked away to his lunch.

*

“You did what? How?” exclaimed Pete at the top of his
lungs.

“I inve
sted all the money I could find. I thought we would be rich,” s
aid Joan
,
sobbing.

“How on earth did you get that much money?” Pete sat down deflated, holding his head in his hands.

“I used all of our savings, and then I…”

“GO ON, WHAT?”

“…I re-mortgaged our home.” Joan’s crying reached the point where she became incomprehensible. Pete sat down for a moment and seemingly composed himself with a few deep breaths.

“Right
,
a cup of tea
,
I think.” Pete got up and walked shakily
to the kitchen.
Joan heard the
sound of the kettle boiling above
her now quieter sobbing and the fridge door open
ing
.

“Where the hell
did all this milk come from?” e
xclaimed Pete in a shrill voic
e.
Joan then heard a loud thud. She rushed into the kitchen to find that Pete had fainted.

*

It was nearing the end of the working day when Bill walked down the hill from field 2 to the
Scientist’
s hut. He held out little hope that Gordon could make any
more of the fertili
s
er and had convinced himself that the farm was going to go under. As he neared the hut
,
thoughts of his wife leaving him filled his mind, then…

BANG

BANG

BANG

Bill stood wide-eyed, speechless and slightly deaf as a singed Gordon emerged from the hut clasping a
bottle of greeny-blue liquid. T
he smell of cabbage and cheap aftershave
hung
in the air.

“EUREKA!” s
houted Gordon
.

*

Joan cradled Pete in her arms applying a cold compress to a growing lump on his head.
“It will be all right
,
my love. We will think of something. I
’ll make you a nice cup of tea. T
hen I will call the doctor to have a look at your head.”