Dreams Ltd (40 page)

Tabitha really appeared to be out of sorts. Her dark face was shiny from the sweat, and her forehand was furrowed with wrinkles.

“How did this happen for Lord’s sake? At the warehouse - I went there to get some bread and everything is all over the floor! Everything is sinking and floating in the water!” She wailed, upset, “I can’t even get out of here, I must cook dinner and everything will get ruined there! It all will be wasted!”

“Don’t stress! I’ll run there and clean up the mess.”

“I can’t even ask anyone to help you...”

“That’s alright. I’ll fix it myself, you just do what you have to do here.”

“How? How could this have happened?” Tabitha angrily waved the ladle, “Everything was fine at noon, I saw it! And now...”

She handed me the key to the warehouse.

“Please do something! Anything you can - at least get the bags with grains out of the water, it will get dump otherwise...”

“I’ll do that. You just cook and do not worry.”

I grabbed the key and rushed headlong out of the kitchen.

There was an absolute nightmare in the warehouse.

As soon as I opened the door, water gushed to my feet – Tabitha was right – the floor was completely flooded. Did the pipes burst? But why then all the products are scattered all over the place? Bread, cheese, grains - were all floating on the floor. Soaked paper packaging, tin cans, piles of swollen up salt and sugar boxes, darkened by the moisture, bags with flour were piled in the corner.

Oh my God! How could everything get like that?

I threw off my shoes by the door and padded into the room with bare feet. My jeans immediately soaked up water, and I rolled them up to my knees. If the pipes have burst, they need to be repaired as soon as possible; otherwise the water level will just go up higher and higher. The light was very dim and in order to see more, I had to turn on some more lights. Now it became clear how enormous the size of the disaster was. All the goods have been damaged not only by water, but they were obviously disturbed by someone else. It became apparent, as soon as I looked at the torn edge of the plastic and paper wrappings. Someone was really persistent in trying to make Tabitha’s warehouse suffer the greatest damage. But why? And who did this?

I didn’t understand anything. My mind was confused, the facts that my eyes were seeing, didn’t not fit into any picture and my logic refused to come to any conclusions. Did Tabitha have enemies? As far as I knew she has never been at loggerheads with anyone. Then why would someone deliberately harass her? Especially in this way...

Realising that the dozens of questions spinning in my head, will not be answered in the next five minutes, I began to plan my action:

A. Inspect the tube and find the damage.

B. If so, find someone who could fix it.

C. Go and report the incident to Hulk if he is in his office.

D. But if I’m away for too long, even more damage will be caused by the water.

Thus, points C and D were automatically reversed. First I had to save everything I can still save and only then report to Hulk that someone had intentionally ambushed the warehouse. What will he do after that? Will everybody be punished if the one who caused it is not found?

Groaning from the strain, I quickly began picking everything out of the water and putting it on the tables, slowly making my way towards the pipes which I assumed were located under the sinks in the far corner. Long metal table surfaces’ were covered with everything that previously was on shelves above them: rice, buckwheat, dried corn and God knows what else...

As I got closer to the sinks, I got down on my knees (I didn’t care about my jeans anymore, they’ll dry later) and began inspecting the pipes. Five minutes later, the conclusion was obvious - they were in perfect condition. Hence, the flooding was caused by someone intentionally.

What the f...?

I groaned and straightened my stiff back. Someone (or all of us) will be punished for this. Damn it!

Gritting my teeth with rage, I quickly looked around the room. No matter who that bastard was that destroyed everything in here, the priority is to deal with the mess. The most important stuff for Tabitha was the food and, hence, my primary task was to remove it from the water. Only after everything is cleaned and dried, I can go and talk to Hulk, so he can start looking for the culprit.

Once again, I looked around and almost groaned – this will take hours! I’ll be stuck here sorting out this mess until dusk and beyond. What a goddamn day!

If only I knew how right I was.

After I was finished cleaning and sorting things out, I opened the entrance door - it was dark outside.

As soon as the sun reaches the edge of the mountains, the darkness seems to throw a velvet cover over the valley below, exposing the sole eye of the moon, shining from the black sky, covered with a scattering of stars.

The light in the room was already off, and now I was trying to find my shoes that I left on the porch. Here is one... but where is the other one? I put the first one on and began looking around trying to find where the other one had gone. They were here on the porch before, but now one of the trainers was missing. It was not on the porch or in the grass nearby, it wasn’t under the porch either, I bent down and looked under there, except that I did not poke my hand into the darkness - too scary.

Swearing my head off I got up and walked to the house, pressing my bare heel against the grass. That was it. Enough of this crap for one day. I’ll come back and look for the second shoe tomorrow and if I don’t find it, I’ll go to Tally and buy a new pair. I’m fed up!

Almost spluttering from the irritation and fatigue, I passed by the kitchen. The light was already off and the washed pots were indistinctly glimmering in the moonlight.

I missed dinner but Tabitha, who’d apparently already gone to bed, probably left something in the fridge for me. I didn’t feel hungry though. What I really wanted was to take a shower and go to bed, but I have to forget about it - the first thing I had to do was to go to Hulk and tell him about everything that’s happened. The sooner I do it, the better.

I looked at my bare feet and swore again. Should I go and see him like this? Do I have any other option? Complete barefoot, maybe? I looked like a total tramp - my t-shirt was dirty, my jeans were wet and one shoe was missing, and I to top it off I was really sweaty. And what the hell happened to the shoe?

Loud voices and tramping of feet were heard from the yard. The voices belonged to the guards. They were either running somewhere or after someone. What other idiotic duties did they have? Now I didn’t care, they could shout all night long and I could not give a damn.

The hubbub quietened down a little, when I went into the house and slipped into the dark corridors. Here was the familiar door of my little room - once again I regretted that I couldn’t just go in and fall asleep, I had to talk to Hulk first. Only after that I could allow myself to watch some sweet dreams and enjoy every minute of the well-deserved rest, which clearly was not gonna happen today, judging by how loud the men’s voices were roaring in the yard. Why are they all so enraged? Did they get tired from drinking beer and watching football?

I inserted the key into the lock and pushed the door. Before I went inside, a heavy smell of petrol hit me in the face. What the hell...? Why would my room smell of petrol? It didn’t when I left it earlier today...

My heart starting beating franticly and fast, as it often happens when a head gets a good doze of panic mixed with adrenaline. The premonition of something terrible was not just lurking in the back of my mind, but it was flashing with the red “caution” sign. The buzzing in my ears stopped me from realising that the guards’ voices were now screaming somewhere in the house.

Almost entranced, I reached out to the switch to turn on the light. Why does it stink so badly here? When the light from the single light bulb filled the room with sallowness, I quickly knelt down and looked under the bed. There was a canister like one of those I’ve seen several times in the garage. I pushed it with my hand and judging by the sound it was empty. What kind of joke is this? What is the empty petrol canister doing under my bed? And why my blue t-shirt was laying on the bedcover, looking dirty and... burnt?

When Greg broke into the room, I just stood beside the bed, holding the ruined piece of clothing in my hands.

“Here she is! My darling! Take her!”

Some other men appeared from behind his back - a lot of them. Someone was pushing me, someone was tying up my hands, verbally abusing me, but I was hardly able to think - I was shaking and shifting my gaze from one guard to another and then to my burnt blue t-shirt that Greg was now holding in his hands.

The smell of petrol became unbearable.

Hulk was furious.

He was not just on edge, he was seriously livid. Nobody - not as a joke and not as some revenge action - had the right to set any buildings on fire at his ranch, and especially those, inhabited by people or where the food was stored. No one, not a single person will be forgiven for that, and now he was angrily staring at Shereen standing between the guards. He didn’t want to believe that it was her who’d done this, but he just couldn’t ignore the fact that Greg was holding her burnt t-shirt in one hand and the empty petrol canister in another. Hulk firmly gritted his teeth, as if trying to hold back the words of disappointment, which would invariably slip from his tongue if they were alone in the room.

Shereen stood there quietly. Her hair was matted, her T-shirt was wet and one shoe was missing. The skin on her face was white as chalk, her eyes were shining feverishly and the whole body was trembling, in spite of the fact that the guards were holding her tightly.

Greg, who was no less angry then Hulk, continued to speak, spitting his words out as if they were portions of poison.

“.... she poured petrol on the barrack’s wall immediately after she’d done the same with the barn, and that’s why it ignited straight away. Dry grass is a good conductor for flame.”

“Why?!” Hulk roared, “Why would you burn it?”

“I didn’t...” Shereen tried to answer, but the words seemed to be lodged in her throat. Finally, she barely managed to utter, “I didn’t do that.”

Hulk shook his head.

“Why is your t-shirt burnt out? And where did you get the petrol?”

“I don’t know!”

Greg laughed hoarsely.

“Of course! She doesn’t know! As if it has just materialised out of nowhere”

“I didn’t do anything...” Shereen was shaking her head, constantly repeating the same words, “I didn’t do anything. I wasn’t even there...”

“Where is your shoe?” Hulk asked.

“I don’t know.”

“How did the petrol get into your room?”

“I don’t know. It wasn’t there when I left...”

“Why your t-shirt is burnt?”

“I don’t know!”

Hulk angrily spat out swear words.

“Can’t you see that this all looks like a complete bullshit? Your plan has been exposed but you still keep on denying it. Where is your bravery?! Why can’t you just admit that it was huge malicious revenge?”

Shereen could hardly speak from despair. Who did this to her and why? She had never seen Hulk so angry, Greg was just grinning smugly at Shereen’s attempts to justify herself. This whole situation looked like a horror movie where a nasty ending was approaching at the speed of a fast train and she had no idea how to help herself.

“I was in the warehouse! I was cleaning there! Ask Tabitha - she has sent me there and she knows everything and can confirm...”

“Who else was with you?” Hulk’s eyes narrowed.

The silence hung in the room. No matter how much Shereen wanted this moment to become a turning point, there wasn’t a single witnesses who could verify her alibi. So she only clenched her fists and exhaled.

“There wasn’t anybody with me. I was alone.”

Hulk bowed his head in disappointment, looking at the floor.

“But Tabitha knows that I was in there! She asked me to help, because everything inside was in tatters...”