Recluse Island

Chapter 22

October 2013

The story of how Glenn Sanbuster and Andrea Wendell met differs depending on who is doing the telling. For Glenn it all began in the Meadowlark Café but for Andrea the timing came down to a Monday morning in late October. On this day Andrea was to receive her first trainee, nervous about meeting them and worried she wouldn't meet the expectations of her position; she had arrived early at Label's and Processing. This is how Andrea happened to be present when Olly Galloway arrived alongside his older brother Glenn.  

            Naturally, Andrea had seen Glenn around it was hard not to when they lived in such close confines, but they had never spoken. However, on that morning Andrea couldn't look away. There really wasn't any reason for her to pay him any special attention yet at that moment she was drawn to him. Captivated by his quiet indifference, his kindness in walking Olly to his first day of work, the comforting hug as they parted ways and encouraging words he spoke to calm Olly's nerves.

Andrea was intrigued by his warm smile, curly midnight black hair and the pen stuck in his shirt pocket, something she would later associate as his trademark. As fate would have it, she was assigned Olly's trainer for the next ninety days. It certainly cannot be denied that without Glenn and Andrea meeting particular events may never have come about that ultimately became responsible for liberating the Clinkirk Compound.

            On that historic day after Glenn left, Andrea went to introduce herself to Oliver, whom she knew from the packet she was provided with Olly's assessment scores that he preferred to go by the nickname Olly. Their head of section Chuck McPherson, a known perfectionist and list maker, was busy reviewing the day's tasks in his office and so was not there to welcome Olly as protocol dictated. Chuck was also generally considered a scatterbrain.

            Labels and Processing was a large open room designed for assembly work. There were three long conveyor belts taking up most of the space. One for receiving packages for shipment, one for checking each package contained the appropriate items and one for labeling each box with its intended destination. The packages are then transported above ground to Stormy Shore to be flown to the United States.

            After Glenn was gone Olly remained by the door, clearly unsure where to go or what to do. Andrea cautiously approached him.

            "You must be Olly," she said matter of factly, "I'm Andrea Wendell I'll be your trainer."

            Olly looked at her closely, slowly taking in her dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, the tangerine bracelet on her right wrist, cardboard box pin above her heart and carefully pressed light pink buttoned up shirt tucked into her black pants.

            "You're a lefty," was his response.

            Andrea grinned, that was the thing about having to wear your ID bracelet on your non-dominant hand everyone automatically knew if you were right or left-handed.

            "Yep, but I can see you're not."

            Olly shook his head, "No my brother Glenn is though."

            "That who just dropped you off?" asked Andrea even though she already knew the answer.

            Olly nodded, "I told him he didn't have to, but he insisted." Olly replied sheepishly.

            Andrea could immediately tell Olly was on the more reserved side. Which meant he would be cautious, a necessary quality to have when working in Labels and Processing to ensure nothing was packed or labeled incorrectly. It was important they met their section goals as this resulted in additional seibolds being added to their monthly income. Andrea could tell Olly didn't like being separated from his brother and had probably always used him as a crutch but here in Label's and Processing he'd have to learn to stand on his own.