As the Light Dies

by M. D. Woodham

  “You’re late soldier,”he called back grinning. He liked Katie. She worked full time in the Territorial Army when she was on shore helping support an introductory Army training course for underprivileged kids, trying to show them that therewere options in life, even for them. They just had to choose to take them. Steve had a lot of respect for her but occasionally he thought that she threw herself in to her work and duties so fully that she was actually trying to forget something, trying to bury it under her workload by never stopping long enough to think about anything else other than her work.

  It worried him, he’d witnessed her kind of behaviour before and through sad experiences knew that sooner or later the issue, whatever it was a person was trying to bury would come roaring up to the surface and burst through without warning and usually with dire consequences.

  “I’m not late civvie,”she said,“I’m here at exactly the same time that I planned to be here, no sooner, no later.”

  Steve chuckled.“Ok,”he said,“whatever you say Rambo.”

  “Quit it civvie,”she said and smiling Steve left his vantage point grabbed his things and joined her, and together they started their journey to the canteen.

  On the way they exchanged small talk about their flight home being cancelled due to the damn ash. Katie was supposed to be taking a group of cadets up in to the Cairngorm Mountains for three nights of learning how to survive in the wilderness in harsh conditions. She’d really been looking forward to it telling Steve that the morale would be running high due to being so close to Christmas and all the rest of it, but it was out the window now. At least it was for her.

  She just hoped that there was someone else available to take her place at such short notice and take the cadets in to the Mountains.“The cadets have been building up to this for so long, they’ll be gutted”, she said. Steve understood as he was desperate to get home as well. He had a young family waiting for him and he hadn’t had a Christmas or New Year off in four years.

  He literally couldn’t wait to actually be there this year when the kids opened their presents instead of talking to them over the phone during his slotted phone call time that was always after the present opening ceremony.

  Katie said that she had a bad feeling about the ash, especially after the news they’d had of power failures on rigs further east in the Norwegian sector, not to mention one of the supply vessels losing all power as well, and tensions on the rig were already running high. She’d already witnessed tempers flaring, and that was not a good way to start a potentially long stay on a rig with the strong possibility of a power failure.

  “Maybe it’s just the initial thought of the forced stay, and it being Christmas as well,”she concluded. Steve agreed saying that he knew a lot of the guys on the rig were due a Christmas at home this time around, it would be even worse he said if the power died, it was bad enough that the rig had been ordered to shut down until the ash passed by he said, the men wouldn’t have work to take their mind off things, and add a blackout on top. That would really test people’s patience.

  Katie agreed saying that it would make things far worse with everyone just hanging about with nothing to do but think about missing Christmas at home.

  Steve even wondered how Katie was going to hold up.

  The two of them navigated through the rig, down through the accommodation block, passed offices via one steel stairway after another and along steel cladded corridors. Eventually they came out on to the main deck just along from the stores. They heard someone shouting and swearing as they approached. As they approached it became clear that something was kicking off between two people.

  They approached cautiously with no other way round to avoid the action other than going back the way they came and coming down the opposite side of the rig or going outside, and neither fancied either, break time was already short enough. Then just as they were about to pass the entrance to the stores a huge bear of a guy in a grubby blue boiler suit came out of the store and burst right between them practically bowling them both over as he pushed through.

  Partly ducking out of the way Steve called out,“Hey, c’mon man, watch it!”

  The bear bellowed back,“FUCK OFF!” and disappeared out on to the drilling floor without even looking back.

  “What an arsehole eh,”said Katie.

  “You’re telling me!”said Steve,“are you ok?”

  “Yea, c’mon civvie lunch is waiting.”But as they passed the stores counter Steve saw old Bob a friendly old guy who had worked offshore forever and a day. He always had a smile under his fuzzy white beard and a joke ready to tell, but right now he looked stressed and up tight. Steve figured he’d been the one arguing with the arsehole.“Hey Bill you ok?”asked Steve.

  Bill looked round at Steve turning his head slowly, and for a split second Steve thought that he felt panic stir deep inside him. Bill looked different, almost threatening, in an unhinged kind way.

  “Yea I’m fine,”he growled,“that new tool pusher’s a fucking cunt.”

  Stevie was taken aback by old Bill’s response, he’d never heard him swear, nor could he have imagined old Bill shouting and swearing at the big guy like he’d just heard him doing.

  Katie chuckled at old Bill’s response, swearing was as commonplace offshore as it was in the army.

  “Oh right,”said Steve,“hewasin a bit of a hurry eh! I suppose he’s stressed out trying to shut things down in case we lose power eh.”

  “Fuck knows what’s wrong with any of them,” blurted old Bill.“They’re all going fucking loopy working out in that shitty fucking ash. I’ll be ready for him next time I bump in to him though I tell ya I’ll fucking end the cunt!”

  As he finished his tirade old Bill spun round and started kicking one of the filing cabinets as hard as he could. Steve almost flinched.“Fuck em, fuck em, fuck em,”he shouted and then he spat on the cabinet and roared,“FUCK ALL THE CUNTS,” and then he took of down one of the aisles and disappeared deeper in to the store out of sight. Steve looked at Katie with raised eyebrows.

  “Wow,”she said,“poor guy’s loosing the plot eh?”

  “Yea,”said Steve looking at the big dent in the side of the filing cabinet.“It’s not like old Bill at all. He’s usually always really laid back, but that was pretty wild eh!”

  “Yea, he was certainly that, he even freaked me out a bit,”said Katie.

  Steve nodded,“C’mon,”he said.“Let’s go,”and he turned to lead the way and as they went Katie peered through a window looking out on to the drill floor. It was more like looking at the inner workings of a coal mine than the drilling floor on an oil rig. Everyone looked like they were standing in a giant cloud of coal dust. The men were just black silhouettes moving around out there.

  Suddenly the lights dimmed, and then flickered!

  “C’mon,”said Steve,“let’s hit the canteen before the power goes out.”

  “Oh,”said Katie,“I wouldn’t say no to a candle lit meal with my favourite civvie.”

  Steve chuckled half-heartedly and they picked up the pace leaving the drill floor and the stores long behind them as another blazing row broke out somewhere out on the drill floor.

  CHAPTER 6

  MORRISONS SUPERMARKET: INVERNESS

  Collin Right stood up and stretched backwards with his hands on his hips to arch his back.

  He was physically exhausted. He’d been hard at work in the supermarket since half six in the morning. He’d come in early in preparation for the expected rush of people stocking up before the ash was set to hit. He’d been stacking and re stacking shelves all day. The supermarket was going through so much produce that the stores in the back of the shop were nearly bare.

  He’d worked his way up to the end of the fizzy drinks and bottled water aisle trying to keep up with the customers, which was nearly impossible.

  For now he stood at the end of the aisle facing the line of tills. The tills opposite him were un- manned, not enough staff had made it in to work themandkee
p the shelves stacked at the same time, so the shelves had looked bare all day and the queues had been long, but right now it was reasonably quiet, there were no customers anywhere near him which made a change, leaving a pallet of bottled water in an aisle further down, nearer the working tills had paid off.

  He took the opportunity to take a minute for himself, he thought deserved it.

  He looked passed the tills, through the floor to ceiling glass that ran along the length of the shop front and out at the snow, if that’s what it still was.

  Collin didn’t think it even looked like snow anymore. It wasn’t white anymore, not really.

  It was turning grey, getting dirty as it fell through the air mixing with all the ash up in the sky.

  It was mesmerising to watch. Virgin white snow getting dirty as it fell, settling dark grey and dirty, covering everything in sight in what looked like a deep layer of dust.

  At first when the ash started to settle, people had left clean white footprints behind them in the dark grey blanket. But now as Collin looked out there were no white footprints, there were no white patches left anywhere. As people hurried along wrapped up from head to toe they left a churned up dirty mess behind them, the ash had worked its way all the way through to the concrete now.

  He listened to the people queuing a few aisles down talking about the news they’d heard or things they’d seen on their way to the supermarket. It was a jumble of words and broken sentences blurted out between there wheezy coughs, but it kind of made sense.

  “Saw three cars off the road....“I saw five....road....“Passed one person....road, trying....hitch a lift....absolutely filthy....not a chance....no mask on....“Was a group of people arguing at the petrol station....“I saw that....“Then a fight broke out....“Yes it was quite a bad one....”Oh dear!....”Just drove off!....“Volcano still erupting!....“Hasn’t eased....“God knows what we’ve got coming to us! None of it matched up completely but he knew what it all meant, it told him enough for him to know things weren’t getting any better.

  Suddenly from right behind him,“Busy aren’t we?”

  Collin nearly jumped out of his skin. He stood up straight and spun around fast and faced Mad Maggie.

  There was no mistaking her gravelly voice and her patronising tone. She’d crept up behind him.

  She stared at him with her beady little eyes and her sneaky little grin plastered across her puffy face.

  She eyed the aisle up and down without saying anything. Collin was so glad he’d tidied up behind himself; at least she couldn’t grill him for being untidy.

  Mad Maggie was one of the shop floor managers, a short stout woman with greasy black hair that she always pulled back so tight that it left a white mark around her hairline that stood out a mile against her blotchy red face. She didn’t suffer fools gladly and Collin was certain she had it in for him. She looked at the bottles stacked neatly along the edge of the shelf and down at the flattened cardboard boxes piled up neatly and snorted, then she looked at his stock pallet and saw it was empty. Her lips puckered and she frowned.“How long have you just been standing there gawking out the window?”she said.

  “Uh, I’ve only just finished stacking the aisle Maggie. I’ve just put the last bottle on the shelf.”He nudged a bottle of spring water with his foot.“My back was killing me from being bent.”

  ”Oh, Really,” she said rolling her eyes.“Soon as you empty a pallet you get right back in the stores for another, no hanging around, no stretching, no yoga, get back in those stores and get another pallet and start stacking.”

  Collin nodded, quickly spun around and grabbed the handle of the pallet truck and started pulling.“Not so fast,” said Maggie.

  Collin’s heart sank.

  “I came to tell you that Thom needs you to go and help clear some snow out the back for a delivery due in.”She glanced at her watch.“Go for your lunch when you’ve done here, then go and see him.” “Ok, uh, thanks,”said Collin but before he’d finished she’d gone. Probably to creep up on someone else he thought as he threw the flattened cardboard boxes he’d emptied on the pallet and hurried down the aisles towards the stores. As he approached the double swing doors he was overtaken by a pink flash!

  Collin straightened up fast and brushed himself down quickly.

  “Hi’ya,”said Leann pushing through the doors in front of him. Collin felt his cheeks flare hot.

  “Hello, uh, I mean hi,”he said as Leann hooked one door open and stood holding the other for him. He hurried through not wanting to look sluggish, especially with nothing apart from flattened cardboard on the pallet.

  He liked Leann, she was different, and not just because she actually spoke to him. He liked how her hair never stayed the same colour for long, how she stood out from the crowd and didn’t just blend in, she didn’t want to blend in, didn’t want to be normal.

  “Heard the Mad one giving you a hard time back there,”she said.“Doesn’t she know you’ve been in since half six!She’s a cunt eh?”

  “Uh, yea,”is all Collin could manage in return.

  “Heard you’re going out to clear all that ash shit for a new load coming in. Rather you than me.”Collin pulled his pallet through the doors desperately trying not to catch the sides, when all you had on the pallet truck was cardboard without anything to weigh it down, if you caught the edges against the wall or the door posts it all came tumbling down in an instant.

  “You keep going,” said Leann running a hand through her almost luminous pink hair.“I’ll unhook the door for ya.”

  “Uh yea ok, thank you, uh I mean thanks,”said Collin trying to make eye contact and only just managing a glance.“No probs,”she said,“be careful out there eh and I’ll catch you later.”

  “Uh yea ok,”said Collin partly gobsmacked that she’d actually told him to be careful, like she actually cared, then she’d said she’d catch him later like she meant toactuallycatch up with him for a chat. He glanced over his shoulder when he was far enough away that she wouldn’t see his red cheeks, she’d closed the doors and was already headed off towards the freezer. Collin took a deep breath as he made his way down the store realising he’d broken in to a sweat and he had to wipe his forehead with his sleeve, he checked Leann wasn’t watching first though. Then a second later Thom appeared around the corner ahead of him, he was walking towards him.

  Thom was ok really but could start to flap if the pressure started to build which could be often managing the stores. Collin always seemed to find himself nearby when he did and usually ended up getting flak for something, even if he hadn’t done it.

  “Hi Collin,”said Thom.“Has Maggie seen you yet?”

  “Yea, just a few minutes ago.”

  “Good, good. We’ve got a load due in any minute, well, it was due in three hours ago but it’s been held up with the weather, bad traffic and that. Anyway the driver called and he shouldn’t be much longer so if you can get down on the ramp just now and clear some snow to make things easier that’d be great, oh and if the load gets here while you’re still out there scrape all the snow and ice back from around the wheels and then spread some grit round em’ok, make it easier for the guy getting back out again.”

  “Ok,”said Collin not looking forwards to the task, he thought he was gonna get his lunch break first, but obviously not.

  Thom called back to Collin as he trotted off down the store.“The jacket and gloves are in the office ok. I’ll try and get out to help you if I can ok, but I’m pretty busy.”Then he turned and carried on bobbing his bald head up and down as he went leaving Collin on his own.

  He won’t be out to help, thought Collin as he made his way to the office.

  The office was a tiny almost home made little cube, fashioned out of rock wall and spindly timbers butted up against the cold brick wall at the far end. It was just wide enough for the desk inside and just about as long. Collin saw the fluorescent jacket and trousers and set about putting them on. They didn’t fit that well, the jacket was
three sizes too big for Collin’s skinny frame and the trousers were too wideand too short.

  He pulled on one of the poor fitting paper dust masks that all staff had to wear if they went outside, then he pulled on the slightly damp gloves, cringing as he pulled them on to his hands.

  My hands are gonna freeze wearing these, he thought and then opening the door to the loading ramps he ground his teeth as the icy wind raced straight at him.

  Holding on to the steel banister he went down the slippery steps wishing with every step that he hadn’t agreed to the overtime today.

  At the bottom he uncovered the sacks of grit salt nestled under the steps and grabbed the old bashed up shovel.This is shit, he thought and he looked up and watched the lightning for a few seconds, it looked amazing, criss-crossing the black sky.

  Feels more like one in the morning than one in the afternoon, he thought, and then he set to work.

  Won’t get done on its own, he told himself hating how the damp gloves felt against his hands.

  He thought that using the snow shovel would be easy, it was anything but. The snow was wet and heavy, and it was awkward to walk through especially on the loading ramp, he was on a constant incline facing up hill and the wind rushed down towards him almost guided towards him by the walls on either side working like a funnel trying to push him all over the place.

  A full shovel load of the dirty wet snow was too heavy so he took to shovelling small amounts a little quicker, throwing the snow off the end of the shovel sending it as far as he could anywhere out of the way. He’d gone from one back breaking job to another.

  After what felt like he must have been at it for half an hour, he turned to see how much he’d cleared and his shoulders slumped as he sighed behind his paper dust mask, he couldn’t see any difference. A little out of breath he went at it again, a little slower this time. He managed to go on for a little longer, or at least it felt longer to Collin but in the end he had to stop, he was panting heavily, badly out of breath. Moisture built up inside his mask, he could feel it against his chin, damp, cold, horrible! He pulled the shovel in close and leaned against it for a minute to catch his breath. He was facing in to the wind looking up the ramp, the thought to turn his back in to the wind didn’t even cross his mind.