CHAPTER 50
Chad was the late arrival at work on Monday morning, as he was busy dropping Vern off somewhere. I didn’t need to know whose place was involved, as long as the lad brought a smile into the office on his arrival.

Ronnie was already behind her desk, and in response to Maryam’s “Morning!” as the three of us walked in together, Ronnie simply said, “Very chipper this morning, Ms Rahman!”, before shutting her mouth more than a second after speaking.

She grinned happily at us.

“Oh, do I see a little bit of… Mister Rhodes, you do blush! I can tell, even under the sunburn. Do I say ‘congrats’, or do I keep gob shut and nose out?”

I looked at Maz, and she simply reached out a hand for mine.

“What does it look like, Ronnie?”

Our girl laughed happily, and came over for a hug.

“Bloody congrats it is, then! Where’s Chad?”

Something must have shown in our faces, because she roared with laughter.

“Christ on a bike, Kul, what are they putting in your water supply?”

She sobered quickly, lowering her voice.

“I really didn’t want to shout this one out, but I saw him four times last week, as I was going to pick up my munchies, and he was sitting in the same coffee shop, over the road from the sandwich place, ey? Same lunch companion each time. If I’ve got it wrong, let me know, and I won’t stuff up, or try my best not to”

I looked at the others, then took the hint.

“What did this companion look like, Ronnie?”

She looked down at her hands.

“Um, about his age. Fit as, ey? Blonde, short hair. Bloke”

“Sounds like Vern, Ronnie, so yes, you’re on the money”

“Sorry, Mike, but I didn’t want to out him if he wasn’t, you know, comfortable with it”

Kul laughed.

“They were both bloody comfortable with it all weekend at our place, love! As well as on the beach on Sunday. Thanks for thinking, though. Juicy gossip is SOOOO tempting. Meet me behind the bike sheds later, and I’ll tell you all about Mike”

Ronnie barked out a laugh.

“You’ve been doing that ever since we started, Kul! Hey, Maz?”

“Yes?”

“How’s the reality compare?”

The woman I was slowly coming to think of as my lover flushed dark under the tan of her cheeks, and shook her head.

“Not going there, Ronnie, apart from… Oh, you can guess. Now, we’re all on an office day today, and we have a proposal, a decent one, she says quickly, so if we can get a bit of time together, we’ve got something to show you”

Kul sniggered, and as she muttered a quick “Oh, put your mind away, Mister Butt”, Ronnie handed us the mail, which included one with a Sydney postmark.

“That one’s for the two boys, Maz. Think it’s about that camper place. Morning, Chad!”

“Er, hi, Ronnie. Expecting some mail today: you sorted it yet?”

“That the one from Sydney? Yup. Kul has it Quick work there, Mr Meads”

“Yeah. My sort of cousin-in-law e-mailed me last night; saw it this morning. Shall we have a brainstorm, folks?”

He led us into the back office, which was when I realised I was still holding someone else’s hand, so I gave it a squeeze as I let go, with a hopefully clear message that I would pick things up later, including the hand. We each stowed our little bundle of ‘Mail for YOU’ and sat around our little conference table with the mutual stuff. Chad took the lead.

“Right! Cuz says they have about ten businesses expressing an interest in the deal so they are circulating a request through the dreads-and-board-shorts community. Word of mouth, ey? How are the prices, are they decent fitters and fettlers, any known rip-offs, that sort of thing”

I was a little confused.

“Dreads and board shorts?”

“One of the larger markets over there. Surfing in New South Wales is big, but over the Queensland border it’s massive. Place called ’Surfer’s Paradise’, up by the Gold Coast. Surfers…”

He started to laugh, so I waited till he could explain without gasping.

“Like, they do the whole alternative thing, with a VW camper, but it’s a trek up there, so the serious ones get something more reliable, and leave the VW at home. It’s one thing posing in it at Bondi or Manly, it’s another driving it the best part of a thousand k to Queensland”

I was catching on quickly, the explanation bringing an ever-greater understanding of exactly how big the country was. I checked the distance later, and it would be like someone from Aberdeen deciding to go surfing in Cornwall. Ouch.

I turned to the others with a repeat of my suggestion about sending Kul over for the discussions, along with his wife and son, and Kul shook his head.

“Might go better with his cousin if Chad does the initial visit. Geeta will whinge, but for once I think we need a bit more of the personal contact stuff. Anyone disagree? No? But we’re not paying for Vern’s ticket”

Chad looked stunned, but Kul was holding up a shushing hand.

“She won’t whinge, actually, because it was her suggestion. She said she wanted a proper trip, tie all our kangaroos down together, she’ll be right, et cetera. Just make sure you leave some time to lose the hangovers, lad”

He softened his tone, smiling at the younger man.

“Geeta says he’s a nice lad, so I am neither to take the piss nor do any pushing. End of, okay? Let’s get this mail cleared, and then we can sort diaries”

That turned out to be a longer job than I had anticipated, and far more absorbing, but every hour or so, I would find a mug of tea arriving at my own desk, usually from Kul. As he put the second or third one down, I looked up.

“You want to give Rod a ring, Mike? Let him know what’s doing so far?”

“Good call, mate. On it”

The phone clicked a few times, and then Rod answered.

“Canning Campers!”

“Hi Rod; Mike Rhodes again”

“Hiya, mate! Getting on really well with that surf school job. Going to do two vans, and keep one of them here as a demo job. Might suit someone else. You never know, ey? What can I do you for?”

“Just got an update on that Sydney suggestion, Rod”

I talked him through it, and he chuckled.

“Canvassing the users, ey? Well, you’re not the only ones. That Rhona’s sharper than a sharp thing, Mike. She’s found a cherry for your cake”

“That’s supposed to be our job! What you got?”

“Simple as. We get this running, and we let folks drive over to Sydney, they deliver the camper to our new contact. They, in turn, hire our van out to surfers who want to do the Nullarbor and some of the breaks over here, which Rhona and her man will sort for them”

It was inspired, as well as a little incestuous, and I was already thinking about ways to get more involvement in it, so we could extract more cash. It wasn’t just Tasmanians who could work closely together, then. I finished the call, and started my report to the team with a “You’re not going to believe this, but…” and the info was received with a gales of laughter, and the suggestion from Maz that we should subcontract Rhona. Just then, our own Ronnie put her head round the door.

“Anyone fancy something from the sandwich shop?”

Chad shook his head.

“Um, I was going to grab a coffee. I could bring some back, after”

Ronnie shook her head.

“He’s already in his usual seat, Chad. Grab the snacks at the same time you bring him in here. Nobody mind?”

Maz was nodding.

“Makes sense, especially with what we wanted to discuss with you, Ronnie”

“Colour me bloody intrigued, then. Got a menu here from the munchies place, and a notepad for the errand boy’s list. Off you trot, Chad!”

He was back in fort-five minutes, which seemed to have allowed enough time for his blush to abate, even though he now had Vern in tow, and we gathered at our little conference table once more after Ronnie had set up a reception phone to ring through. Maz took the lead.

“Ronnie, I’m going to go into a bit of detail here that the rest of us already know, so they can get munching while I do. It started with the Southern Cross”

“Arse end of nowhere, Maz! I mean, halfway to Kalgoorlie, so RFO as!”

“Sorry?”

Vern chipped in.

“The star constellation, er, Ronnie, not the mining town”

Chad was nodding along with his friend’s words.

“Mike was on about seeing the Southern Cross, about getting out into the bush, and that became some holiday rentals down by Maggie River.. Idea is we sort a weekend out, book one or two of the cottages, depending on how many they sleep”

Kul laughed, interrupting him with a rude comment about that being a different and higher number to the number of beds required, and Maz slapped his arm. Chad took a while to find his voice again.

“Thanks, Mister Butt, for nothing. Ronnie, plan is to spend days on the beach, with a run round some wineries, and, well, the place we’re looking at has a hot tub”

Ronnie was grinning happily.

“Get sand in our cracks and pits, load up with booze, then slump in warm bubbles while getting pie-eyed? Where do I sign up?”

Maz waved a hand at the rest of us.

“We are looking at Kul’s family as well, so with Vern here, it’s an offer to both you and your other half. Proper team do, this”

Vern interjected, “And there’s cliff climbing as well”, and Maz replied with “Birdwatching too!”

A pause, before she added, “And I already have a quote for nine of us”

Ronnie’s grin gave way to outright laughter.

“Ms Rahman, you are just SO pro! Can I make another suggestion? Do we need to travel separately, or might your friend up in Kalamunda have something suitable we can hire?”

No arguments; Maz had a suitable ‘chalet’ booked for a fortnight later before we finished our lunch.

The afternoon went as quickly as the morning had, and when time came to ack up, Maz asked for a quiet word. I followed her out into our back yard, and it was only when she turned back to me that I saw the dampness in her eyes.

“Mike… I’m so sorry, but…”

My voices were shouting in glee, clearly scenting a victory, as she stammered something about too soon, too fast, could I understand, and a few more things, that cut the ground from under me, before she returned to the office to collect her kit and head home, and by ‘home’, she meant her own place. I couldn’t remember what she had said, so I stayed out in the sun until Kul came for me.

“What is up, Mike? Maz just cleared off, without a word”

I tried to shut down my hecklers, saying merely, “No idea, Mike”

“Like fuck you have! See if we can sort this tomorrow, but right now it’s home time”

He all but pushed me into gathering my stuff, and once in the car and driving home, he started a lecture. It was a gentle one, calm, quiet and softly-spoken, but it was still a lecture.

“She’s just like you, isn’t she? Like you say Carolyn was? No self-confidence?”

I muttered something, and he grunted at me, so I spoke up a little.

“Yes. I think so”

“Yup. She’s also riddled with guilt, Mike. I suspect she’s hearing her mother. Can I ask a personal question?”

“Ask it, and I’ll tell you if you can”

“Who did most of the driving over the weekend, and before you say you don’t have a car, you know exactly what I mean”

I sighed, feeling like shit and hating myself for doing so.

“She did, I suppose”

“Yes. She did. And I am sure she realises that, so if she has issues over her family, and how they see her, is that a surprise?”

He flashed me a quick look before turning his eyes back to the road.

“Sorry, mate, but I think she is having a real guilt trip, and that’s going to be a bugger to break her out of. Here’s my suggestion, and trust me, it comes from a good source”

“Who would that be?”

“Me, Mike. How do you think things went when Geeta and me got together? I am still not the top flavour at their mealtime, the, what was that? Cherry on their cake? We had our moments. I nearly walked away, because I saw myself breaking her family”

“But you and Geeta, you’re… you’re so solid”

“Soulmates, yeah? Don’t tell her I said that, but we are. I would be lost without her, and the lad, well. I’ve been fucking lucky in life, Mike, but I can still see how others aren’t anywhere near as fortunate. You and Maz, well, early days there, but I can see a spark”

“Not early days now”

“Not end of days, either. Here’s what you are going to do tonight”

We kept things to ourselves, at least those things, through our evening meal, and I simply retreated to my room afterwards with my laptop, checking my mails. There was one from Vic Edwards, forwarded by Penny.

‘Hi Mike
Sorry we missed the Skype, but we were away. Nansi found a support group online, and they have weekends away for families with transgender kids. There’s no pressure, no dress code or anything, just a safe place for them to be with others, use a preferred name, and things like that. We’ve not got much clothing and stuff for her yet, but as soon as she was released from the car, Duw, how could we not have seen who she is earlier?

She was sorry she missed you, and wants to know when she can see you again. Thanks from all of us here; give us some times, and we’ll make sure we’re all there together’

I rattled off a quick reply, no heart for anything deeper, and started a search online for local rock guides, which took some time and left me feeling utterly flat, as it all tied into our situation, our trip to Margaret River, and that little word was painful each time I used it.

I shut my laptop around eleven, and did my best to settle down for the night. Just as some dog started barking a few doors away, my phone chirped to tell me a text had arrived. I tapped it open, and it was from Maryam.

‘I am so sorry for today. Blowing hot and cold, like I said. Just had visions of what Mum would say. Couldn’t handle it’

I quickly, for me, typed back.

‘What would M say? You OK? Worried’

‘She’d say whore, harlot, haram. Can only fight voices so much’

‘Whore. Harlot’. Versus ‘Adulterer. Cheat’. All the same, in essence. I typed again.

‘What can I do to help?’

‘Be patient. What are you doing?’

‘In bed’

‘Could I dribble into your pillow tonight? Parked round corner’