Bonus story : More than just colleagues : Part 26 : The Biggest Move Yet

On Monday morning, Patrick was already waiting outside the depot when the others arrived. He had opened the truck, taken out some of the equipment, and laid the day’s paperwork on top of a crate. The look on his face was enough to confirm that the message he had sent the night before hadn’t been an exaggeration.

Lucas set down his bag.

“So?”

Patrick handed him the sheet.

“Whole house. Three floors. Two staircases. A basement. Lots of heavy furniture, and the new owners are getting the keys tonight, so everything has to be done by six.”

Lucas scanned the list.

“Are they moving a castle?”

Aldric took the document next. The amount of furniture was far greater than on their usual jobs. The inventory included several wardrobes, two bookcases, a large table, six chairs, three beds, a desk, a sideboard, and a considerable number of boxes.

“It is a substantial load.”

“Are we leaving now?” Karim asked.

“Yes. We’ll organize everything once we get there.”

Lucas grabbed several straps.

“So we’re going to suffer.”

“Probably,” Patrick replied.

Aldric started loading the moving blankets. Karim opened the equipment compartment and checked the corner protectors while Lucas grabbed the dollies.

The house was a little less than an hour from the depot, on a residential street. When they arrived, Aldric understood why Patrick had described it as a very large move. The property took up almost the entire lot.

Three main floors overlooked the garden, along with a garage and a basement accessible by a narrow staircase. Several boxes were already waiting on the front steps.

Lucas climbed out of the truck.

“Okay.”

Karim looked up at the house.

“Yeah…”

Patrick got out as well.

“We’ll start on the top floor.”

“The main staircase appears wide enough for medium-sized furniture, but not for the large wardrobe listed in the master bedroom,” Aldric said.

“We’ll check before bringing it down,” Patrick replied.

Lucas smiled.

“He’s already started the inspection.”

The homeowners were waiting for them inside. They were a couple in their fifties, accompanied by their daughter, who looked to be in her thirties.

Patrick quickly introduced himself.

“First, we’ll walk through the house with you to confirm where everything is going and which items are fragile.”

The woman nodded.

“Everything has to be out today.”

“That’s the plan,” Patrick said.

Her husband looked at the truck.

“You really think it’ll all fit?”

“With several trips, yes,” Patrick replied.

They began walking through the house. On each floor, Patrick asked what needed to go to the new house and what would remain behind. Aldric memorized the destinations, Karim examined the access points, and Lucas was already identifying which boxes could be grouped together.

Aldric looked toward the large wardrobe upstairs.

“I’ll check whether it needs to be taken apart.”

“Exactly,” Patrick said.

Lucas threw up his arms.

“There. We don’t need you anymore.”

“I can still let you carry the wardrobe by yourself.”

“I take it back…”

Lucas gathered the boxes in the hallway so everyone could pick them up without having to go in and out of the bedrooms repeatedly, while Karim fitted protectors to the corners of the walls and covered the banister with a moving blanket.

Aldric went into the master bedroom with Patrick, where the wardrobe took up almost an entire wall. Patrick measured the doorway before examining the piece of furniture.

“It won’t fit through assembled.”

“I can take it apart.”

“Do it. I’ll let the owners know.”

Aldric had not even removed the first screw when Lucas appeared in the doorway.

“Tools?”

Aldric held out his hand, and Lucas gave him a screwdriver.

“Thank you.”

“I knew which one you needed.”

He immediately walked away. A few minutes later, Karim passed by and looked at the panels Aldric had already removed.

“Blankets?”

“Yes.”

Karim handed him two.

“I came prepared.”

In the living room, Patrick confirmed the sideboard’s destination with the homeowner.

“This one is going to the new house, right?”

“Yes.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Patrick took out his phone and sent a message to Lucas, who was organizing the load in the truck.

Patrick: Sideboard is going to the new house.

Lucas: Got a spot ready on the left, against the wall.

At the same time, Aldric came down the stairs carrying one of the dismantled wardrobe panels. Karim moved the boxes blocking the entrance and held the door open for him.

“You can take it straight to the truck. Lucas has already made room for it.”

Aldric nodded and continued on his way. He placed the panel inside the truck before heading back into the house. Their pace quickly picked up under the watchful eyes of the homeowners.

“Are you sure nothing will move during the drive?”

Patrick showed them the straps securing the furniture.

“Yes. Everything will be strapped down before we leave.”

The woman then pointed to a table.

“This one is an antique.”

“We’ll wrap it in moving blankets before we load it.”

Her husband looked at the boxes waiting near the entrance.

“What about the fragile items?”

“The fragile boxes go on the right, in a separate section away from the furniture,” Lucas said.

The top floor was almost completely cleared in less than an hour, and when the final box had been brought downstairs, Lucas returned with the dolly.

“Which room next?”

Patrick checked his list.

“The study.”

When they entered the room, Karim had already started protecting the main piece of furniture. The desk was made of thick wood and had several drawers. Lucas examined it before looking at Aldric.

“I’m leaving that one to you.”

Aldric placed his hands on the desk to assess its weight.

“It will still require two people to carry it down the stairs.”

Karim stepped up to the other end.

“I’ll take this side.”

Patrick pointed out the route.

“You’ll need to turn it at the second landing.”

Aldric and Karim nodded while Lucas headed downstairs ahead of them to clear the way. Aldric lifted the desk and Karim adjusted his grip as Lucas opened the door at the bottom of the stairs. They maneuvered the desk around the landing without touching the wall.

The homeowner, who had watched the entire maneuver, stared at them in surprise.

“Do you do this every day?”

The homeowner, who had watched the entire maneuver, looked at them in surprise.

“Do you do this every day?”

Lucas smiled.

“Yeah. Patrick works us to death every day, but he changes the furniture so it doesn’t get monotonous.”

“Tomorrow it’ll be a wardrobe,” Patrick said.

“See? He’s already got it all planned out.”

The homeowner burst out laughing as Patrick directed them toward the next room.

They continued working. On the ground floor, the boxes were now divided into several areas based on the order in which they would be loaded. Lucas had used pieces of colored tape.

“Red for the first trip. Blue for the second. Green for anything staying in this house.”

Patrick looked over the different sections.

“You organized all this without asking me?”

Lucas shrugged.

“It works.”

“Good job.”

Patrick went back to the homeowners. Around ten thirty, they ran into another problem. A bookcase on the first floor couldn’t make the turn on the staircase.

“We’ll have to remove the shelves and the back panel,” Patrick said.

Lucas had already taken out the toolbox.

“Here.”

Karim started laying a moving blanket on the floor.

“I’ll protect this area.”

Aldric removed the first shelf while Patrick worked on the back panel. Once the bookcase was lighter, they were able to tilt it enough to get it around the landing without touching the walls. Karim then wrapped the separate pieces in moving blankets, and Lucas carried them out to the truck.

They continued working for nearly another hour and a half, clearing the last rooms on the first floor before moving on to the furniture on the ground floor. When noon arrived, Patrick checked their progress.

“We’re ahead of schedule. We can take a thirty-minute break.”

Lucas set down the box he was carrying.

“Finally, an excellent decision.”

“Were you just waiting for someone else to suggest it?” Karim asked.

“For at least an hour.”

“The break will not interfere with the schedule,” Aldric said.

Lucas raised his arms.

“Perfect. For once, everyone agrees with me.”

They sat down near the truck with their lunches. A few minutes later, the homeowners came over with several bottles of water.

“Thank you for all your hard work.”

Patrick accepted them with a smile.

“Thank you.”

The woman looked inside the truck again.

“I really thought this would take much longer.”

“So did we…” Lucas said.

Karim burst out laughing as Aldric unwrapped his sandwich. Lucas talked about the football match he was due to play the following weekend, Karim mentioned that Yanis wanted to join a football club as well, and Patrick explained that he still had work to finish at his father’s house. After thirty minutes, Patrick packed away the rest of his lunch and stood up.

“We’ll finish loading this truck, then make the first trip.”

They finished filling the truck, drove the furniture and boxes to the new house, unloaded everything, then returned for the rest.

The second load went even faster. Lucas had the boxes ready before Karim arrived to add the protective wrapping. Aldric moved the furniture while keeping track of the remaining space in the truck, while Patrick made sure every item was headed to the correct destination.

Sometimes, their exchanges were reduced to just a few words.

“Blanket.”

“Got it.”

“Strap.”

“Right here.”

“New house?”

“Red tag.”

“Truck?”

“Done.”

“Stairs?”

“Clear.”

“Wardrobe?”

“Taken apart.”

The homeowner eventually smiled as she listened to them.

“You have your own language.”

Lucas turned toward her.

“We’re conserving energy.”

Patrick gestured toward the box he was carrying.

“Mostly because he talks enough for all of us the rest of the time.”

“And this is the thanks I get…”

As the afternoon went on, they cleared out the basement, then the garage and the remaining rooms on the ground floor. The homeowners changed their minds several times about where certain items were supposed to go, but none of it disrupted the team. Lucas changed the labels on the boxes, Karim rearranged the protective materials, Patrick updated the list, and Aldric moved the affected furniture.

By around four, all that remained in the house was a large table, four chairs, and a few boxes. Lucas looked around at the nearly empty rooms.

“We were fast.”

Patrick checked the time.

“We’re doing very well.”

Karim looked at the space remaining in the truck, then at the last few items.

“It’ll all fit in this load.”

Aldric lifted the table.

“It can go straight to the back.”

Lucas immediately headed outside.

“I’ll open the truck.”

Not long afterward, they set off for the new house, about thirty minutes away. Once they arrived, the work started again.

The new house quickly filled up, and by five twenty, the truck was almost empty. Only one piece of furniture remained: the sideboard. Aldric placed a hand against one side.

“This is the last one.”

Karim removed the straps.

“It’s free.”

Patrick climbed down from the truck and cleared the way.

“It goes in the living room.”

Aldric and Karim lifted the sideboard and carried it across the driveway. Lucas held the door open for them while Patrick showed them where it needed to go. A few seconds later, the piece was resting against the wall.

The homeowner stepped back to check its position.

“Perfect.”

Patrick looked around.

“Everything’s here.”

Her husband checked several rooms before returning with a smile.

“Yeah. Seriously, thank you. I thought we’d be at this until eight.”

“We left ourselves some extra time in case we ran into any problems.”

Lucas checked his phone.

“It’s five thirty-two.”

“You’re starting to give exact times now,” Aldric said.

“Bad influence…”

Karim burst out laughing as they headed back toward the truck. The cargo area was now empty, the moving blankets had been folded and stacked to one side, the straps were back in their compartment, and the dollies were secured.

Patrick climbed into the back and checked everything.

“We didn’t forget anything?”

Karim checked the corners of the truck.

“Nothing.”

Lucas walked around it.

“Empty.”

Aldric counted the blankets.

“They are all accounted for.”

Patrick climbed back down. After almost ten hours of work, the quiet felt good. Lucas eventually sat down on the rear step.

“I feel like we’re getting pretty good at this.”

“We already were,” Patrick said.

“Then we’re getting really good…”

Karim leaned against the truck.

“I’ll agree with that.”

Patrick checked his phone.

“We’ve got plenty of time to get back.”

Lucas nodded while Karim picked up his water bottle.

“How about we go to a restaurant tonight? My treat,” Patrick said.

“If you’re paying, I can’t say no. That would be rude…”

“You would’ve said yes even if we were all paying for ourselves.”

“Yeah, but now I have a moral obligation to come.”

Karim smiled.

“Works for me.”

Patrick turned to Aldric.

“I’d be happy to.”

Lucas got up from the rear step.

“Perfect. Everyone’s in, nobody disappoints Patrick, and I get a free meal. This day is ending very well.”

“I haven’t even picked the restaurant yet,” Patrick reminded him.

“As long as there’s enough food, I trust you.”

Patrick shook his head before taking out his phone.

“Should we invite Emma too?”

Lucas had already opened the group chat.

“Obviously.”

“At least wait until I”

A notification appeared before he could finish.

Lucas: Patrick’s taking us out to dinner tonight. You coming?

“Did you have to mention that I’m paying?”

“That’s important information.”

Emma: I’d love to 😊

“There. She’s coming,” Karim said.

“Settled. See? I’m very efficient when food is involved…”

Patrick opened the truck door while the others gathered their things.