CHAPTER 55
Friday morning duly arrived, and we made a fine group as we entered the conference suite in the boatyard’s business centre. Maz was in her very best suit, sharp enough to slice whatever you might need paper-thin, Chad was amazingly neat and both Kul and I had done our best to match them. We’d picked up Martin and Trudy from the biodiesel company at the reception, and once inside, we were introduced to three suits from the ferry company, along with another pair I gathered Kul hadn’t been expecting. Just as I was bracing myself for a typical stuffed-shirt meeting, the leading Ferry Suit simply grinned and held out his hand for a shake.

“G’day to you all! I’m Murdo, that one’s Caitlyn, and the miserable one is our bean-counter Joey. Who’s who with you lot?”

Kul took the lead, as usual.

“Well, this is Martin and Trudy, two of our clients. They represent Green Dream Biofuels. The rest of us are from Talbot and Swan consultants. That’s Mike, Chad, Maryam, and I’m Kul”

Murdo shook his head, grin widening even further.

“Maryam, was it? Does he do that every time”

She simply nodded at me, and I answered for us all.

“Well, he’s been doing it ever since the day we met, so I will assume it’s been a bad habit since long before that”

“Great. Martin, Trudy? Shall we dive straight in? What can you offer us?”

That bit got rather Death By Powerpoint for around half an hour, as the existing clients laid out the environmental credentials and tax benefits for their customers, and I simply sat and thought about what I could use Rod’s bike for. Camping trip? Maz and I lying on our backs looking at the stars? It was a little while before it clicked: no introductions had been made to the two extras. Once Martin and Trudy had finished their double act, Murdo gave an emphatic nod.

“Mates, we’re big on sustainability in WA. Bloody well have to be, given how much of us is Red Centre. It’s part of how we sell Rotto to the tourists, along with the bike hire over there. Even if those bikes are clapped out wrecks, and I didn’t tell you that. And the quokkas, of course. That aren’t wrecks, or at least not now. Bloody hoons and their quokka soccer. Anyway, thought we’d let some friends listen in, before putting any pressure on them. These two are Kerry and Randall from one of the whale-watching businesses. Now, can we go back over that bit about fuel duty, just for Joey’s benefit…”

Despite his breezy manner, I realised that Murdo was a very switched-on businessman, and we were with them for over three hours. Once all hands had been shaken, promises of a free trip to ‘Rotto’ given, and a few very important bits of paper (“I’ll run it past the rest of the board and have an answer by Wednesday, mate”) left with Murdo, six of us made our way back to our cars. Martin was chuckling happily, while Trudy was simply smiling, but she was the one who summed it up.

“Bloody genius idea, Kul. How the hell did you get an invitation to that one?”

“Nepotism, pure and simple, Trude. It was all my son’s idea”

“That’s not nepotism, not really”

“It is, when the lad is in the same class as Murdo’s nephew. Hints carefully dropped in the right ears”

“Keep dropping those hints, Kul, and we’ll keep picking them up”

“Well, we just happen to have these other two clients, both running diesel vehicles…”

He was off, smooth as silken sin, and when he explained how Chad was off to Sydney the following week, Trudy cracked up.

“Bloody networking on steroids, you are! Are you able to put us in touch with the van man? We have some tweaks we can show him for his engines, if he’s mechanically literate”

My turn to laugh.

“Trust me, he’s not just mechanically literate, he’s bloody multilingual with it”

We said our goodbyes to the fuel folk, and Maz rang the office to let Ronnie know the result, then looked around our group.

“Sod going into the office! I want out of this suit, and especially these shoes, and it is now the end of the week, my diary is empty and there is a beach calling me. Anyone with me, apart from the big man?”

Chad grinned back.

“Swimmers are in the car, Maz. I like to be prepared. Got yours, Mike?”

I swam in my underpants. I didn’t actually care.

Yes, we went to the climbing centre the following day. Yes, Vern was there. Yes, Maz cooked a wonderfully tender beef curry thing for the Sunday, that had Vern asking for more, and yes, we saw him and Chad off on their flight to the east coast that Monday. And yes, she spent every night with me. Sangeeta simply gave her kitchen duties each morning, and when I muttered some mild protest, Geeta’s response was a simple repetition of Kul’s comment.

“She’s family. She can pull her weight”

And no, my voices didn’t shut up, but they were getting a lot quieter.

Murdo was absolutely true to his word, as Green Dream let us know ebulliently that Thursday, with the promise of a bonus for Talbot and Swan. Chad and Vern were due back on the following Monday, but had let us know that they had three possible partners on their shortlist. We held a short ’team meeting’ in the office on the Friday after the news from Green Dream came in, our two absentees on a video link and Kul smugger than I had ever seen him, which was a serious achievement. He had a number of paper planes sitting on his desk for some reason.

“Boys, girls and Mike, I got a message from our head office this morning, or at least that’s when I read it. They are happier than happy things on Prozac at our last quarter’s results, particularly the maritime adventures AND the fact that we now have a business footprint on the East Coast. Our bigwigs are looking into ways they might expand on that one, so a bloody well done to Chad and nepotism! They have also asked for suggestions as to how people might prefer to be appreciated”

He sat back in his chair, grin flashing in his beard.

“We are each getting a decent three figure bonus for the quarter, a second one for the Green Dream deal, and a third one for Sydney, but only if that one comes off properly. So, just shy of a grand in bonus now, with half a grand to come if we get a ‘yes’ from Kalamunda. And that’s not all”

He sat grinning for a while, until Maz told him to get on with it, and he spread his arms wide.

“This was teamwork, folks, so what else could I do other than ask for some team-building exercises?”

Before anyone could answer, he asked Vern if he could skive off from his job the following weekend. The lad looked a little confused.

“I’m on casual terms, Kul, but still best to ask. If this is the trad climbing place, I can sell it that way. I’ll sort out a borrow of my mate’s kit, soon as”

“Good. Because I have booked this for next weekend. Head Office are paying”

He began launching the paper planes at the rest of us, while telling Chad he had just e-mailed the page to him.

“Yup. Booked for nine people, two units, one with a hot tub. Four nights, from Thursday arvo to Monday morning, so bring your work clobber, cobber, as well as your swimmers. Oh, and Rod’s doing us a minibus. Said we wouldn’t be able to fit enough wine onto a bike. Ronnie? Your other half?”

She held up her mobile.

“Just been texting. Working Friday and Monday, so he’ll drive down and back separately. Ripper, bonzer, she’ll be right, et bloody cetera”

“That’s my line!”

“Don’t we know it, mate! Food plan? You are NOT going to leave it all to your missus, ey?”

“Nope. Eat out during the day. Takeaway or delivery at evening. Just need to take enough stuff for our brekkies. Now, I do believe the wineries also do food, and there’s bound to be somewhere down by the beach, and then there’s a visit to that place for Maz”

Her eyes lit up.

“The tropicbirds? Absolutely! I could kiss you, Kul”

“Ah, that’s Mike’s job. Er, you know what I meant. Anyway, clear up anything that needs clearing, sort diary space and get your relaxing heads out of storage”

Heading down the road just under a week later felt strange, as if I was taking one holiday within another. The minibus, driven by Kul, didn’t have air conditioning, but we had the windows open, and there was enough silly conversation to draw the string of what added up to around one hundred and seventy-five miles of driving. Maz started out slumped against me, but once we were into more rural areas, she sat up straighter, doing her best to spot birds as we rolled.

“Ooh! Spotted harrier!”

More like that came every few minutes, so I asked Vern to pass me the rucksack of ‘trad gear’ he had borrowed from his friend. It was much as I had expected, with a conspicuous lack of camming devices or hexes, almost everything being wired wedges like HB’s, Rocks and Wallnuts, but there was an abundance of quick draws and a decent set of tape slings. I could work with it, and just smiled and nodded at Vern as Kul shouted over the wind noise.

“Going on a detour, mates! Get that side trip out of the way for Ms Rahman there, and then we are going to run down to Cowaramup and see me, make me smi-i-i-ile”

Dal shouted something, Ronnie made a loud snoring sound, and we swept around the long curve of Geographe Bay, through Dunsborough and up much narrower roads with little signs warning of the night time presence of various unfamiliar marsupials. Finally, we arrived at a car park, the air fresh with the smell of the sea, and a path led through brush and across areas of bare rock to a circular viewing platform, a conical sea stack offshore. The rock felt almost like gritstone, with excellent friction and multiple fault and crack lines, a golden brown in colour, and I was already assessing it for runner placements when I realised Maz was talking to me.

“The big white birds, love! See the tail streamers? And there’s a pod of dolphins!”