Dockingboys

Chapter Four

Time passed by pretty quickly as the eight dockingboys had their fun in Oakton. At ten minutes before five PM, all of the boys arrived at the Crisscross, carrying different items. Toland and Kane came back with a stack of three pizza boxes, ready to be opened back at the docks. Ivan was holding multiple bags of clothing and apparel, and Yangshi came back with a rather very well-drawn cartoon drawing depicting him operating a crane at the docks, probably drawn by Yangwei. He was also holding what looked like a brand-new typewriter. Jose and Jamon came back happily with brand new pens and paper, and Jose was holding a large bag of novels. Rusty came back grinning like a maniac, and Declan smiled.

"So! Did y'all enjoy your trip to Oakton?" he asked, but he already knew the answer.

"Yeah!" Jose yelled. Jamon wrote "Awesome" on a piece of stationery.

"Definitely!" Yangshi said, bowing.

"Yes!" Toland and Kane both said at the same time.

Ivan waved his bags. "Duh."

Rusty was elbowing Declan so hard that Declan had to stop his arm and turn to him.

"What is it, dude? The train comes in five."

"I got a girl!"

"Really? Nice job, dude!"

"She likes me! Me! Can you believe that?"

"Honestly, no. I can't. But great job. Let's see how long this one will last."

Rusty elbowed Declan in the chest. "Not funny, Dec. Definitely not funny."

Declan laughed, just as the train arrived. The boys all cheered and piled into the train car, just as a few of the passengers leaned away, and a few women covered their nose as if the boys were polluted. They found themselves sitting in the exact same train car, and Jose was already pulling out one of his books.

Ivan immediately fell asleep, and Toland and Kane started joking again. Meanwhile, Declan went over to Yangshi, who looked up from studying his new typewriter, and waved.

"Hey there, Declan. I've heard many good things about you when I arrived here. They say that you're one of the best dockingboys around. You were a steeplejack before, correct?"

Declan nodded. "Yeah. Hey, you're not too bad yourself. Ivan told me about how good you are on the cranes."

"Yes, I know. Honestly, though, I'm used to handling them. My father used to be a dockingboy as well, so he taught me all he knew."

"Wow, cool! Hey, man, could you do me a favor? I got a friend whose sister has a bit of a problem."

Declan told Yangshi about Akuma's little secret, and Yangshi laughed. It wasn't like a normal laugh, though. It was more like a booming laugh, the sound carrying through even to Toland and Kane, who stopped joking and laughed along, even though they had no idea what Yangshi was laughing about. It appeared that even Ivan woke up and was so startled that the coffee he ordered on the train spilled down his shirt.

"Yes! Aki likes Yangwei?" Yangshi said finally after a hard round of laughter.

"Yeah. You know her?"

"Yes, of course. Your friend Billy used to be one of my best friends, before I moved away to work at the North Docks. Aki was always a problem. She is like that now, no?"

"Oh yes. You should see her. Dang, that girl has an attitude."

"Ha! Anyway, the answer is yes. Yangwei told me once there was a girl that seemed to like her, and she liked that girl as well. So yes. I'll pass the information on. I'll write some letters tomorrow."

"Ah, thanks. Akuma actually forced me to tell you, and if I didn't, I would've been dead."

"That's Aki for you," Yangshi laughed again, then went back to looking at his typewriter.

When they finally arrived back at West Dock Station, the boys had to pour water on Ivan to wake him up, then quickly went back to the Hall, where the other dockingboys were gathered already. Declan saw fourteen-year- old Rob, who was, like Yangshi, transferred from the North Docks. He was young and skinny, with uncombed and messy red hair. Then there was Isaac, who just got transferred from the South Docks, and at 11 years old, he mostly hung out with Leif, who was the same age. Within a few minutes of gathering, everyone took their seats at the tables, and Toland and Kane passed out the pizza boxes. All the boys oohed and aahed as they each took a slice from the boxes and began to eat, groaning in delight at the pizza. Pizza wasn't something they got everyday, so it was almost like a miracle if they got to eat it. Eli, the dockingboy supervisor of the West Docks, was nowhere to be seen at the Hall, but the boys couldn't care less, as the pizza was good enough. Although some of them still didn't know why they were allowed almost half the entire day off, or why they weren't allowed at the shipyard that night, most of the boys didn't ask questions.

"Hey, Rusty! I hear you got a girl!" jokes Marcus, laughing.

"I did! What's so funny?" Rusty replies, chewing on a slice of pizza.

"Oh, nothing! It's just really surprising, am I right, guys?" Marcus says, elbowing Wayne, who was shaking with laughter.

"Definitely, Marc! I can agree to that one hundred percent!" Declan chimes in, laughing as well.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, at least now I have a girlfriend, which none of you have!"

"Yeah, but it doesn't count if it only lasts a week!" Toland yelled from across the table.

Rusty frowned, but then laughed.

Yangshi looked at his watch. "Hey guys! We'll be late for school!"

Declan quickly checked the calendar that was hanging on the wall of the Hall. "Dude, it's Saturday. We don't have school."

Kane laughed. "Yeah, Yangshi! You should learn to look at the calendar!"

"Yeah, but it's not like the calendar shows what day it is, right?"

Kane stopped and thought for a moment. "Oh yeah."

With that, all three boxes of pizza were finished and dumped into the trash. The boys immediately retreated to their own bunks and some of them, such as Ivan, immediately fell asleep.

Usually, a few of the boys gather over at one of their bunks and play games such as cards or competitions, or just hang out. That night, most of the boys were gathered at Toland's bunk, who was the undisputed king of games. And so was Declan. Which was why no one heard about the death of 13-year-old Rake until the next morning.