The Shift of Numbers (19 page)

“And
,
fina
lly, following an anonymous tip-
off to police, the body of an unidentified male has been discovered in a shallow grave on a d
isused carrot farm. The head of government
forensics described the corpse as ‘grotesquely mutilated’ and claimed that ‘in 30 years’ he had
‘never seen anything like it’ adding that  ‘p
arts of the body had ballooned to bizarre proportions
,
seemingly post mortem’. The police are pursuing several leads and are urging members of the public to come forward with any relevant information. The government has not linked the corpse to any recent terrorist activity
but added that they aren’t ruling
anything out at t
his stage.

“
More on this and our main stories at 7 o’clock tomorrow morning. Goodnight.” And with her usual wink, Pelexia was gone.

Gordon could feel the blood rushing from his face, collecting in his heavy feet. Light pinpricks of pain danced around h
is fingers and waltzed
up his forearms. Breath
e
, he thought
,
before opening his eyes into bright light and Jacob
’
s looming face.

“You fainted. Y
ou
’
r
e
okay
now. Take deep breaths and keep your head down.”

*

DAY 9

Isabella – 14:02

Going into town later. I can’t wait to let my hair down! Jacob is lovely. He fixed up my foot but he keeps calling me a half-worker, whatever that means. Perhaps it’s 1 of those generation gap things? I CAN’T wait for tonight, it’s going to be mental.

Jacob – 15:57

Good afternoon. W
e
’
re all having a relaxing Saturday on the beach and things are coming along nicely after the meeting. Namely the
non
- and half-
worker
s
are getting stuck into the
ir
jobs and everything is getting a little bit more structured. There are s
ome great ideas floating around.
Sunny has started brewing his own beer and wine in an effort to cut costs among some of our heavier drinkers. He has also put forward the idea of starting a
micro
-
brewery
so we
can sell what we don’t drink -
most admirable.

Ben – 16:16

The
Regimental reunion was a triumph as ever. Some heavy traffic on the IA 46 but it didn’t dampen spirits any, I’m glad to report.
I still don’t understand why people have to get up so late; it’s wasting the whole day. They could get so much more accomplished if they just got up
earlier. I get up at 6 myself. M
ight have a word with Jacob and see what he thinks. He could put it forward at the next meet
ing. Ballsy chap Jacob.
I like a man with balls.

Gordon – 17:38

I admire Jacob for calling that meeting last week. We had been treating the place like a bit of a holiday cam
p. It really moved things along. Gareth and Leigh,
our farming experts
,
have been instructing people on how to grow things and keep animals
. T
he vegetable fields are beginning to be thought about
now
. It would be amazing if we could become self-sufficien
t. I do think we need to
start looking at reducing our utility bills, perhaps with solar power or a wind turbine.
Jacob and Ben have been inventing
some odd labels for peopl
e. Calling people who work full-time on the outside ‘workers’.
Those part-timers
are called
‘Half-workers’ and
,
most insultingly
,
everyone else
is a ‘Non-worker’
. I can’t say anything to him, as it might come across that I’m not being impartial. I might ask Sophia if she would have a word with him.

DAY 10

Gordon – 10:00

Oh balls, I think we’ve come upon our 1
st
stumbling block. This may not work. Or it could work. We just can never spend any money in the outside world.

Ben – 10:46

I am shocked and appalled. Between the 6 of them they managed to spend over 300 pound in an evening. It’s unacceptable, simply unacceptable. As soon as Jill, the treasurer
,
told me
,
I called a meeting. It’s my money! What on earth were they thinking? They weren’t, that’s the answer to that!

Sunny – 13:12

This is crazy. H
ow can we be expected to stay in all the time? I wouldn’t do that in the outside world so why should I do it here? I thought this place was supposed to improve our quality of life, not create a miniature society where the people who earn money get to control our actions. That’s exactly what happens on the outside.

Sophia – 13:21

I tried to reason with Jacob and Ben but they aren’t having any of it. I think the problem is that nobody really has any idea what’s going on with the money. I don’t
really know how much I can spend. T
he
y’
re talking about 320 quid as if it’s a lot of money but I’ve s
pent more at lunch with friends
on 1 bottle of champagne…

Gareth and Leigh – 13:30

We just come in to tell you the good news. The missus, my beautiful wife ’ere, is expectin’. Only light duties from now on, my dear.

Nonsense Gar’th. I never shirked with the last 2.

Well you
ain’t
gettin’ any younger…

Cheeky!

Come on, let’s get out of ’ere.

Isabella – 13:42

Oh my god I’m
so
hung over and I’ve got to go to another 1 of these stupid meetings.

Sunny – 17:59

1 more thing I’ve realised about
this stupid, ridiculous worker/
non-worker nonsense and the fact that none of them…WHAT? NOW?
OKAY
, you can stop banging on the door.

*

They had all collected themselves together in the courtyard under the early evening sun. Earlier, regimented by a grumpy Ben, they had set out a large number of chairs in neat rows. Strangely, he had placed them facing the rusty indecipherable statue at the courtyard
’s centre, having positioned
a wooden pallet at its base for the speaker to use. Gordon had placed an additional camera at the back of all the chairs. He reasoned with himself that putting people under the illusion that millions could watch the
ir
antics might curtail some of their more ridiculous observations and remind them why they were here. It was a quarter past 7 before everyone had taken their seats, causing Ben and J
acob to exchange a few glances and
adding to the frosty atmosphere. The silence was broken when Deborah, carrying a smiling Poppy, emerged from the main building amidst a flurry of apologies about her lateness and with questions over a
missing ‘tippy’
cup. Gordon was seated at the back next to Sophia and Isabella.

He was chewing absently on a fingernail w
hen Ben stepped onto the pallet and coughed
loudly to attract the
attention of the congregation. Speaking with military precision, he said, “Excuse me.
I think everyone’s here now. We should start. I…”

“Hang on just a moment.” Gordon arose from his chair and disappeared into the main house returning moments later with another camera. He placed it near to the other 1 on a tripod, perching himself on a nearby rock.

“For c
lose-
u
ps,” h
e said
,
in explanation. He smiled to himself, knowing that he had just cunningly placed himself outside the discussion. It would be fun, he thought, pretending to be a reporter.

“If everyone else has gotten everything they need, I think we should start
,
” Ben said sternly.

“I don’t have my ‘tippy’ cup,” c
ame a small voice from the crowd.

Amid a few sniggers from the back
,
Deborah could be heard with a reassuring, “We’ll find it later
,
Poppy.”

“Well, okay,
then. I think we should start with a few words from Jill
,
the treasurer. Jill?”

Jill stood up from her seat and made her way to the makeshift podium, clearing her voice on the way up, sounding like a tractor driving on gravel.
“This meeting has been called to
address some issues of finance
or
,
more specifically
,
the excess spending of the group
’
s finances.” She cleared her throat again, more for effect
,
Gordon thought. “It has come to our attention that a group of you spent over 300 pound on S
aturday night and to the worker
s, including myself, it seems to be more than a little bit unfair.”

“Excuse me,” asked Sunny, “but who are ‘the workers’?”

“Us full-time workers, that’s who,
” Ben in
ter
jected suddenly.

“I thought we all worked full-time,” Sunny enquir
ed back
,
p
retending not to understand Ben but
knowing it would cause maximum annoyance. A murmur went around the crowd.

“You know what I mean,” he snapped.
“We all know who pays for who here.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I’m a WHAT?”

“I said you’re an idiot. What are you even doing here?”

“How dare you speak to me like that?” Ben spluttered standing up to face Sunny. Gordon zoomed in on Ben
’
s face. “I pay for
you
to be here.” He pointed a shaking finger.

“You put money into this place but we all work here.”

Deborah
now joined the debate and said, calmly,
“Hang on,
han
g
on. Would you please sit down?
Ben and Sunny
,
would you
please
mind your language? Ther
e’s no point in getting angry.
Jill
,
why don’t you carry on and let’s
see if we can resolve this?
”

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 f
act that 300 pounds of our hard-
earned money was spent on Saturday night. We think that th
ere 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…” s
omeone 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
’,
to
o
. 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, m
uck
in
and join us.” 

“We understand your point but we would still like some rules
,” s
aid Jacob.

“Like what?” a
sked
Deborah.

“Like something that stops people spend
ing all my money,
” Ben offered.