Nantucket Reds
Will Berkeley
Sales Associate at Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage: Top 15% Internationally
Chapter One
“Boar Island,” Bob Parks said and pushed a map across the table. “It’s one of the Elizabeth Islands.”
We were in the conference room of Penn Construction on the waterfront in Boston. We fixed infrastructure. Or we’ll be back next week to try to fix it. At some point we just give up.
“Okay,” I said and looked at the map.
The Elizabeth Island stretched from Falmouth into the middle of Buzzard’s Bay. Boar Island was the outermost island. It had to be the worst island in the Atlantic if we were getting it.
“Six of the Elizabeth Islands are owned by the Forbes family. Cuttyhunk is public. We got Boar Island. What do you think of that Jack?”
The whole conversation was geared around the fact that I was a midlevel Project Manager at Penn Construction whose opinion did not matter.
“It looks like a unique opportunity,” I said. Boar Island looked like a miniature planet Mars. “The Forbes family doesn’t want another private island?”
“Boar Island has got environmental issues,” Bob Parks said and tapped on the map like isolation clarified everything. “It’s a nightmare even by our standards.”
“How did we get this opportunity?” I practically gasped.
“The Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Bob Parks said and snapped his capped teeth at me.
“Is this an Abandoned Property?” I asked and Bob Parks bristled up.
“You think the Governor would need The Massachusetts Turnpike if he could make first class islands in Buzzard’s Bay? Nobody wants this. Not even the Park Service. It’s impossible to get on.” Bob Parks laughed. “The first building that I bought had a tree growing in the basement.” Bob Parks slapped the table. “And I thought that was bad?”
I laughed unconvincingly.
All of my projects were the cumulative failures of others. The plans were not followed. The concrete was not mixed properly. The rebar never made it into the walls. The beams were too short. The piers were hollow. The land was inferior. The whole project was unfixable but knocking it down was never feasible. Apparently I was doing a barren rock in the Atlantic that looked like a bucket with a mop in it. The symbolism was not lost on me.
I asked, “What’s the history of occupation?”
Perhaps there was an abandoned asylum with a few leftover straightjackets that I could put on when resolving the problems of Boar Island became too much for me. A derelict padded room that I could claim as my office. Some lobotomy needles to tap up my nose with a wooden mallet.
“It’s right up your alley,” Bob Parks laughed. “The first white man to set foot on the island set it on fire. The Indians scalped the daylights out of him. Pirates, murderers and thieves couldn’t civilize the place. A granite quarry and a leper hospital failed out there. The Navy dropped bombs on it from World War II up until Korea. There has been no human occupation for over a hundred years. There is no electricity or running water.”
I asked, “How bad is the environmental?”
“We had to waive it,” Bob Parks said.
“What did the inspection find?” I asked. “Is there unexploded ordinance?”
“The State wouldn’t allow us to inspect the island,” Bob Parks said. “The quarry is full of rainwater. The cliffs are sheer.” Bob Parks laughed. “This is all you.”
“How did the aerial reconnaissance look?” I asked.
“We didn’t want to upset the neighbors by flying helicopters over their heads,” Bob Parks said. “The Forbes family is an excitable crowd. You got the Kennedy compound right around the corner if you need to use the bathroom.”
Bob Parks winked.
“We were pretty cute on this one,” he said.
“How are we going in?” I asked. Maybe this was my big opportunity. The dimensions of this job were enormous.
“We’re going in light,” Bob Parks said.
“We’re going in light?” I asked.
“You got your climbing partner, Big Pete, and two girls,” Bob Parks said. “I got your broad right, the big tit one. But I don’t know about the other one. She vexes me.”
I wanted to punch Bob Parks in the face.
“What’s the intended use?” I asked.
“Wind farm,” Bob Parks said.