Chapter 2: A Place at University

They wheeled it up to his van then slid the body bag into the back. The trolley had been designed by Danny to match the height of the vans floor, so it was fairly easy to load. As Danny put the trolley back in the garage, Paul pulled his van forward. Danny closed everywhere up and set the alarm. Then they drove out to the swimming pool site.

Arriving just after eight, everywhere looked deserted as he had expected, so he drove around to the site of the pool and parked with the back of the van by the digger. After lifting the bag of sand gravel mix off the board, they climbed down the ladder. After moving the board off the hole, Paul started the mixer up and the two of them put the first load of concrete in.

With his small mixer, it would take them forty mixes to do the job. Hence him bringing Danny along. They did fifteen mixes, pouring them from the mixer straight into the hole each time they were ready. He had brought two pieces of 6mm re-enforcing mesh with him.

After some thought, he had decided on using two separate sections for each item. Each piece was six feet by two feet with an upturn down each of the long sides of twelve inches. He lay the first section on top of the concrete with the upturned sides pointing upwards.

Then he pushed the main section down until the mesh sank a few millimetres into the wet concrete, just leaving the twelve-inch side upturns visible.

As Danny loaded another mix into the mixer, Paul climbed up and moved the item from his van into the bucket of the digger. He lowered it down to the bottom of the hole. Climbing back down, the two of them lifted the item, still in its body bag, out of the bucket and lay it flat down the centre of the trench. So now it was lying flat on its back, on wet concrete and in between the two side upstands.

Then he put the other u-shaped piece of mesh over it, this time with the turn up edges pointing down. Standing on the mesh he let his weight push the sides down into the concrete until the main section was just a couple of inches above the body bag.

He poured the mixer out over the head end which was enough to disguise the shape. Covering the hole with the board, he climbed the ladder, had a quick look round to check no one was about, then returned down the hole.

While he did that, Danny had refilled the mixer. Paul moved the board away and poured it out over the lower end of the body bag. No one looking down from above would now be able to tell that there was anything buried in the concrete other than re-mesh. The two of them just plodded on mixing and pouring until the concrete was level with the top of the mesh.

They had done twenty-five mixes so far. They did two more mixes to cover the mesh, then went topside for a break. Paul had brought sandwiches and a flask with him, so they sat in the sunshine to eat them.

Finishing their coffees, they relaxed lying on the ground for quarter of an hour then went back down to finish mixing. They counted down as they emptied each mix. Once they had completed the forty mixes, there were still enough materials left for one more part mix, so they put everything that was left into the mixer, then poured it out on top of the item.

Washing the mixer out, they emptied the residue out on top of the new concrete, then tied the mixer and the big board to the digger bucket. The empty bags, old cement bags and the extension lead all went into the bucket. Paul climbed the ladder, then lifted everything out of the hole.

The rubbish he put in the back of his van, along with the cement mixer. He wound up the extension lead back to the supply then put that in his van. All that was down the hole now was the hosepipe, a shovel and the ladder. Taking the digger over to the heaps where he had started levelling, he filled the bucket. Then he returned to the edge of the hole, checked Danny had moved away as instructed then dropped it into the hole.

He had judged his drop well, most of it went straight onto the top of his new cement. He dropped another load in the same place, then climbed back down.

Danny had already started spreading the spoil he had dropped. It was spread out evenly over the hole, so it filled every corner. It was about four inches above the surrounding level of the pool excavation. They both walked over it to press it down a bit, then gave it a good soaking with the hosepipe. The water would speed up its settlement.

They both went back up top. Paul lowered the bucket of the digger down and used it as a press to compact the spoil, moving it along the trench a bit at a time, then pressing the bucket down until the wheels of the digger lifted up, showing that all its weight was on the soil.

Paul went back down to check. The hole was now completely filled and level with the bottom of the pool excavation. He used his shovel to scrape a bit of dust around, then climbed out again.

Lifting the bucket up out of the hole, he got out of the digger and pulled up the hosepipe and the ladder. Standing looking down, neither of them could tell where they had been working, even though they knew exactly where it was. Satisfied, he returned to the digger then carried on levelling the heaps of spoil around the garden.

Danny had passed his driving test for a car earlier in the year. Paul showed him the controls and let him have a go with the JCB, levelling the soil out. Danny thoroughly enjoyed himself.

They were still hard at it when the customer arrived home and came to see how the job was going. Paul told him everything was completed as far as the pool company were concerned. He would be back tomorrow for the morning to finish spreading the spoil out, then he would be gone.

When the customer thanked him, he asked if he would let him know when the pool company started so he could call in and see what they were doing.

He and Danny set off home. On the way Paul said, ‘I wonder who we have just disposed of?’ Danny knew of course as he had been sent details and had voted. ‘I’m sure it was someone the world will be a far better place without.’ he said. ‘That’s good enough for me.’ Paul told him.

The following day, Paul had finished levelling out by lunchtime, so he drove the digger home. Danny borrowed his mum’s car that afternoon and took him back again to pick up his van.

Two weeks later his customer called to say the pool company were starting work on the following day. At the end of the week Paul went out to see how it was going. There was shuttering in the pool and all the concrete base and surrounds had been poured. Speaking to one of the workmen, Paul was told that his excavations had been spot on, they hadn’t had to make any changes.

Paul was delighted to hear it, especially when the foreman came over and asked for his card just in the event that they ever needed a local man again. But of course, his main delight was that there was now a colossal amount of concrete covering his item.

That evening he used his special phone to send the text, ‘Item Sold.’

Soon afterwards the purchase of his building site was completed. Danny had designed his workshop layout for him, and the Super had arranged a security fence round the whole site. It was built being careful to site it so as not to be in the way of the permanent walls and gates.

He next laid a concrete base on the site of the second house, on which was built a prefabricated workshop. Services such as water, drains and electric that had fed the original house now gave a quick temporary supply to the workshop.

At the side of the new workshop, two hoppers were fitted. One was to hold five ton of sand and gravel mixed. One was to hold two ton of loose cement. Each had a chute into the workshop which could feed straight into the cement mixer. Paul had bought a bigger mixer to remain on site. The two hoppers were designed for easy loading from a lorry.

He had bought two six-millimetre sheets of re-mesh each sixteen feet by eight feet, plus a new nine-inch whizzer for cutting them. He could cut five sections of six feet by four feet out of each sheet so once he had cut them and bent them ready, he had enough for five items.