This chapter is dedicated to @CarolinaC. Her radio serial, 'Daring Dashwood's Wasteland Wanders' is as hilarious as it is zany and well worth following for those times when you need a belly laugh to give you a lift.
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A/N: This chapter continues when Greg comes back from his meeting at the bank and meets up with Ali and Tomas in the stable to see what they have been doing while he has been away.Now read on:-
Part Sixty-Nine
Timeline: 11:25, Friday 20th April. Town Hall Stables.
Ali took a deep breath, pursed his lips, exhaled nosily and pointed at the ragged green lines he and Tomas had painted on the cobbled floor of the stable.
“You can see we gone to a whole lot of trouble to get these lines straight as we can over them stones and in the right places.”
Greg scratched his ear in confusion and snapped. “Gimme that plan from Wayne.”
Ali handed it over with a loud chuckle in which Tomas joined in adding to Greg’s confusion. Greg held the plan out at arms length to compare it to the fresh, green lines on the floor. Ali and Tomas stood watching with grins of amusement, saying nothing until Greg angrily waved the plan in their faces.
“What the hell are you two playing at? You've changed everything around. You’ve painted lines for things where I said we had to keep the space clear for the trailer. Are you two playing me for some sort of a sucker? Here I am…”
That was as far as he got before Ali put a finger across his lips smiling broadly. Greg stood dumbfounded as Ali took over the conversation.
“Take it easy Mr. Mitchell. We done this like this ‘cos we don’t think it’d work the way you had it down on that paper there.” Ali smiled kindly at Greg and continued.
“Before I tell yer what me and Tomas done here while you been gone, I need to make sure I got it right what you told me about how this thing will run.” Greg still seethed, but stood silent, nodding his acquiescence.
For the next five minutes Ali repeated from memory all that Greg had told him about the mechanics of the intended waste oil refining operation. The big man lost all semblance of his belligerence as he involved himself in the details of the process, which he repeated with a growing enthusiasm for the work. Greg listened more closely to Ali, astounded by how much the man had retained of the rather sketchy and hurried briefing Greg had delivered before he had hurried away to his meeting at the bank.
Ali spoke without consulting the notes he had written down during that briefing. Yet, to Greg’s amazement, it was all there. His doubts about these men turned again to a warming confidence in them. Greg was impressed and became aware that the secret of working painlessly with these men was to involve them in the details of what he was doing, and keeping them busy.
“Did I miss sumpun'?” Ali stood smiling, arms akimbo, confident he had repeated it all.
Greg had momentarily lapsed into thinking these other thoughts and shook himself free of them to concentrate on the matter in hand.
“Ehh. Yes Ali, you got it all there. Well done. But what you didn’t say was what we're going to do about the trailer and why the plan won’t work the way Wayne had it laid out.”
Ali slapped his hands together and loped over to the doorway.
“Let’s get all talk of that there trailer out o' the way first. You did say you’re gonna have to buy a trailer and a portable air compressor to drive barrel pumps to pull behind the truck for making waste oil collections?”
“That’s right.”
Ali continued. “Your plan is to put another 225-gallon tank on this trailer and use it only to collect oil from the diners. Then you’re gonna bring it back and pump it into another 225-gallon tank fer settlin' out. When that’s all done the trailer, the empty tank, compressor and barrel pumps is all gonna sit here doing nothin’ ‘till the next time they all goes out to fetch more dirty oil. Right?”
Greg nodded, “Right so far. That’s the plan. If when we start we find we need to use ‘em for other things they’ll be here ready and waiting for us.”
Ali grinned to show he was enjoying this moment and Greg saw it as a challenge.
“What’s wrong with that” Greg asked, but sounding less assured? Ali’s voice went up an octave and he became more excited as he warmed to his theme.
“Forget it. Forget the whole trailer an' tank thing. It’s expensive and we don't need it. It’d mean you’ll be making this place into a garage for a trailer when it's gotta be a plant for makin' bio-diesel. Right?”
Greg resisted the temptation to argue before he had heard Ali’s plan. “I see where you’re coming from, but not where you’re going with this. We are gonna need a trailer. But go on.”
Ali grinned.
“For a start, you’re limited to what you can do in here ‘cos you only got a space of thirty feet long by eighteen wide and two foot o’ the width’s taken up a'ready bythem stone horse troughs on the road side that you ain’t allowed to shift even if you wanted to. Then you got eight foot wide doors over here on the yard side.” Ali paused expecting a remark from Greg, who nibbled his finger-nails and said nothing, waving the big man to continue.
“OK, You said you gonna buy chemicals in bulk and dry stuff you want to store on that far end wall ‘cos it’s dry and away from the door where the drains and water is. So all the wet work has to be done in this west half of the stable, nearest the doors?”
“That’s right. But we’ll need to do test batches on each collection to calculate how much chemical to use. I thought of doing that by building a table over the horse troughs and carrying what little water…”
Ali stopped him mid-sentence. “ I’m coming to that. You’ll want as much waste oil through here as you can get from wherever you can get it to make this pay. Right?”
“That’s right. What are you driving at?”
“You said it takes up to a week for the water and rubbish to settle out o' the oil before you can add chemicals an' start the processing. ...if you have only two settling tanks you won’t have enough of ‘em, not if it’s real dirty oil you're bringing in. You’re gonna need more settlers. That’s what them green lines is for. They show the new processin’ layout.”
‘But…but… You can’t do that. Whatever you say we will need a trailer and a place to park it? You’ve now filled the place with containers; so where do we park the trailer…?’
“Like I said, don’t waste your money on trailers and buyin' yourself problems for parking it.” Ali was in control of the conversation and he knew it. “We’re gonna do this thing another, more easy way.”
Greg looked bemused and Ali chuckled heartily again along with Tomas who had come to stand by the big man’s side.
“The way we see to do it like them old fashioned milkmen putting a full bottle on the doorstep and taking away an empty. ‘Cept we’ll be doing it the other way round, picking up fulls and puttin' down empties.”
Ali paused for breath, but not long enough for Greg to sidetrack him with a question. “Instead of buying an expensive trailer and extra tank to get in the way when it’s not in use and takin' up space in here; do it this way. …Instead, you buy a pallet o' cheap 5-gallon plastic jerricans and park ‘em right over there.”
Ali pointed to a narrow rectangular area outlined in green painted lines against the innermost, east wall of the stable “That’s what you do. Any man can lift a five-gallon can of oil off and on the truck wi' one good arm an' don't need no pumps t' do it neither. He drops an empty at the diner, picks up a full an' puts it on the truck. You can get a good two dozen o' them jerricans in the back of the truck; one in and one out.”
Ali’s common sense approach hit Greg like a thunderbolt. He smacked his hand against his forehead as understanding flooded in like a tidal wave. Ali gave him no time to think.
“Let's go over here, Mr. Mitchell.”
Greg followed Ali and Tomas to the entrance.
“See these?” Ali pointed at two green circles painted on the cobbles against the yard wall, just inside the doors and to the left. Greg nodded.
“OK, these are for two fifty gallon oil drums; metal drums we can get from salvage. We cut one down half way and the other we cut open at the top. You or your man back the truck to the door after the collection. Lift off the jerricans one by one and empty ‘em in the big drum through a filter we gonna rig up over the drum. You still with me?”
“Ye-es,” Greg replied uncertainly, scratching his chin, but amazed at the simplicity of the suggestion asking limply. “What’s the other one for?”
“That’s for emptying the rubbish out o’ the filter when it gets choked up...”
Ali and Tomas spent the next ten minutes explaining their layout of the stable and how one person could operate their amended system. Ali was enthused with his subject and Greg was again amazed at how much the man had absorbed of the briefing and even more astounded at how he had understood it so well as to be able to recommend changes. With every slight objection that Greg raised, Ali and Tomas were ahead of him. They had already thought of that difficulty and found a way around it.
Greg walked around the area taking in and understanding the message of the green painted lines. Storage of the methanol and caustic soda process chemicals was in the dry area, close to where they would be needed. There were six settling tanks leading down to two processing tanks, on to six wash tanks and then to two finished oil storage tanks. All arranged to make the best use of the available space, with the wash tanks closest to the water faucet and existing drains. His eye picked up lines on the west wall running from the fuse-box to green rectangles Greg recognised as spaces for power points to connect with the elements in the settling and process tanks to heat the oil slightly to optimum temperature for fast conversion to bio-diesel. It was a good layout and Greg struggled to find any faults, seizing on the plan for storage of the final product.
“Why only two storage tanks for the finished bio-diesel; we may need more?” Ali grinned at Greg’s suggestion.
“If you is the top-dog salesman like you say, you shouldn’t need more’n two. …That’s if you’ve done your job right. B'sides, I reckon we can mixup the batches of diesel when them's finished . I don't think there'll be enough dirty oil in one go to fill a settling tank. You gonna need more o’ them than you will storage tanks for that reason.”
The truth of Ali’s statement pierced Greg like the shaft of an arrow. Ali had not meant any disrespect, it was a compliment in a way and Greg smiled wryly.
“How right you are Ali. If I do my job right we should only need the one.” All three men laughed, their thoughts were running together at last.
Ali explained. “Once your man has emptied the collection into that oil drum through the filter he can use that barrel pump you gonna buy an' shift it from the oil drum to the first settlin' tank. Come on over here.”
They walked over to the road-side of the wet area of the stable and Ali continued his explanation with a question.
“Tell me this. It’s already bio-diesel when it gets to the wash tanks. Do that mean we can run it direct from wash to storage?”
“Yes! The washing process is to get rid of any chemical residues. We can run it around the wash tanks until we see it’s ready when it comes clear.”
Ali wagged a finger. “ But s'pose we make a mistake an' push it through too soon. We can lose a batch of diesel an’ if we’re mixing batches, that adds up to a big loss.”
Greg grinned. “That’s a good point Ali, but it won’t be wasted if that happens. We’ll have to pump the contaminated oil back to the wash tanks. I’ll make a note to put in storage tanks with take off valves every foot of tank height, like the settlers so we don’t spoil a whole tank if that happens.”
Ali looked confused and Greg explained.
“Contaminated oil will be heavier and sink to the bottom. We can pull of the good oil above it for sale without any problems. I’ll talk to Wayne and make sure he sends us more of the multi-level take off tanks.”
Ali waited for Greg to write a note in his notebook before resuming his presentation.
“In that case, we can put all them tanks on wood platforms so the settlers are higher than the washers and them be higher than the processers and so on down to storage. That way we use gravity to run ‘em down to the next part of the process. What's called a cascade.”
“That’s a great idea Ali,” Greg slapped the man’s back in appreciation.
Ali sniffed. “Not my idea, Tomas thought that one out. Why pump it more’n once?”
Greg held up a warning finger. “We will have to pump it around the wash tanks, they’ll be on the same level as each other.”
Ali sniffed noisily and said disdainfully. “Whatever!”
Greg leaned across to touch Tomas shoulder to thank him and saw the wings of his broad black eagle moustache spread again as the man grinned. Ali had not finished.
“Tomas got himself another idea, lets go down here a bit.” They walked a few paces down towards the doors and stopped at another area marked out in six green rectangles. Ali sniffed.
“ This be the wash area. This where you wash the crude bio-diesel. You told me you wash it out by…” Ali consulted his notebook. “...by spurging it with water, maybe four times. Is that right?”
“Yes, that’s right. You have to wash any residual chemical out of it before it can go through to the finish tank and be used in an engine.You do that by sprinkling water on the top and letting it sink through the oil to pick up any chemical residue.”
“OK, water gotta be paid for, either by you or the mayor, and water gets scarce in summertime. So I'm asking. Can we use the wash water more’n once?”
Greg scratched his ear in wonder at how Ali and Tomas had worked out the minutiae of the process.
“Yes, it can be used up to four times…”
“Great,” Ali cut across him, “Tomas has an idea”
Tomas stood obsequiously with his hands folded across his front, head bowed in anxiety, but with a large grin on his face.
“Sorry Mister Mee-chell, but is a silly idea from Honora when she take in washing...”
“Your wife takes in washing Tomas?”
“Ye-es Mister Mee-chell, we ‘ave to do that. Some things need plenty rinsing. But water cost money and she ‘ave maybe three, four bowl of rinsing. She use rinsing water more’n one time and keep track of it with leetle disk with numbers on each bowl...’
“What he’s getting at is this,” Ali could no longer contain himself. “We put disks on each tank 1, 2, 3, 4. You start with clean water and hang a ‘1’ on that tank, then when it settles out under the oil you run it down to the next one and you hang a ‘2’ on it. That way you use the water more times than once. Whaddya think?” The two workmen were highly charged and almost bouncing on their feet waiting for Greg’s reply.
“Sounds good to me boys, but won’t we need a lot more drains than what we got?’
Ali waved away Greg’s objection with a loud exhalation of breath.
“Drains we can fix, there’re drains in these cobbles already filled in with the muck o’ ages. We can open ‘em up again. Don’t forget, a dozen horses lived in this place in it’s day. The ‘blue-bellies’ brought water in buckets to the horses, but they cain’t do nuthin’ about carrying it out once it wuz horse-piss.”
All three men laughed and Greg felt increasing warmth for these men. Their ideas were sound and he could find no fault in them to argue, restoring his confidence that the revised layout would work. He was further encouraged by the number of times Ali used the word 'we' when describing his revised layout.
“Blue-bellies?” Greg looked sideways on at Ali, who mumbled.
“I wuz raised in Georgia Mr. Mitchell.”
“So Ali’s a Southerner,’Greg thought, laughed, and changed the subject
“I don’t think the mayor’ll want us ripping up his cobble stones.”
“Won’t have to do that!” Ali’s instant response galvanized their attention and he explained.
“The stones are part of the history o' the place, Mayor's always talkin' about it, and that’s the biggest problem we have here. Drains ain’t no problem. I can run lines for water and power just about anywhere overhead. We got enough water pressure. Only problem is protectin' the stones when we’re bringing in deliveries on the pallet-truck.”
“Have you got any suggestions about what we could do about that,” Greg asked? This was now their plan and he was content to let Ali and Tomas think this out. Ali waved his hands indecisively in front of him.
“I ain’t sure about that yet. Best thing’d be to concrete over ‘em, but we cain’t do that.”
Tomas intervened. “We can lay boards over ‘em.”
Greg replied. “But the weight might still break up the cobbles, they’re not all at an even height.”
Ali came back “We can lay sand between ‘em and build ‘em up so it's even before we lay the boards and spread the weight that way.”
“Sounds good,” Greg said, “let’s do it like that then. Listen I have to go make a call. I like your plan. Have you arranged things for the titration tests?”
“If that’s them tests you gotta do before you add the chemmies the answer is yes to that.”
“Great, let’s do it. Have you made a list of what you’ll need?”
“We got oursels' a list for timber, pipe, cable and hardware, but not for sand and boards for the stones.” Ali flipped through his notebook until he found the list and held it out for Greg’s inspection.
“OK boys, I have to go to Lincoln today. Can you get what you need in the truck and have it back to me in the motel by 12.30. Only gives you just over an hour.”
A faint suggestion of his usual belligerence swept across Ali’s face and his eyes blazed as he said. “We can, but what we gonna use for money?”
“Oh,that’s easy," Greg replied pulling his wallet from his pocket and taking out the new Ghost corporate credit card. He tore a corner off Wayne’s plan and wrote four numbers on it. Then handed the card and numbers to Ali.
“That’s the new corporate credit card for the company I’m setting up for this project and that’s the PIN. Use that for what you need. Don’t lose that PIN and be sure to get trade prices and receipts.”
Ali stood boggle eyed and open jawed holding the card in one hand and the piece of paper in the other.
"What’s up?” Greg asked, sensing a difficulty.
“You’ll trust me … us with this?" Ali could not believe this was happening.
"Why not? Seems it’s the best way of getting you to start trusting me if I show you a little trust first.” Greg grinned and pushed his face towards Ali who stood bemused and stupefied. Greg gripped his upper arm and goaded him good-naturedly.
“Come on, get with it man, you only have an hour to get what you need Move it. See you at the motel before half past noon. Don’t be late.”