Dreams Ltd (39 page)

“If you do what I ask, I’ll ask your... “Jenny halted, trying to remember the name of the guard Conchita liked, “ ...your Ben to come and see you.”

“He’d come and see me?” The maid dropped the basket and covered her mouth with her palms, “he’d really do that?”

“Hey, be quiet!”

The sound of bottles rolling on the floor could attract the attention of people passing along the corridor and Jenny didn’t want that.

“Yes!” She hissed irritated, “I promise, he’ll come. I’ve already spoken with Greg and he said Ben likes you.”

The lies were easily slipping from her tongue, as if smeared in oil, but Jenny didn’t care - it was vital to get Conchita’s full attention and make sure that she was burning, no, raging with desire to do what Jenny needed her to do. If she has to fib that some lame guard is captivated by such a plain girl, like Conchita, so be it. Moreover, if Conchita will do her job well, Jenny would even talk to Greg about this Ben for real. Well, maybe.

But in order to have a chat with Greg, she’d have to sleep with him first, and that was worse than a tooth ache. Well, no! Thank you. She’ll let this foolish girl believe in something that will never happen. Jenny will find a way to deal with the consequences later.

“So what should I do? Tell me! I’ll do anything, I promise!”

Conchita made a sign of the cross on her skinny chest, draped in dark blue apron, waiting for Jenny to continue with the instructions.

Jenny smiled contentedly. That's better. Now it was time to get to business. She took a deep breath, leaned over and whispered into Conchita’s ear:

“It’s about the warehouse where Tabitha stores the food. Do you know it?”

“Yep!”

“You must do something there...”

And she began whispering the details of her cunning plan to the nodding maid.

Alright. The T-shirt is spoiled with stains.

As the sun started going down behind the horizon, Jenny set up a small fire behind the barracks and held the T-shirt above it, turning it from side to side - now the garment looked burnt in some places and stank of the smoke. Perfect! It will be returned to Shereen’s room along with the empty petrol canister. As soon as the first task was accomplished, Jenny trampled the fire down, so nobody would notice the smoke.

It was now time to wait for Shereen to leave her room to help Tabitha to sort out things in the warehouse that will become a total mess pretty soon. Jenny couldn’t resist a giggle, enjoying the image of all the kitchen stuff thrown across the floor. She deserved it - this fat ass who thinks so much of herself. The Queen of the Kitchen, yeah...

Jenny snorted and got back to thinking. If this black woman will stay at the warehouse all the time, then she could confirm that Shereen didn’t go away and therefore couldn’t commit the arson. But would Hulk believe her? Everyone knows that Tabitha will try to cover up for her friend whatever happens, so would her words matter then? No, they wouldn’t. Not after the unchallengeable evidences are be found, and they will be found - she was one hundred per cent sure of it. Jenny frowned, but forced herself to relax. Yes, there were some gaps in her plan, but everything will work out just fine. One way or another - it will work out just as she’s planned.

She glanced at the sky - not long to go now. The berry pickers were still working by the bushes, and nobody noticed that she’d left early; dense thickets easily hide any human figure, especially if you pretend you are squatting.

Now it was important not to miss the moment when Shereen walks to the warehouse, which was a separate building, located near the kitchen entrance at the back of the house, and in order not to miss her, Jenny had to make a move back to the mansion.

As she reached the corner of the barracks, Jenny looked around. Not a single person was visible at this moment and only cicadas were chirping in the dry grass. A hot breeze fluttered her hair, which was glued into matted locks on the back of her head from the constant sweating, her skin cooled down a bit.

Moving towards the house, Jenny saw Greg, standing in the distance on the edge of the field, as well as several other guards.

He was already aware of what was going to happen. When the warehouse is caught on fire, the senior ward will notice it at the right moment and will prevent the barn from burning to the ground. This deed will bring him praise from Hulk, and after Greg discovers who the arsonist is, he will go straight into Hulk’s good books. Wasn’t that his sweetest dream? This way everybody will get what they deserve - Jenny will get a new room, Greg will get a promotion, Conchita will get hope and Shereen will get a painful kick and punishment. So is Jenny a virtue? She can do good things even better than others and it’s not long until the others will see it too.

Jenny narrowed her eyes, looking at the sun. Dinner time will come soon. She must hurry up. Time is money. Well, not money but points in her case; and points were what she was needs to get out of Tally.

This day didn’t start off very well.

I did some translating in the morning but gave up on this task by the noon; my mind refused to accept the outlandish foreign words and my thoughts kept coming back to yesterday’s quarrel with Hulk and clash with the guards by the field. My mood was ruined, I felt tired and broken, but my duties were still there, therefore, at lunchtime I had to push the cart with food to the quarry. It was desperately hot and dry, and it seemed that the air would start crackling soon from how little moisture there was in it, if there was any at all.

After the stone-pit I couldn’t get my head around the translation - even with the doors wide open it was very stuffy in the room, and I couldn’t find anything better to do than to go and hide in the shade of a small kitchen where an old air con unit was still managing to blow out some cold air.

Tabitha, with a helping hand of a few other dish washing kitchen maids, was engaged into scrubbing of some aluminium pots and tanks, which were left dirty after the lunch and were now lying in the steel sinks looking more like bathtubs. Now and then she was coming into the small room where I was rather reluctantly eating my lunch.

“You seem a bit out of sorts today.” She said as she walked in to change her wet apron.

I didn’t reply.

“I heard about yesterday and what can I say? It’s all written on your face.” The black lady shook her head, looking at my cheek with sadness.

“Uhuh. I also got in a row with Hulk.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I had a go at him about everything.”

Tabitha looked at me with a strange expression in her eyes.

“Did it help?” She put an apron aside and began pouring tea.

“No, not really. It made me feel even worse.”

“Yes, it’s not easy to be here.” Tabitha nodded again went deep into her thoughts for some time. Then, as if she’d just remembered something added, “It’s very hot today... Like hell. Something could catch on fire easily if it doesn’t start raining soon.”

“Yes, it could happen.” I replied dully, thinking about what I will do after lunch. My headache was already on its way and my temples were pulsing either from the heat or from Greg’s yesterday’s hook. And Tabitha was right - today was unbelievably hot.

“I’ll go and get some rest, I don’t feel very well.”

I rubbed my face carefully, trying not to touch my swollen cheek.

“Your head?”

“Yes.”

“No wonder.”

Tabitha, quietly cursing Greg, began rummaging through the drawer.

“Here it is. Take it. Then you don’t need to go to infirmary, there is nothing you can get out of that old bugger.”

I thanked her for the pill, put it in my mouth, and took a sip of water out of the tap.

“Get some rest. There is nothing important to do today. And you must stay in bed as long as possible.”

“That would be good.”

“Now get out of here. I’ll wash the dishes and finish off here.”

I obediently got up from the chair and walked out of the kitchen, thinking if there was anyone in this world, who could sleep in forty degrees? And can I become the first one if I try hard enough? I had no choice but to give it a go - my head was thumping by now. I could only hope for Tabitha’s pill to have a sedative effect, and that nobody will disturb me in the next few hours, because I was literally falling off my feet.

When I got back to my room, I didn’t bother undressing, fell straight onto the bed, closed my eyes and immediately switched off. I didn’t know how long I was asleep for, but when I woke up, the room looked stripy because of the sunset beams. My headache has subsided slightly and the air got a little cooler. With my eyes closed, I just laid there, listening to the street sounds coming through the open door - some distant voices, clattering of the dishes from the kitchen and barely audible rustling of the foliage. As I was looking at the cracked ceiling coloured in golden shades by the lowering sun, my thoughts were flowing languidly and vaguely.

Should I attempt getting back to the translation today or should I let myself rest for a little more and read that book that I got from last trip to Tally? My eyes lazily slipped from one crack on the ceiling to another.

It also wouldn’t hurt to find time to take a shower and wash some of my clothes. I stretched my arms and closed my eyes it was lovely to sleep for another couple of hours. Perhaps I should consider practicing it more often? Then I rolled to the side and pushed my pillow in order to give it a comfortable shape for my sensitive cheek. The table with an open notebook and the dictionary, laying on it came within my sight - should I get back to it or not?

I couldn’t really get focused: something was disturbing my thoughts and a quiet alarm was ringing in my mind. What’s wrong? Was there anything wrong at all? I frowned and laid down motionless for a few seconds. Where am I getting the feeling that something is wrong?

A second later I understood exactly why I felt this way - my fingers couldn’t feel anything under the pillow. All this time there was a bag with gems given to me by quarry workers, I got use to feeling them with my fingers even while sleeping and now that space was empty. The bag with the gems was gone.

I frantically fumbled back and forth with my hand, hoping that I just pushed them aside and hadn’t noticed it., but only a cool cotton fabric was touching the skin; nothing. I quickly got up and threw a pillow against the wall. Yes. Empty. My heart was racing.

How could it disappear? Did I move it recently and forgot about it? Could I be such a goof? My mind didn’t provide me with any memories of moving the bag, and my logic was telling me that I had no reason to do so. The gems were always kept under my pillow since the day I brought them into the room and they’d never been moved anywhere else, because these were my only treasure and I liked keeping them close to me.

Stunned, I once again checked in the place where the bag was hidden, but now there was only a smooth surface of the bed sheet. What the hell is going on today! I sighed heavily. Nothing was right. How could they have disappeared if I was the only person living in this room? So it must have been me somehow. Feeling rather lousy, I tried to stop my eyes from welling up - it wasn’t about the actual value of those stones, but about a different kind of importance to me - it was a gift. And something that really was mine.

I put my feet on the floor and halted once again trying to recall if I ever moved the bag, but nothing came to mind. Damn it. I must check under the bed - yes, I must have definitely pushed the bag off while sleeping and it’s now on the floor. It’s that simple. Where else could it be?

But before I could bend my knees, someone knocked on the door and I got up and walked to the door. There was one of the kitchen girls standing there.

“Tabitha wants you.” she said, “It’s urgent.”

I was surprised. Tabitha would never send anyone after me.

“What’s happened?”

“Dunno.” The girl hesitated and shifted from one foot to another, “But she is raging and fuming.”

Tabitha?! She never even looked even nervous, maybe a bit grumpy sometimes, but that was it, and this woman is saying that Tabitha is raging and fuming? The worry about the gems has disappeared in a moment - there will be another chance to look for them later - hastily I put my old trainers on, shut the door, locked it and ran to the kitchen.