The Last Bridge

Chapter 8

Ben stood in front of his computer, glaring at it slightly as if it had personally misled him somehow. It had been a couple of weeks after the trial and they had finally set up a soup kitchen over on the Isle. After all, Dizzy and Celia had indicated during the viewing that the food wasn't being evenly distributed.

At first there'd been some concern that the people of the Isle might look at it as charity (instead of, you know, providing them with the basic human right everyone deserved). Plus there was concern that not everyone would have access to it based on where it might have been located.

It'd been Hadie who solved the second problem.

"Why not have it in dad's old restaurant?" Hadie asked as he looked up from his book, a few days after Leah, Natalie and Audrey's trial. He'd taken to reading in Ben's office whenever he and Mal met to go over Isle plans. Ben didn't mind, he was always happy to have Mal's brother in there.

Plus he found it funny how Hadie would get up and walk out if the conversation veered over to wedding plans. The younger boy was so like Mal it was honestly a little scary—then again, they were siblings. What did Ben expect?

"Huh," Mal said, tilting her head. "You got a point there storm cloud. If I remember correctly from the second viewing, dad's restaurant is in the neutral zone by Tremaine's place."

"Plus it'd give Audrey a safe place to do her community service," Evie added. "Even if the Isle's improved a bit since we left it by making sure they get actual food instead of the rotten stuff we all grew up on."

"Not everyone's getting the food though," Ben pointed out. "Like Dizzy and Celia said during the viewing, some of the food is covered in dirt and flies."

"But that's the way the Isle's always been Ben," Mal said with a small sigh. "I'm not saying it's fair or right but kids who aren't in a gang are less likely to get decent food. This soup kitchen will fix that. Plus...it might get Audrey some allies."

"What do you mean?" Ben asked but Evie gasped as she realized what Mal was talking about.

"The guard's a great idea Ben but once she's in the soup kitchen, Audrey's basically a sitting duck for Leah to corner or Natalie if Leah doesn't want to get her hands dirty," Evie said gently. "But if there's one thing a VK will protect, it's their access to food. If Leah tries to corner or even bully Audrey, hopefully some of the VKs there—."

"Ginny Gothel probably won't be on the Isle so Audrey won't have her for an ally," Mal shook her head. "Cassandra wrote back. She accepted Ben's offer to be an Ambassador, getting kids off the Isle who need it. Five bucks says she gets her sister off."

Not that there was any shame in that. After all, wasn't that what she did? Got her sibling out of a hellish environment and allowed him to have a chance to have his time in the sun?

"I wouldn't take that bet," Evie shook her head and Mal figured she was thinking about Dizzy. Her younger sister in all but blood. "Any sibling would get their sibling off the Isle. Especially if they're a younger sibling. Oh speaking of nothing in particular, I spoke to Queen Tiana. She's agreed to make a batch of chicken soup for the soup kitchen."

"I can ask Belle or Mrs. Potts to help out," Mal stated. "Gods know there's going to be a lot of kids who need some good food and it'd be a lot to ask of Tiana alone."

It'd be a lot to ask of those three, Ben thought. I should do something to help out. Hmm...bread usually goes good with soup right? Plus it's filling, all those carbs.