The Wedding Proposal by Sue Moorcroft

The Wedding Proposal by Sue Moorcroft

Author:Sue Moorcroft [Moorcroft, Sue]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: contemporary, Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Choc Lit
Published: 2014-07-16T04:00:00+00:00


Chapter Sixteen

Lucas cornered Vern in his ‘outdoor office’, where Vern sometimes took his hated paperwork, a table with blistered white paintwork on a flat place on the rocks. Only one chair stood at the table. Vern didn’t encourage loiterers.

Although Lucas held the day’s student record files, he kept them behind his back. The only thing Vern hated more than paperwork was more paperwork.

Lucas had provided surface cover at Ghar Lapsi today while Lars and Brett led tourists down into the crystal depths to spy on octopus and swim with rainbow shoals of fish. He didn’t enjoy taking his turn to provide surface cover, but at least it had given him an opportunity to think. Now he was ready to share those thoughts with Vern.

‘How do you feel about helping local kids from a youth drop-in centre?’

Vern didn’t look up. ‘What kind of help?’

‘I was wondering whether we could give them a Bubblemaker Session.’

Turning PADI forms over with distaste, Vern sighed. ‘What kind of drop-in centre? Nothing to do with nasty habits?’

‘No. It’s just somewhere for kids to hang out. Play games, do activities, use the internet cafe.’ He sketched in a few more details about the Nicholas Centre and Joseph. ‘My brother’s girlfriend works with children and she got talking to someone I know who volunteers there, so we went up to visit. I sort of got involved.’ He pushed back his hair, damp because he’d been washing off the equipment used for today’s dive and had cooled himself in the spray. ‘So I was thinking we could go there and do the youth programme diving presentation and then get some of them up here in the pool. Obviously, I volunteer my services.’

Slowly, Vern sat back, squinting against the slanting sun. A big tawny man with a lot of body hair, he was a bit like a mangy bear and had a habit of growling to hide his soft heart. ‘We’d need some responsible adults here from their end, safeguarding and all that stuff.’

‘They have their own youth leaders. Maybe one or two of them? And, hopefully, Joseph.’

‘At least that many, yeah, depending on how many kids want to make bubbles.’ Vern tapped his pen against his cheek.

‘Might be a nice PR exercise, being nice to local kids,’ Lucas suggested, persuasively.

Vern grunted. ‘It’s only a good PR exercise if we get the press here and sound off about what wonderful people we are to give time and resources to provide some kids with fun. Otherwise, the only benefit for us that I see is a warm glow at having done a good deed. And there’s the cost of air and the damage to kit. Kids always break things.’

Lucas glanced over at the seawater pool, dancing with sunlight. He thought about Carmelo and imagined his big eyes alight with joy and wonder. ‘Some of those kids don’t even have properly fitting clothes. It’s unlikely that they’ll get to try the expensive adventure of scuba unless someone provides the chance for them.’

Slowly, Vern nodded.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.