Chapter 4

It was remarkably quiet out at the shift station in the middle of the night. The Puffing Tom stopped running after midnight and didn't start again until six in the morning. So for that entire six hour period of the day, Kokoro's home became a solitary island of bricks and steel that you'd need a ship to get to and from. And Kokoro didn't have one. Paulie felt like he was out at sea as he stood and stared out the window, trying to make out the line of the horizon. The water was incredibly calm.

"Even kept you in the dark about that announcement right up to the moment itself, huh?" she said.

"Press's been having field days on me ever since," Paulie grumbled.

He'd started on his third cigar of the evening. Or perhaps instead, it was his first of the morning.

"Have to be on my best behaviour cause they're all on the hunt for the next big scoop about my whole damn life story."

"Them's the breaks kiddo!" she smirked. "As it turns out, when you're good at something, people want a piece of you."

"Yeah, so I'm finding out. And it's not always just meant well either. I don't think I'll ever get used to it," he sighed.

It was late, and he was getting tired. He'd quit the drink by now and filled himself back up with some water from her sink.

"How does he even put up with it?" he asked. "He doesn't like attention much usually."

"Hmm… well how to put this?"

She glanced over at the little framed photo of Tom's Workers that still sat out on her table.

"You have to think about how it was for him before," she explained. "There was just the four of us, five if ya count that big old frog, though I imagine most wouldn't. That was it for nearly twenty years. Our world was so tiny."

"Well when you put it like that … guess maybe he appreciates being more connected now…"

"Yeah, think so," she said gently. "Y'know, back then, because no one'd have anything to do with Tom's Workers, there was a loneliness hanging about those two boys that nothing could heal."

She stared down deeply into her glass, giving the last few drops a little swirl.

"Not me, not even Tom. Least of all each other with the way they got on, fighting and all the way they did. But sometimes they tried. Bit of a mess really, but they ended up lovers, sort of, if you could even call it that."

She swallowed the last of it. He quickly turned back from the view to look at her, his face burning red.

"Iceburg… and Franky…?"

"Before you go judging them, you gotta remember… like I said, each other's all they had."

"I just… don't get it," he said, wearily running a hand through his hair.

He didn't really know how loneliness like that felt. He didn't mean to judge, but lonely or not, it was odd to him to think Iceburg would pick a lover just on proximity or convenience. Or was there more to it than Kokoro was aware of herself? Either way, it seemed an odd match for him. Franky of all people?

"It was that or their own hand and eventually that wasn't enough for either of them, I guess," she mentioned. "I had to give them the talk myself and all. Boy, that's a day we all wish we could forget!"

Paulie's cigar nearly dropped from his mouth.

"This is all getting way too crude and way too personal!" he protested. "Are you sure you should really be telling me this?"

"Nah, probably shouldn't be gossiping about all that really now that you mention it. Well you did wanna know more about him though, didn't you?" she chuckled back.

"Well, yeah, but there's certain things I don't need to know! Didn't really want to know."

"Ha ha whoops! Sorry if that made you uncomfortable there."

She tried to laugh it off, but Paulie didn't join in, so she eased back out of it. She coaxed him over to sit down again with a tap on the table. He drew her curtain back over and did so obediently.

"Anyway, what I was trying ta say, is he gets a lot back from it, being in the role he is," she said. "It's not just some burden to him ya know? And it's not that Tom cornered him into it either if that's what you've been wondering."

"Sort of, yeah. Sometimes I thought he was just doing it out of duty to the guy."

"Well, there's a bit of that I imagine. Like I said, Iceburg tried so hard to make him proud. But Tom always gave him hope too, you know? Gave him everything he had, a home, a purpose… hope for change and hope that maybe he'd find a way to heal himself as well as the city. That's why he does it."

"Cause he really believes in it," Paulie added.

His cheeks were still a little flushed as he smiled.

"Yeah," she smiled back.

"Hmm… you know, I'm glad," he said. "I'd hate to think he was slaving away the way he does with no reward."

He tapped his loose ash into the carton. They hadn't really made it deep enough. It was near full.

"I know you don't know much about what happened to him before, but how'd he end up coming to you guys in the first place?" Paulie asked.

"Tom just found him," Kokoro began. "Kid was sleeping rough, trying to sell little things he carved out of wood in the street during the day. They were crude, but Tom liked them. He was so scrawny that Tom brought him home to give him a good meal."

"And that's all there was to it? Just started working with you guys after that?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Once he saw Tom at work, Iceburg begged him to teach him everything. Don't know where his parents were. Sometimes I wonder if maybe even he hadn't a clue. Tom decided we'd never push him to talk."

"Hmm, quite a story… where he started and where he is now…"

If it hadn't been for Tom and Kokoro, who knew where he might have ended up. Paulie'd heard some rough stories about the lives that some of the kids at the convent had lived on the street before the nuns had taken them in. No body deserved to have tales like those to tell. He only hoped that what Iceburg wouldn't talk about wasn't half as bad as some of the worst of them.

"Yeah, he did well that kid of mine," she said, puffing out her chest. "Course he deserves it too, not everyone does. There's not a better man that could be running this city."

"True," Paulie replied. He allowed himself some pride in his boss as well.

"Still… if anything happened to him, that's the end of it. And I sure as hell am not ready to take over Galley La just yet."

She patted him on the head.

"Relax. It'll take time, but you'll get there. That's a worry for years down the line. Now just concentrate on learning and… what was it you said again… doing your best?"

"Don't you go parroting that at me too," he grumbled. "I get it from everyone now."

"Ha, sorry bout that, hard to resist!"

"Anyway, you keep getting me side tracked."

He was stopped at a news stand nearby his apartment when he left in the morning.

"Mr Paulie hey! Come over here!" the owner waved him over.

Paulie wandered his way.

Iceburg's plan to overshadow the sparse details of the assassination attempt with the news of Paulie's appointment was a clear success by the looks of things. Some even featured Paulie's face alone on the front page, photos from the moment they had swarmed him for a statement, and he cringed at the images of himself blankly staring back like a startled animal.

"Ah Jesus," Paulie groaned.

"Impressive right? Think you must've made every cover this morning. Really did your best there, haha!"

The news guy nudged him in the ribs and he grimaced back. That was going to get very old very quickly.

"Here take one on me this morning, alright? You have a regular paper?"

"Call me cheap, but I usually just take a flip through whatever's lying around Galley La's canteen. Don't often buy one myself," Paulie said, hoping to wave him off. It was more or less the truth though.

"Well, which'll it be?"

"Thanks, really, but I don't want one. It's way too embarrassing."

"Ah… come on!"

He threw an arm round Paulie's shoulder who irritably tried to peel him back off. At some point, an onlooker had appeared and approached them.

"Paulie!" she squeaked. "Sign one for me!"

He tried his utmost to remain contained.

"Alright…" he replied as politely as he could muster.

It wasn't long before a small crowd gathered around him. And quickly his patience to stand and listen was tested further than he could cope with. As soon as a slight opening formed through the swarm, he made a dash for freedom towards headquarters.

It was another day of scanning through paperwork, struggling to make heads or tails of the majority. He set Iceburg to work on finishing up his drafts for the fishing vessel first. It seemed likely he could get that piece finished off by the end of the day and it would be something for them to tick off and allow Iceburg to feel a sense of progress. He figured it'd be good for his boss's morale, but good for his own just as much to see he was managing to help things along.

He liked organising people and had a knack for it too, strict enough to get his boys at the docks in line, but soft enough to motivate them to stay there and see their work through to the end. Breaking the work up and starting on small tasks to build a sense of accomplishment often boosted productivity over at the shipyard. But he hadn't really expected it'd work on Iceburg just as well.

Iceburg's transponder snail rang.

"I'm nearly finished these," Iceburg called over. "I'll get that."

"Well, I'm sitting right here. And I am your acting secretary after all," Paulie reasoned. "You keep working on there."

"Sorry. I must be getting used to having to answer my own calls again."

Iceburg put his head back down.

"No worries," he answered, and lifted the receiver. "Hello, Galley La main headquarters? This is Paulie."

"Ahh Paulie, just the man we were hoping to speak to," the deep voice started.

"Who is this?" he snapped.

Iceburg glanced over.

"Water Seven Times. We were hoping to arrange an interview with you?"

"Sorry, not interested. See you," Paulie said, and quickly hung back up.

"It was the press wasn't it?" Iceburg asked.

"Got it in one."

They'd just about got settled back to work when the snail began to ring again.

Paulie shook his head. He was already tired of it all.

"That's probably just them again…"

"Sorry Paulie, I hadn't quite expected this much of a fuss."

"I'd like to say it's alright… but well, I'm still kind of pissed at you too," he grouched. "But I'll get used to it. Eventually. I'm sure."

"All things considered, you've been very gracious about it," Iceburg replied.

"It's not like it would do any good to stay mad at you over it," he answered back.

He took a sip of his tea. He'd made them both a mug earlier. He'd brewed it a little strong and the aftertaste was unpleasantly bitter. He wasn't surprised that Iceburg hadn't drank much of his own, though he'd taken a few sips at first to be polite.

"And besides," Paulie continued. "Knowing you were planning on announcing it at some point in the future anyway… I'd just have had to deal with it later on, so really it'd be no different for me if it's now or later, would it?"

"No. I suppose it would have been like this regardless of when it was."

They let the snail ring off. But it wasn't long until it started back up again.

"They're all crawling out of the woodwork now, huh?" Paulie said, exasperated.

"Just disconnect it."

"What if there's something important you need to answer?"

"Well, if you're not picking it up anyway…"

"True. Hmm, alright then," Paulie muttered. "This call will decide it. If it's another journalist, I'm cutting the line."

"That's fair enough," Iceburg shrugged.

Paulie snatched up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Hi there, Water Water News!"

Paulie dropped it back. He prized a finger underneath the snail's shell to flick the switch that prevented incoming communications.

"Fucking reporters."

"I don't even know if I'm gonna be able to leave the building without getting chased down," Paulie said nervously.

A crowd gradually gathered at the gates throughout the morning, and by lunch break they were making enough of a collective babble that Iceburg hadn't even needed to bring it to Paulie's attention.

They both watched from the window.

"Well, if you'd like, I'll go talk with them," Iceburg offered.

"Would you? And would that even work?"

They watched as a lone figure tried to scale the gates with little success. They slid back down the railings and landed on their ass. Paulie felt they'd only deserved as much.

"It should," Iceburg said. "Not that I have much to say to them, but I could keep them occupied long enough for you to get out the back."

"That would be great. Thanks. Really," Paulie answered.

"Not a problem. Well, it was my fault you're in this mess right now, it would only be right to take some responsibility for it."

"Damn right," Paulie said.

He sighed, steeling himself.

"Well, time to go and see what my mother makes of all this. If I don't go see her now, she'd probably never forgive me."

"I'll walk down with you and head out the front entrance," Iceburg assured.

He held the door for Paulie as they left the room. They walked together down the excess of stairs that Paulie now held a distinct grudge against having to trek up each morning. He considered fashioning himself a pulley system of ropes to hoist himself in through Iceburg's window to by-pass them.

"Like I said, it should be safe to escape out the back route," Iceburg said. "There's no public access for civilians so it should be quiet for you."

"Know what you're going to say to them?" Paulie questioned.

"Not at all," Iceburg laughed apprehensively. "Well, I can make something up as I go along. I'm not sure what they'll ask either, but I'll try not to make things any more difficult for you."

"Well, yeah. Don't go making an ass of me. I could do that just fine on my own."

"Not at all," he dismissed, with a wave of his hand.

The chapel was a lot smaller than he'd remembered it as a child. Back then, the looming vastness of the space instilled the awe and fear of God in him just as intended. Now that he built ships far bigger and more imposing, the main hall almost seemed quaint in comparison.

But as a workman himself, he appreciated its craftsmanship much more now he was older. He admired the fine carving on the wooden pews and the perfectly crafted arches with fresh eyes, knowing just how difficult they were to make appear so effortless. Though admittedly the place was starting to look a little aged.

Up at the front, caught in the stream of blue light from the stained glass window, stood a stocky young nun. She turned to him at the sound of his heavy footfall echoing through the chamber. It took a moment for him to recognise her.

She was dressed in full habit, with her tool belt slung over it.

"Paulie!"

She sprinted forward to greet him.

"It's been a while Jude," he called. His voice echoed through the hall.

"It's Sister Maria now, though," she explained with a grin.

"Have you finished your training then?" he asked.

"No not quite yet. I make my final vows in… well about half a year from now," she replied. "Mother just chose my name though, and I want to start getting used to it."

"It's nice," he smiled. "It suits you."

"I thought so. Oh, congratulations Paulie!"

She reached out her hand to grab his in a strong handshake.

"Of course, we all heard the news."

"Thanks… I guess," he shrugged, a little embarrassed. "Still not sure how to feel about it."

"No wonder, it's a pretty big responsibility Mr Iceburg's given you."

He sighed. "It's massive. Totally huge… don't know how I'm going to manage to pull this one off."

"I still remember the day you decided becoming a shipwright was what you were gonna do. We broke out to go see the sea train launch."

"Of course, how could I forget?"

The pride they'd held for their escape was quickly staunched by their punishment on return. But some things were still worth getting in trouble for, and seeing the Puffing Tom was one of them.

"You were so excited that day. It was all you talked about to any of us other kids for weeks. I remember thinking, 'I want to know what I want to do with my life too','" she explained, with wide eyes.

"I didn't realise I'd inspired you so much," he replied, with a scratch of his neck.

"You were so passionate about it, it was infectious," she beamed. "Course I still like to build a little bit too."

She flexed her arm proudly.

"I help out a lot with the DIY jobs around the nunnery and the chapel. See the big round stained glass window? "

"Uh huh?"

"I'm designing a brand new one to replace it. It's kind of become my dream to be honest. To look after and fix up this old chapel with my own handy work. I'm sure you've probably noticed how beat up the old place looks."

"It's definitely been in better shape," he answered. "That's a good dream."

"Look, here's my plans."

She pulled a little folded sheet from a pocket on her tool belt and handed them his way with enthusiasm. Paulie looked over her drawings, not expecting much, so it pleasantly surprised him. There was a careful pencil sketch of the design for the window, and a test for the glass tints in soft watercolours.

"Angels, huh? Looks nice. You know, if you ever decide to quit there'd probably be a job at the shipyard for you."

"Ah, no, it's just a hobby for me," she dismissed. "Anyway, I think the other nuns are glad too. They say it's good to have someone to do all the boys' work around the place."

She laughed.

"You always did seem to fit more in with the guys, didn't you?"

"Guess so."

"Anyway, I'm here to see mother," Paulie said at last.

"Should be in the office this morning. Here to talk about your big news then I guess?"

"Yeah, don't know how she's going to take it though. She never was completely sold on Galley-La," he started. "Or Mr Iceburg."

He frowned. He wasn't exactly looking forward to talking with her. His job, or perhaps more how it had taken him away from her was something of a point of contention between them.

He tried to pick himself back up.

"I'll come and see the window though when it's done, so let me know. Call me cause I want to see it, alright?"

"Sure!"

She waved, and he raised a hand.

"All the best Jude."

"Sister Maria," she corrected.

"Right, right. Sorry."

He knocked first, pushed open the door and peered in nervously.

She sat at the desk, her large frame filling the chair and spilling over onto her workspace. Two crumpled cigarettes hung from her mouth, threatening to fall and set her papers alight. Whatever it was she was working on must have been a two cigarette kind of problem.

"Um, hi mum," he mumbled.

"Paulie!"

She flung her thick arms open and waved him in.

He always felt a little awkward about these dramatic displays of affection, but put up with it for her sake. She hopped up and hugged him tighter than even Tilestone would. It knocked the wind from him.

"I can't believe it. Vice president…"

"Yeah, quite something alright," he mumbled into the back of her veil. "Well, what do you think?"

"What do I think?"

She stroked his hair. The way she clung to him, Paulie was worried she was never going to let him go.

"To think my own son's heir to the city. I can't believe it."

"I'm only vice president of the shipbuilding company," he corrected her. "I'm not vice president Mayor or something you know."

He'd taken to trying to prize her off subtly. There was only so long a hug was meant to last and she'd far out-maxed that limit. She squeezed him tighter to her round stomach.

"I know, I know. But the shipyard's so important here in Water Seven, you might as well be."

"No, not really," he choked. "It's just that Mr Iceburg happens to be both Galley-La's boss and the city's Mayor. I really won't have any say beyond the docks what goes on around here."

At Iceburg's name she finally released him, but clutched him still at arm's length. She was much shorter than him now, and Paulie could count the wrinkles folding on her forehead like incoming waves as she frowned up at him.

"He might be a fabulous engineer, but that Godless man has been leading our city into spiritual ruin for years," she lectured.

She fished out a third cigarette from her headdress and lit it up too.

"Forgive me for saying, but what Mr Iceburg believes or doesn't isn't any of your business," Paulie said.

"This is what I've been worried about," she scolded. "Did you know? Since his election attendance at mass has fallen to the lowest it's ever been."

"Yes mother, so you've told me," Paulie groaned.

"And your attendance."

She began preening him, smoothing down little stray hairs. He swished her away like her hand was a stray housefly.

"And ever since he allowed it, this city actually welcomes pirates, of all people. And no one has the guts to speak up against it," she said.

"You might not want to admit it, but not all pirates are bad," he protested. "Hell, some of the pirates we serve at Galley La are finer folks than some of the Marine and Government officers that stop by."

"If they're all like that lousy father of yours they're good for nothings."

He sighed.

"The more time I spend away from here, the more I realise this world isn't quite so black and white."

She looked neither impressed nor convinced, but kept silent as he continued.

"Though I can understand why you're still so angry with him, even he's not a bad person. Dad. Just makes a lot of stupid ass mistakes. "

"Idiot boy," she fussed, letting him go. "Guess your head's so full of ships now there's no room left for God in there. It's a bloody good thing I pray so much for you."

He shrugged. "Somehow I don't even know whether he'd take my side anyway."

"Cause you don't even go to church anymore!" his mother sulked. "This isn't easy for me, you know? Ever since that day you started talking about that damn train and wouldn't quit I knew I'd lose you to it."

"What did you expect, that I'd just stay here with you forever?"

She flung her arms in the air in defeat.

"No, no, of course not," she pouted.

He folded his arms.

"I'm sure if you just met Mr Iceburg for once you'd feel differently about him," Paulie explained. "He's a good man."

"Hmm… I doubt it," she muttered.

"Look," he sighed. He turned away from her, offended. "Maybe I should just go."

"No, let's not leave things on a bad note, Paulie."

She placed her hand on his back, knowing full well another gut squeezing hug was the last thing he wanted from her.

"I am sorry," she stressed. "And I am proud you know."

"Hmm."

"You know I'm just scared as hell of losing you," she said nervously. "And all that mess that man's dragged you into lately..."

At that he turned back to her.

"It's fine now," he assured gently. "It's all done now, and I'm still here aren't I?"

She looked so small and lost that he felt it only right to comfort her. He held her, and this time she didn't take him quite so desperately tight

"You know, you've grown up a whole lot since I last saw you," she said, looking up at him.

"Well, that's what a near death experience does to you I guess," he mumbled. "Anyway, I should really get back to work."

"Hmm," she started, it knocked her better mood back a little. "Well, it was nice to see you. Don't make it so long the next time."

"I'll try."

"Oh, you're back," Iceburg called.

He was over at his writing desk and immersed in papers as Paulie stumbled in through the door a little later than he'd intended. He fell into the chair at the other side of Iceburg's table.

"We have to do something about those stairs."

"Well, I'll get thinking about it," Iceburg chuckled and glanced over at him. "Anyway, how did your talk with your mother go?"

"Not great. Same temper but different ideas, so maybe that's the problem."

"Always arguing? Well, I guess I know what that's like…"

"Yeah, it's tiring."

He slumped further into the chair and wiped the sweat from his forehead, taking a breather.

"Anyway. And how'd it go with the press?" he asked back.

"Oh. That."

Iceburg was less than enthusiastic.

"Not good, huh?"

"Well… they asked me some things," he said vaguely.

"Oh here we go…"

"Sorry, I'm not entirely sure it went as well as it could have," he apologised.

Paulie noted that he didn't look up and it wasn't because he was overly invested in his paperwork, because he never really was.

"What exactly did you say to them?"

"Well… no doubt you'll find out in the papers tomorrow morning."

"Jesus," he muttered. "If you can't tell me I'm not sure I even want to know."

He pulled a cigar from his top pocket. He really needed a smoke.

"You don't mind, do you?" he asked.

"No, go ahead," Iceburg conceded. "Sorry. I've just been making things impossible for you haven't I?"

"Not impossible. But not easy," he replied.

He lit his cigar and took a long draw. He felt himself relax a little.

"Anyway, just drop it. I don't care what you said. The press'll twist anything whatever way they want so even if you'd said nothing they'd blow up some big story about something or other."

"Maybe it would be good to arrange an interview with them," Iceburg suggested.

He gathered together his stack of pages and stapled them together. He placed them on the top of a pile that Paulie's little handwritten place card declared as the finances section.

"They'll hound you until they get one," Iceburg continued. "That's how these things work. Give them just enough to satisfy them and they'll leave you alone."

"Alright. I'll do it," Paulie reluctantly agreed. "But this time, I'm taking some time to prepare for it at least."

"That's quite alright. And if you need a break from looking through this paperwork to do it, I honestly don't mind."

He took up the next set of documents from Paulie's 'misc' section.

"I finished the blueprints as you might have gathered, so I've moved on to trying to sort those ones you couldn't."

"Well, that's a bit of good news at least," Paulie said.

He tapped his ash into the mug he'd used for his tea earlier.

"And thanks. Yeah I'd kind of reached my limit there anyway."

He reached into his back pocket for Iceburg's working schedule, scrambled for a pen and ticked off the fishing vessel project.

"Now that you're the VP, I should really assign you your own office," Iceburg said off hand.

It was well past working hours. He opened his office door to encourage Paulie to stop work and leave for the night for his own sake to get some rest. They'd scheduled his interview for early the next morning to get it out of his hair and the journalists off his back.

"Well, we did replicate the old headquarters," he added. "So we have an empty office in the new building that Kalifa used in the old one."

"You're always going on about Kalifa," Paulie pointed out.

"She was my assistant for the last five years Paulie. When you're around someone every day for that long you develop a close relationship."

"Close…?"

"I considered her a friend of course, but I'm not interested in women."

"Oh…" Paulie uttered.

Iceburg had said it so casually that it took a moment to settle in.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have gone… prying like that. It was totally inappropriate."

"Well, now you know," Iceburg added, just as casual. "Anyway, goodnight Paulie."

"Um yeah," he mumbled awkwardly. "You too."

He could barely get to sleep that night worrying about what exactly Iceburg had said, and what the newspapers were going to spill about him in the morning.