The Cover Up Novel Part Twenty-Three

When Drake got up he followed his usual routine of letting his dogs go out to the backyard to take care of business.. He would go out to join them for his first cigarette of the day and the only one that he allowed himself. Just as he took the last drag from his Player's Extra Light, Drake heard the phone ring inside his house.

Drake answered the phone,”Hello.”

“Drake? It's Phil Oakland from the hostel calling?”

“What's up, buddy?”

“The union's got to do something Drake. All hell's breaking loose here. Our staff's gone crazy and is writing each other up every chance they get.”

“Why's that?”

“ We're understaffed here and are over worked. The clients that the facility is letting in are getting more and more violent. I don't have to tell you Drake. Look at what happened to Bret Daniels,” said Phil.

“I know. We have the same problem in the mental health wing. Having some extra staffing would help ease a lot of the pressure,” Drake answered walking over to his coffee pot.

“The thing is that the staff are starting to turn on each other. They are also asking me, 'what's the union doing about it?' I called our union's national representative and he told me to call you about these issues.”

“Who? Hugh Stradbrook?”

“Yeah.”

“Here's the deal with Hugh. He's close to retirement and doesn't want to work too hard. From what I heard he complained like crazy when the union put The House of Hope on his case load. At this point in his career he doesn't want to rock the boat. Hugh's also heard that dealing with Lisa Harrison is like wrestling with an alligator.”

“So, where does that leave us?” asked Phil Oakland.

“What this means is that we're probably going to have to do all the bull work on our own. Don't expect much help or support from Hugh Stradbrook. I'll tell you what Phil, I'll try to get a shop steward's meeting organized for some time next week.”

“I'm glad to hear someone's going to take the reigns here?” said Phil with a sigh of relief.

“Well, don't get your hopes up but I'm going to see what we can do on our own,” said Drake as he ended the phone call.