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the deliveries delivered and the staff
were doing what staff should do.
    He had never really spoken to
Neil before, but he certainly remembered Lucy Lightfoot as a scary
woman who continually seemed on the verge of an angry outburst. She
had once shouted at Carlo for knocking over a pile of boxes
containing wafers as he was running through the factory to get to
the offices. Many of the fragile wafers had broken and Lucy was
apoplectic with rage.
    He moved Lucy’s file to the
side placing it on top of Neil’s and then, not wanting to think
about her, swiftly switched them so Neil’s was on top and covering
the angry faced picture on Lucy’s file. Carlo looked at the next
one; Elspeth Bertholini’s. A smile appeared on his face as he
looked at the picture of a happy woman in her early forties with
long blonde hair, huge glasses and a wide smile. Although he
recognised her face, the picture did not sit well with his memory
of Elspeth who he had last seen at his father’s funeral. Whilst the
glasses and the smile remained the same the face had been more
lined and hair more grey. Carlo found the date of the document at
the top left corner and understood that the photograph of his
father’s feisty secretary had obviously been taken some 25 years
earlier.
    As he made his way through the
pile one by one it slowly occurred to Carlo that he knew nearly all
of the people in these folders and that they had all in some small
way been a part of his life as a child. Whether they had spent 5
minutes entertaining the young Carlo while his father made a phone
call, or giving him a sneaky free ice cream when the shift manager
wasn’t looking, they had all taken the time to be friendly to a
young boy.
     
    ‘ You
OK?’
    Carlo jumped as he was yanked
from his reverie by Abi standing at the door. ‘God, woman! Don’t do
that!’ he said falling back into his chair.
    ‘ Sorry.’ She
said. ‘Thought I’d come and see how you were getting on.’ Carlo
gave her a doubtful glance as he bent down to pick up the folders
he had just dropped.
    ‘ OK, Norton
was heading off towards the vans so I decided to scarper before he
broke something.’ she said, more truthfully. ‘Oh, I’m sure he won’t
touch anything really…’ she added seeing Carlo’s rather anxious
face reappear from under the desk. From the factory floor behind
her “You Are My Sunshine” started blasting out from one of the vans
followed by a whoop of joy from Ben and Norton. Abi had the grace
to look embarrassed and quickly shut the door behind her with a
slight grin.
    ‘ Watchya
doin’?’ She asked throwing herself into the comfy chair against the
wall and folding her legs beneath her.
    Carlo indicated the pile of
folders. ‘Uncle Randy asked me to look through these. Apparently
they are the people we need to get back if we are going to open up
without everything going wrong. But…’ Carlo paused looking
glum.
    ‘ But what?’
Abi asked.
    ‘ But… I don’t
think they will come back. It’s been ages; they’ve probably all got
other jobs. And they used to work for my Dad, not me. Why would
they come back and work for me?’ Carlo said looking more worried
than usual.
    ‘ Because
you’re his son.’ Abi answered in her normal manner that suggested
that no other point of view was necessary now that hers had been
voiced.
    ‘ But
that…’
    ‘ Look!’ Abi
butted in. ‘It’s natural to feel worried coz lets face it, you’ve
never ran an ice cream factory before. It’s a big step up from
chemistry homework on a Tuesday night. But you’re not actually going to be
running the place are you? Randy is. So there’s no need to worry
about that bit for a while. And if they can, I’m sure they will all
come back because this is Leodoni’s and you’re the last
Leodoni.’
    ‘ No… there is
another.’ whispered a voice from the doorway as Ben’s head appeared
from the other side of the door. ‘Not ready are you!’ he added in
his best mystical, squat