by Derek Haines
‘I can’t say anything except, I’m sorry,’ he said, still with his eyes glued to the coffee cup. The only thing I know, is that I miss my kids, and I have to be able to see them. I just…just...miss them,’ he said with his voice fading away.
‘Do what you want as you always do. I’ll do as I’m told. As I always do,’ she quietly said as she rose from the table, grabbed her handbag, and left for work. David sat. Still with his eyes glued to the bottom of his empty coffee mug. ‘Who am I?’ he thought.
After Sydney’s mild climate, a scorching January 1990 was not a welcome return home for David and his wife. Renting an un-air conditioned house, with no furniture as it was lost somewhere between Sydney and Perth, made it doubly worse. Within six weeks after much chaos, they bought a house in Duncraig. Famous for being popular with eastern staters. The humour wasn’t lost on David. ‘It’s going to take me years to be classed as a local again,’ he joked with his wife.
They settled in quickly. There were only two problems. David couldn’t find work. And his ex-wife was fighting his weekend access rights to his kids in the Family Court. He could see them at his ex-wife’s house, and she would allow him to take them out for an afternoon, but she was standing firm on him not having them as was originally agreed at their divorce, that he could have them every second weekend from Friday evening to Sunday evening. After what was a difficult divorce, David didn’t relish another episode in court. He hired a solicitor to handle the application. During the four months it took to secure his original access rights, David hadn’t had any luck in finding a suitable job. Well, none that he liked. In the end he decided he’d start his own business.
DPS Plumbing Supplies started on their kitchen table. Equipped with a telephone and a telephone book, and note book and pencil, David started building a business. Within a year, he asked his wife, who was doing well as a software consultant, to join him. His business was growing rapidly. She agreed. For almost the first time in their six years together, this husband and wife became a team. They enjoyed working side by side, and not surprisingly learned about, and appreciated each other’s skills. They were both very capable, hard working people. With the children accepting his new wife very well, and every second weekend being family time with his eight year old daughter and ten year old son, David felt his life settle. This was where David would later wish he had stayed.
It was a simple business decision. May 1993. David and his wife were in total agreement. The business had grown to a point that they couldn’t continue to operate from Perth. David was spending more time in Sydney than at home in Perth. With his old contacts and customers from his time in Sydney it was easy pickings for him. But the business needed to be moved. With his children now old enough to travel by themselves, he solaced himself in being able to see them on holidays, and on what would be frequent business trips back to Perth from Sydney. There were some regrets in his mind, but this time the move to Sydney was supported by his wife, and the kids were excited at being able to fly to Sydney to see their dad.
Expecting some tough early times in Sydney, David and his wife braced themselves for twelve months solid hard labour to get the business set up in Sydney. Luck was shining on DPS. Before their feet had touched the ground, David received a telephone call on his mobile phone. They had flown in two days before, and were in the midst of finding a place to live.
‘David, it’s Jim Brown. Will you be in Sydney soon?’
‘I’m in Sydney at the moment Jim.’
‘Oh great. Could you come and see me tomorrow. I’d like to go over a few minor points with you. The board’s accepted you tender. I just need to clarify a couple of their queries with you before I sign it off.’
‘Ok Jim, about ten thirty alright for you?’
‘Make it eleven Dave. See you then.’
‘Ok, bye Jim.’
David stood still, and let it sink in. Four months before he left Perth, he had been invited to submit a tender for supply of components to one of the major national retail hardware chains, Handy Sam’s Hardware. As a big buyer, all the major suppliers including of course, his old company, submitted tenders. He’d thought that his invitation to tender by Jim Brown was more or less just Jim being polite after having him as a customer when he was in Sydney previously. He’d got on well with Jim Brown, but certainly not on a buddy basis. ‘There’s a lot of work in preparing this tender for Sam’s,’ he remembered commenting to his wife at the time it arrived. ‘But, who knows, we might be able to supply a few small lines to them later if I can get my foot in the door with this.’
His wife came looking for David. They were in the middle of inspecting a house with a real estate agent when his mobile phone had rung. He had excused himself and gone out into the front garden. She found him there, still looking a little bemused.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘I think we’ve just won the Sam’s tender.’
‘What? The whole lot?’
‘Yep.’
‘Shit!’ was all she could think of to say. And then blushed a little as she remembered the real estate agent was standing by her side. ‘Oh I’m sorry,’ she said.
‘Good news then?’ enquired the woman.
‘Yes, very good indeed,’ David said to her while looking at his wife and smiling.
A few days later, David had the contract between DPS and Sam’s safely signed and in his briefcase when he returned to his wife and business partner at their hotel. This one contract had taken them way past their expected first year earnings they had budgeted on in their calculations. Less than a week in Sydney and DPS was now secure. Hard work from here on in would be for cream, not for survival.
The move to Sydney was partly to save the amount of travel David was doing from Perth to Sydney and Melbourne. However, it didn’t stop the travel. Just the destinations changed. With larger contracts and the need to secure supply, David spent far more time away now overseas, but he and his wife had become secure and strong business partners in the years since DPS started. What they hadn’t done in that time was repair their marriage that had been fragile from its very first day. They could discuss and make rational joint business decisions together in moments. They couldn’t talk to each other about their emotions or feelings for a single minute. Both felt strong and secure in their business environment. Without it, they were very insecure individuals.
After three hectic years in Sydney, and with a secure financial position attained, David and his wife agreed that it was time to slow down a little. Selling off DPS and buying a small beachside property north of Sydney, they slowed down what had been a hectic life since they had met eleven years before. They certainly weren’t wealthy enough to retire, but with David working part time on some small projects and clients, they could sustain things. It was time to relax, and spend time together. Life was too short. As his children were becoming young adults, and with regular contact established, even the internal cinema of David’s guilt had started to play less frequently. His guilt remained, but it was contained and manageable now. He felt in control of himself for the first time in his life. David and his wife finally got to know each other, honestly and without any camouflage. David discovered a fragile woman, lost in her past, wounded and bitter. He spent his time loving her and trying to heal and comfort her. She discovered a man guilty about his life, insecure, with an instinct to run from not only failure and success, but from love and life. She spent her time falling out of love with him.
Still Waters
Mid-life crisis, seven year itch, and life begins at forty. All common catch cries used to stereotype and explain and categorise the feelings and reactions of men in particular, reaching the mid point in their lives. The time a wife may suspect her husband is wandering off to discover his youth. Or suffering mild bouts of depression because he’s finally succumbed to having to need glasses to read a newspaper. Any of his concerns are answered by his elder peers, with ‘Ahhh your life is only beginning.’ For two men at this age, they’re s
ettled. Happy. Content with their achievements. Neither feel a crisis. Neither feel an itch. Secure in their minds that they’ve done the hard yards. Both having toiled to achieve what they have. Neither wealthy men. Neither intellectual men. Neither with a grudge to bear. For another younger man, he is just starting to build his life at thirty.
Nineteen ninety-seven.
‘Have you got the Ridgeway accounts to trial balance?’ Steven asked his assistant.
‘Yes, I finished this morning. It’s all in their file Steve,’ she replied, hardly looking up from her computer screen.
‘Thanks,’ he said walking off to the client files. After scanning the accounts in the file he rang Mr Ridgeway. He picked up the phone and dialled. Norm Ridgeway answered.
‘Oh hi Norm, it’s Steve Sharp. I have your accounts ready. When would you like to meet to discuss your tax returns?’
‘Here if possible. Eleven Friday?’
‘Fine. See you then.’ He hung up the phone as he made his diary entry for Friday morning.
For three years, Steve had worked as a junior accountant in a firm in Liverpool in Sydney’s south west. Originally wanting to study business, he thought that his criminal record could be a problem if he wanted to pursue a career in management. Accounting gave him a wider choice later in life. He’d completed his accounting degree at the University of Western Sydney, and although not a star, he’d passed his examinations relatively easily. He had the motivation of making up for lost time. Having wasted away many years before finally settling down at university, and now in his employment. The senior partners had taken what they perceived to be a small risk in hiring Steven, but as he’d been open and frank with them about his criminal record and jail sentence during his interviews, and in the light of his application during his studies, they decided he should be given an opportunity. The work he was doing was mundane, and below his qualifications, but Steven knew he would always have to prove himself. He would never have anyone’s trust in an instant. He was going to have to earn it every time. And work at keeping it also. None of the staff knew of his record, except the three senior partners. He was accepted well. Even if some thought him a little boring and conscientious.
He glanced at his to do note pad, and it reminded him of his next task. He picked up the phone again and dialled.
‘Yes, Good morning, could I speak to Tony Pilletto please?’
‘Just one moment sir, I’ll see if I can find him. May I ask who is calling?’
‘Sure, it’s Steve Sharp.’
After a few moments, the receptionist returned.
‘Mr Sharp?’
‘Yes.’
‘He’ll be with you in a minute, he’s just coming in from the warehouse.’
In a few minutes Steve heard the familiar deep tones of Tony’s voice on the other end of the phone.
‘Hello there Steve. Don’t tell me. Let me guess. You’ve rung to invite me to lunch?’ he chuckled.
Steve replied with a smile on his face.
‘I’d love to Tony, but I’m afraid I don’t get that honour. You might be lucky if you put a hard word on one of the partners though. Unless you were planning on joining me in the office kitchen to share my soggy tomato sandwiches.’
‘Sounds like we both have the same thing on the menu for lunch today Steve. Oh well, looks like we both get to work this afternoon,’ Tony ended with a laugh.
‘Looks that way Tony. Look the reason I called is that there’re some details missing from the depreciation schedules on the accounts of Triple T. I was wondering if you could gather up some info so I can straighten it out.’
‘Sure, what do you need?’
‘Just the purchase dates and copies of the finance documents for the Kenworth and the Komatsu forklift. All the other listed assets are fine,’ Steve said.
‘Ok Steve, I’ll get my office lady to hunt them out and send them to you.’
‘Thanks Tony. No hurry.’
‘Ok bye Steve.’
Steve had been working on the Triple T Transport Pty Ltd account since he’d first started work in Liverpool. In fact, Tony Pilletto was one of the first clients Steve had met. He liked him. And they got on well. He knew a little about the history of Triple T, and that one of the original ‘T’s’ had been killed in an accident very early in the life of the company. Tony had told him how Tom had been trying to change a flat tyre on his truck at night on a shoulder of the Hume Highway, and had been hit by a passing car. It was a freak accident. That was in early 1986, and it nearly finished the company. Tom had no insurance, or more to the point the business didn’t have Tom insured, so it became a monumental struggle for Tony and Trevor. It took them almost four years to recover from the accident. The Kenworth they had been discussing today, was the oldest truck in the fleet of Triple T, and it was ordered just prior to Tom’s death. Steve had a feeling Tony had an attachment to that truck. The other major change had been when Tony bought out Trevor’s and his wife’s share of the business in 1994. This is when Steve became involved. He had to do a lot of the accounting grunt work for the buy out. The way Steve read the situation was that Tony had been careful with his money, and had built not only the business but also his personal assets carefully. Not that Trevor had been wasteful, but he was in a little financial difficulty with some other investments he had, and in selling his share of Triple T he could stabilise himself financially. There was no animosity between Tony and Trevor. In fact it was what they both wanted. To Tony Triple T was his life. Trevor had tired of it.
In the three years since, Triple T was doing reasonably well. The debt level was high, but Tony was used to that after the last eleven years. It always had been since Tom’s death. Late in 1996, the debt level of Triple T was getting difficult to handle. Tony asked his accountants for their advice. They mapped out a re-financing structure for Triple T. There were many loans current on trucks, buildings, and the buy out of Trevor. It was suggested he amalgamate all of them and re-finance as interest rates had fallen in the last year or so. It was sound advice. Steve again was involved in helping with the supporting documentation for the loan application with the bank. It took over four months to conclude, but once in place it eased the cash flow problem for Triple T and Tony. He wasn’t pleased about having to re-mortgage his house, but it was necessary, and Tony knew it. Steve admired Tony for his capacity for sheer hard work and his tenacity. Not many men would’ve survived the first few years of a business such a Triple T. He knew Tony still worked at least fourteen hours a day six days a week.
For Steve, he was building his life. He wasn’t earning a lot of money, but was comfortable in his small flat he rented, and was trying to save a little when he could. He was thirty, and starting out in life. His past was gone forever.
His phone rang and startled him from his thoughts. ‘Hello, Steve Sharp.’
‘Any interest in home made chilli prawns and a vegetable stir fry?’ came the question from the familiar voice of his girlfriend.
‘Hmmm, I suppose it’ll cost me a bottle of chardonnay to say yes?’
‘Of course,’ she teased.
‘Seven ok?’
‘See you then Sugar.’
‘Ok bye.’
Steve had been seeing his girlfriend for nearly two years. She had ended a seven year marriage, and had two children with her. They got on very well, and were both happy in seeing each other a few times a week. She would stay the weekend at Steve’s or visa versa when the kids were at their dad’s. But for both of them, this was enough. Neither had wanted anything more. But the time was approaching when they may reconsider.
‘PHONE CALL TONY,’ was screamed from the office door to the warehouse. Tony jumped down from the back of a semi being loaded with machinery. Even though Tony owned the company, he was just one of the workers to all his employees. His stood for no ceremony. And he had a good crew of men. ‘I can’t just sit at a desk waiting for a phone to ring. There’s work to be done,’ he would always say. ‘COMING,’ he shouted
back to his ever faithful office lady. She’d been through it all with Tony. He knew she’d be retiring soon. He dreaded the day. She was invaluable.
‘Hello, Tony here,’ he said, just a bit breathlessly from his loading work.
‘Hi Tony, David Holdsworth. How ya goin’?’
‘Not bloody bad. How about you? Heard you retired or something.’
‘No Tony, don’t believe gossip. It’s never true.’
‘So what’re you doing?’ He’d known David for four years as a good client of Triple T, with regular loads to Sam’s Hardware in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide, but he hadn’t heard from him in a few months.
‘Well Tony, you know I sold DPS a few months back. So now I’m just doing small one-off deals on surplus equipment and stock. I decided just to slow down a bit. You should do the same before you drop dead of a heart attack old friend,’ David joked.
‘Not bloody likely. Not ‘til I’ve got the banks off my back. You know how it is Dave.’
‘Yep, sure do Tony. Those mongrels are always selling umbrellas on sunny days. But as soon as they see a cloud, they want the fucking things back.’
‘You don’t need to tell me Dave. So what can I do for you?’
‘Well Tony, I just sold an order of irrigation pipes I picked up at auction in Brisbane. Wondered if you could make ‘em appear in Melbourne for me?’
‘Sure, no problem. Wanna fax me the details and I’ll make them magically appear in Melbourne for you.’
‘Ok, will do. Oh, by the way Tony, are you still getting work for Sam’s deliveries? The people I sold DPS to said they’d continue to use Triple T.’
‘Dave, I haven’t had a load in a few weeks now. Last I heard was gossip from one of my drivers, but it seems the new owners of DPS tried putting up their prices by eight percent. Apparently Sam’s are reviewing the contract.’
‘Bloody idiots. Some people can’t help but be greedy can they Tony? I hope it gets sorted out.’
