Page 5 of Truck

TRUCK

The morning has been progressing well. Spencer, Ian, and Robert have worked hard and have moved all the shelving outside after dismantling it all. We are having a quick break while we wait for the dumpster to arrive. We will need more than one, so whoever delivers will have to organize more for us to get this pile of broken shelving removed.

“Truck, do you want us to remove the shelves from the wall behind where the counter used to be?” Robert asks while finishing the bottle of water in his hand.

I nod as I finish my bottle and throw it onto the pile of shelving before answering. “I want everything that is and is not nailed down, removed. I want the entire convenience store area to be empty. The exterminator has been, and he said once we have the place as we want it, he’ll come back and make sure he puts everything in place to prevent any vermin returning.”

“Okay,” Robert replies, along with Ian and Spencer's acknowledgment.

We continue to work alongside each other and fill the dumpster when it arrives.

“Ian, make the call for the dumpster to be collected and an empty one brought to replace it.” I notice the tip of his fingers to his temple to let me know he heard, and I walk around the back of the building to speak with Bull.

“Have you considered the office idea?” I ask Bull as I get closer to him.

“I’ve spoken to Coin, and he’s looking into it. We reckon it’s a good idea and will leave the area back here clear for us to turn into a repair area for the recovery trucks,” Bull responds.

Joker, who is here today with Bull, steps a little closer when he speaks. “I think it’s a great idea. It’ll be a control room all of its own. We can get monitors up and flag where all the vehicles are, and you know we’ve been turning down new memberships because we can’t cope with the influx of people wanting to be covered on the yearly plan.”

Bull takes up the conversation. “We don’t want to become a huge thing like AAA or National Motor Club. The yearly membership is only for locals of this town, but they keep recommending us to family and friends.”

I place my hands on my hips and reply, “How about you put a limit on the membership? Something like only fifty miles from base, or name the towns we’ll take membership from?”

“That’s a good idea, Truck. I’ll speak to Keys about marking a boundary, then speak to Pres for his take on it,” Bull rubs his chin, obviously taking what I’ve said seriously.

“Is there much in here for you to save?” I ask, and I’ve not even tried to find the time to look around for myself, so I’m more than interested in his reply.

“There is some equipment we can use. We’ll have to clean everything up, see what works, what can be saved, or ditched. But the bays we’ll knock down because we don’t need all these walls sectioning the area. We’ll work out the best way for us to use the space. We’ll only be working on the recovery trucks, and we don’t have many of them breaking down as we service them regularly.”

“I’m gutting the entire convenience store. Vermin have been living in the place, and if we want to stock and sell food items, we need it right.” I look at Joker who is struggling to lift a box which is obviously too heavy.

Bull sighs right before he dashes over and grabs one end of the box. I chuckle to myself as I turn and leave them to it. I’ve more to do inside my half of the building.

Hearing a commotion, I head outside to see Whistle has placed another dumpster for us to fill. “Here you go, Truck. Bowie is bringing another one for Bull this afternoon. Will you want another one too?”

“Yeah, we need another when we’ve filled this one. We’ve not touched the storeroom, or stockroom, depending on what you want to call it. The restroom we’ll be ripping everything out too. I would guess we’ll need four more after this.” I rub the back of my neck when I consider how much work still has to be done.

“Okay, I’ll do my best to have enough dumpsters on hand. The good thing is that you are filling them quickly and we are not having to wait days to get them back,” Whistle jumps into the truck while giving us a chin lift before he starts it up and pulls out of the gas station.

Ian bumps into me as he drags a long plank of wood, which was obviously shelving from behind the counter.

“Sorry, Truck. This fucker is heavy.”

I don’t reply because I know how heavy these shelves are. I grab the opposite end he is pulling, and between us we get it to the pile of shelving that Robert and Spencer are breaking up small enough to fit into the dumpster.

Ian gives me a nod of thanks and points at the pile while smirking. “We get the pile down some, then build it up again.”

“There is going to be painting to do, along with fixing anything that’s needed. I hope you’ll be staying to help for more than just three or four days. I could do with you here probably three or four weeks.”

“I reckon we’ll be able to stay. We could ask Cilla to tell Pres his ghostly buddies want us here.” We all chuckle at the idea but know that Cilla would probably be down to help.

We are all four starting to droop somewhat. Missing out on drinks and lunch hasn’t helped. I look over at Spencer and see he’s running his forearm over his forehead where sweat is dripping from his brow.

“Spencer, do you want to take a run over to the diner? Get us all cold drinks, something to eat, and maybe one of those donuts that Shelby makes?” I see the other two perking up at the idea and have to admit I’m really up for it. Taking out my wallet, I grab a stack of bills and pass them to Spencer. “Go on, take the truck and get enough that we all feel up to another stint of throwing shit into the dumpster.”

Spencer asks, "Truck, should I get Shelby's special BLTs with extra bacon?" We all respond with an enthusiastic "Hell yeah!" Spencer grins while taking off at a brisk sprint for the truck.

Two hours later we had all eaten, cooled down and finished throwing in what we could, at least, into the dumpster. “I reckon you three can take off for the day. But be early in the morning. We’ll have to strip everything out of the restrooms and the storeroom.”