Cassie was just putting the lasagne in the oven when Joe climbed the steps into the cookbus. April was chopping some tomatoes for the salad.
"Afternoon, my lovelies," he said.
"You're filthy," said Cassie. "Don't touch anything."
"Sorry," he said. He stuffed his hands under his armpits inside his raincoat, and took a step backwards. "I've got good news and bad news."
"Is the good news that it's going to stop raining?" asked April.
"No. Kind of the opposite," he said. "The good news is that because of the rain and Brendan's broken quad we're going to have a day off tomorrow." April put down her knife and looked at Cassie. Cassie put down the lasagne she had in her hands. "The bad news," said Joe, "is that it's going to be a day off in camp."
"You're shitting me," said Cassie. "What the hell is everyone going to do sitting around camp in the rain?"
Joe shrugged. "Brendan doesn't trust the bus on these roads with the weather the way it's been."
Cassie picked up the lasagne again and put it in one of the ovens. It only went part way in. She held it with one hand while she grabbed a tea towel and jiggled the other lasagne out of the way.
"Hot breakfast or cold breakfast?" asked April.
"Whatever you want," said Joe.
"Cold breakfast," said Cassie. "Let everyone sleep in."
"Including us," added April.
"They can make what they want when they get up," said Cassie. "We'll put together a big lunch table." She closed the oven. "What are you planning to do now, Joe?" she asked.
"Well, Brendan has my quad. I was thinking of walking back into my block and checking some trees," he said.
Cassie shook her head. "Those planters are not going to be happy about spending tomorrow in camp and not making any money. I guarantee you that, right now, they would be happy to risk their lives for a warm bed and a shower. I think you should make sure this camp is as inviting as you possibly can before they get here. If we can give them a good party tonight, they may not lynch us tomorrow. Make sure the stoves in the dining tent and dryshack are stoked and there's plenty of wood. Clean up the dryshack as much as you can. Everyone is going to want a shower tonight."
Joe nodded. "You're right. I'll get on it."
April went past Cassie to the front of the bus. She pulled a sixpack of beer out of cupboard. She handed one to Cassie and tossed one to Joe. "And hey! Let's not forget it's a party night!" she said. She put three of the cans on the counter and opened the remaining can.
Joe and Cassie opened their beers. The three of them raised their beer cans. "Party night!" they said. Joe downed half of his beer in one go. Cassie and April each took a swig and continued working. Amber tossed the tomatoes she'd been chopping into the salad. Cassie stirred one of the enormous pots of soup on the stove.
Joe walked down into the dining tent. He went over to the wood burning stove. He put his beer down on a nearby table and checked the fire. It was going strong. He picked up the beer and finished it on his way to the dryshack.
Brendan sat on Joe's quad at the furthest tree cache in the cutblock. Lucy, Alistair, and Cameron were walking back out from the back of their land. They were easy to spot in their bright orange and yellow rain gear. Lucy wore orange. The other two wore yellow. He watched as Cameron (or maybe it was Alistair) slipped and fell. He got up. With this kind of weather and this kind of ground, falling was the normal state of being for a treeplanter. Brendan keyed the mike on his radio, "Joe, Brendan here," he said.
"Go ahead."
"I'm just waiting for my last planters to walk out. Are you anywhere nearby? Any chance you could pick a couple of us up?"
"I'm in camp. Cassie thought I should spruce things up a bit," said Joe.
"Is everybody back from your block?" asked Brendan.
"I'm still waiting for Marko and Phil, but Les tells me they're on their way. So far no one seems too upset about taking tomorrow off."
"Any chance you could get somebody else to do the party preparations while you come get us?" said Brendan.
There was a pause. Brendan watched as either Cameron or Alistair fell again.
Joe's voice came over the radio. "Sure, no problem. Be there in fifteen minutes."
Brendan put his radio back in his inside vest pocket and buttoned up his raincoat. He waited as the three planters arrived at the cache. They stuck their shovels in the ground near their last line of trees. Then they put their planting bags under the tarp that had been set up for the tree-boxes and grabbed their backpacks.
"Day off tomorrow," said Brendan. "One of the quads is broken."
Alistair undid the bungie straps on the front of the quad. "Fantastic," he said. "Are we going into town?" Cameron piled the three daypacks on the front luggage rack. He held them in place while Alistair strapped them down.
"'Fraid not," said Brendan.
"Well, shit on a stick," said Alistair. "Not much of a day off." He scraped some of the mud off his boot on one of the front quad tires.
"Sorry," said Brendan. "Anybody want a ride out to the road?"
The three planters looked at each other. "Ladies first," said Cameron.
"No thanks," said Lucy. "I'll walk with Alistair."
"Okay, then," said Cameron. Brendan stood up. Cameron climbed onto the seat behind him. He sat far back on the seat and leaned back, supporting himself with his hands on the back rack of the quad.
"Start walking," said Brendan. "I'll be back."
Alistair and Lucy were almost halfway there when Brendan got back from the road. Lucy let Alistair get the next ride. When Brendan got to the road with Alistair, Joe was there with the truck.
"I can only really take two of you," he said.
"Well, you might as well take these guys," said Brendan. "I'll take Lucy back on the quad."
Alistair and Cameron climbed into the truck. There were four cans of beer on the dashboard. "Whoo-hoo!" said Alistair. "Party on, Garth!" He opened one of the cans of beer."
"Party on, Wayne!" said Cameron.
"You want?" asked Joe.
"No thanks," said Brendan. "There's no cup holder on this damn thing." He gestured down at the quad.
"See you at camp," said Joe. He drove off. Brendan turned the quad around just as Lucy arrived at the road.
"Looks like it's just you and me, babe," he said. Lucy had the hood of her raincoat up. Wet scraggly hair trailed out from underneath it on either side of her face.
"No offence," she said, "but I would rather have been in the truck."
"Here," said Brendan. He took off his gloves. They were bright orange, insulated, and rubberised. "Take these."
Lucy put the gloves on. She laughed. "I look like some kind of mutant cartoon character."
"Anything for a lady," said Brendan. He stood up and Lucy climbed onto the quad behind him. He sat down again and Lucy leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his chest. Brendan stiffened slightly.
"For warmth," she said.
Brendan let himself relax into her. "Warmth is good," he said. He popped the quad into gear, pushed his thumb against the throttle, and headed towards camp.
Leave a comment