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Another six months passed in island time.
Nancy sat in her kitchen talking to Damien over lunch, and Maxine and Hector had joined them, now they knew how to island hop with practiced eased. Damien said, ‘We’re doing so well here now. Not one of the residents is wasted, which only makes it more of a mystery to us how the curator and Eloise couldn’t have done the same.’ He popped a barely cooked piece of bacon into his mouth.
‘That’s gross, Damien; bacon should be crispy,’ said Maxine. ‘Think about it though. They spent a lot of time helping other people in real life, like how they did with Nancy after you disappeared. If they were doing that sort of thing most of the time, then perhaps their focus wasn’t really on the residents of the island. And maybe that was why they came down so hard on me exploring and enforcing all their stupid rules.’
Silence descended on the group for a few minutes while they all savoured their food and thought about what Maxine had hypothesised.
‘I’m liable to agree there,’ said Nancy. ‘After all, it’s been our choice to build up the residents. Greeting them from the moment they arrive on the bay has been instrumental. Look at Ange. I think having to fend for herself would have been really hard for her, but instead she has come out of her shell. I think she holds a light for Mel.’
Damien shook his head and rolled his eyes. ‘No chance; a lady like her wouldn’t go for a hedonist like Mel!’ He and Nancy laughed while their visitors smiled politely. ‘There has to be some way around this, guys. We’ll have to pay Rodney a visit I think and discuss it with him. I know for sure that Nancy is keen to branch out into helping people.’
‘Yeah, I’d like a project, for the want of a better word. To take someone under my supernatural wing and give them a better bite at life,’ Nancy said, gazing out of the window. ‘Maxine, would you like to be in on that with me?’
Maxine’s face lit up, beaming widely as she nodded with enthusiasm. ‘I’d bloody love that, babe.’ Her face darkened somewhat before she continued. ‘We’d have to make damn sure that the curator doesn’t find out. She has a major problem with me, I’m sure of it.’
‘Try not to worry too much about that. I’m sure she doesn’t pay us too much thought now she’s moved up the food chain. We’re just other dead people to her,’ Damien chipped in. ‘The curator has her eye on climbing the stairway to heaven, or wherever the top job leads to.’
Maxine visibly relaxed her shoulders, and her colour returned from pale to a normal pink. ‘I think me and Nancy need to go and pay Rodney a visit or get him to come and see us together.’ She looked over at Nancy to gauge her reaction.
‘I’ll ask him tomorrow. We have a village barbecue later. Mel and Damien caught another wild pig yesterday.’ Nancy smiled and pointedly looked at the remainder of the bacon on Hector’s plate. The big German grinned with joy as he demolished the rest of his meal.
‘I think we’ll take that idea of village barbecues back with us; we have three other people now. Stuart, our first person, is still with us and doing great as an ‘Elder’. I’m feeling outnumbered though, still being the only female,’ grumbled Maxine.
Hector said, ‘Maybe that is a good thing for now. You are enough of a powerhouse on your own; us guys mightn’t cope with more women!’
‘Too true, Hector,’ Maxine replied, winking. ‘I’m feeling better now than when I was alive. I don’t worry anymore about what other people think of me, and I don’t wake up every morning hoping that I get to keep my job just to get by. I wish that back then I had the same confidence as I do now.’ Maxine shrugged her shoulders and turned to Nancy. ‘Do you know how Marcus is doing these days, or Hope?’
Nancy looked at her fingernails. Mustn’t bite them. ‘Not as much as I’d like. The curator said to not look the kids up too much or it would be like torture.’ She sighed and continued to focus on her hands. ‘Though, to be honest, not looking in on them feels as bad as torture.’ Nancy finally looked up at her friends. ‘Maybe I should ask Rodney tomorrow about how often he thinks I should see them. I know Marcus was seeing a woman, Rebecca, who seemed really nice. Her girl goes to the same school as Hope.’
Nancy sighed again and shook her head as if trying to clear a fog. ‘I really need to know what’s going on in their lives, and I want to find out how Nicola is too. I miss her so much. I was just getting to know her again before I got cancer.’
Damien stood to make another drink. ‘Well, in my opinion, it should be up to you. You are in the SMG, and, more importantly, you are Marcus and Hope’s mother. I mean, I can understand a bit where the curator was coming from, and I know that contacting them would be a bad idea in case it screwed them up, but what’s the harm in going to see them? See what Rodney says, but I think he will be happy to help.’ Damien turned to Hector and Maxine. ‘Do you think you will try and get your man Stuart onto the SMG? I’ve been thinking that we should really get Mel on board.’
Maxine shook her head. ‘No. He’s a great guy, but I don’t think Hector and I have been in the group for long enough ourselves to be thinking about promoting someone else. I know it wouldn’t have any negative impact on us, as they would get their own island, but it is above our pay grade for now.’
Hector nodded. ‘Ja, Maxine, I agree with you. We need to focus on what we are doing for now. Maybe we could try and find out how long Stuart is going to be with us for before he passes on? The curator changed our destination, post real death, so I don’t see why we can’t in the future.’
They spent another few minutes chatting amongst themselves before Maxine and Hector said their goodbyes and returned to their island.