Read Chapter 16: — A SMALL WAR OVER CABBAGES

The argument began over cabbages.

A food depot had received forty tonnes of donated vegetables. They needed people to sort and bag them before distribution.

Ethan, Mark and Jamie volunteered between driving shifts.

The work was repetitive, freezing and unexpectedly exhausting.

Jamie started singing badly to keep everyone awake.

A volunteer named Shaun snapped at him.

"Some of us take this seriously."

"I'm bagging cabbage, not performing surgery."

"Exactly. You're protected head to toe while some of us have one mask left."

The room changed.

Shaun's anger was not really about singing. His closest friend, also a volunteer, had tested positive that morning. Shaun had been working for a week with almost no protective equipment.

Jamie, young and defensive, made it worse.

"Jealous of my glamorous bin-bag couture?"

Within seconds, two groups were shouting.

Ethan stepped between them.

"Stop. We're all tired, we're all frightened, and none of that makes the other person the enemy."

Shaun's face crumpled with embarrassment.

"I shouldn't have started it."

Jamie looked away.

Then he ran outside.

For a moment everyone assumed he had stormed off.

He returned carrying five masks.

"I've got ten," he said. "You take half."

Shaun stared at him.

"I can't."

"You can. And I'm sorry I was a prat."

Shaun laughed through tears.

The work resumed.

Later, Maya told Ethan the story sounded almost too neat.

"It wasn't neat," he said. "They nearly hit each other with vegetables."

"That helps."