Bilgarra Springs

by Rotondo, Louise

  Four trips and two coffees later Dan gave her a brief friendly hug and wished her luck, walking her back to her car. They had exchanged mobile numbers over coffee and she genuinely hoped to be able to catch up with him at some point. She wasn’t sure when that might be, but the last couple of months had proven that you never could be sure whether your life was going to go in the direction that you thought.

  She reversed the car out of the car park and at the intersection where she normally turned right to go home, she went left, heading for the city via the easiest route. She figured that she may as well strike while the iron was hot. After a harrowing twenty minute drive, she pulled into one of the side streets close to Clive’s offices. She snatched her handbag off the front seat where she had left it and joined the throng of people on the footpath.

  She had no idea if she would be able to even see Clive without an appointment. She had also forgotten to tell him that she was back. She went through the fancy, entrance doors and stopped at the reception desk. As luck would have it, before she had even had a chance to so much as open her mouth, Clive’s office door opened and he himself was standing in the corridor staring at her as though she were a ghost. Eventually he came to himself and produced his usual impeccable manners.

  ‘Aurora.’

  He walked over and shook her hand.

  ‘Hi Clive.’

  Aurora always appreciated a firm no-nonsense hand shake in a man.

  ‘I take it you are back. I wasn’t expecting to see you today. We don’t have an appointment do we?’

  Aurora had the good grace to look a little shamefaced.

  ‘Ah, no we don’t. I came in on the off-chance that you may have a few moments free. If you don’t that’s fine, I can make an appointment and come back another day.’

  He looked horrified at the suggestion.

  ‘Don’t be silly. There’s always time for you.’

  He seemed genuine and Aurora understood why Gran had used his services solely over the years. There may be bigger, flashier firms around, but one in which the staff really cared about the well-being of their clients and were concerned with the quality of their work would be very hard to find. He turned side on and motioned towards his office.

  ‘Come on in.’

  He turned his attention from Aurora to the girl behind the reception desk.

  ‘Sarah, can you please hold my calls until I have finished with Ms Wright.’

  He then followed Aurora into his office, closing the door behind them. He positively beamed at her.

  ‘You’re looking well Aurora. How did you find the time at the station?’

  ‘I really enjoyed it and I learned a lot. It really was an education.’

  Aurora was aware of the gross understatement of fact but moved on with what she wanted to discuss before Clive could probe it any further.

  ‘Clive I had a lot of time to think out there about what I want to do with Gran’s assets.’

  She firmly had Clive’s attention now.

  ‘I will go over to the house this afternoon and remove a couple of the paintings that I want to keep and a few other bits and pieces, but I want to arrange for her BMW to be sold at auction. I also want the furniture, artworks and any collectible stuff that is left sold at auction. I would also like to have all the boxed stuff papers etc. that is in the storeroom put into storage. I want to go through it all but I want to do so at my leisure and I’m not ready now. I also want to have the house sold. It is a beautiful home and deserves a family to light it up. That chapter of my life is over and I love my unit. I will leave it to the real estate agents to decide the best way to market it. I don’t think that we will have much trouble moving it. It’s in a great position.’

  Aurora paused very briefly before continuing.

  ‘The bank accounts can be rolled into mine.’

  With that, she pulled a piece of paper out of her handbag and slid it across the desk to Clive.

  ‘That’s my main account number. I can move it around after that. I’m not interested in keeping the share portfolio either.’

  Clive looked completely aghast. Aurora knew how much the portfolio was worth, how much income it generated and that with the market so low at the moment it could only increase in value, but she really didn’t care.

  ‘Aurora, we are talking about a loss of millions of dollars. Are you sure? It would be highly negligent of me not to point that out?’

  ‘I’m trying to downscale Clive. I don’t want the hassle of constantly watching the market trends and trying to predict when to sell or buy. I’m not even interested in paying somebody to do that for me. I have decided very much on a minimalist lifestyle. And really, how much money can one person actually use?’

  Clive’s pursed lips told her that he still wasn’t happy with the choice, but instructions were just that and he was bound by them whether he agreed with them or not. Aurora took a deep breath and continued.

  ‘I think that’s everything.’

  Clive seemed concerned for her.

  ‘It is, but are you sure that you want to get rid of it all. I would hate to have it all gone and for you to then decide that you did want to keep the house to raise your own family in. It has been known to happen.’

  Aurora gently shook her head.

  ‘I’m sure Clive. A few things became incredibly clear over the last month. I don’t want to cling on to the past anymore. I have over thirty years of wonderful memories but it’s time to move forward.’

  Clive now looked resigned more than happy.

  ‘How about we come to a compromise. I will wait for two weeks before I organise any of this just in case you change your mind.’

  He hurried on in case Aurora took offence.

  ‘Not that I am doubting that you have thought about it, but it is also my job to protect your interests. So if I haven’t heard from you in two weeks time, I will go ahead and organise it all for you.’

  Aurora nodded.

  ‘Can’t be fairer than that. Thanks for seeing me on no notice.’

  ‘I meant what I said Aurora. I will always make time for you.’

  Aurora didn’t doubt him for a second. He was looking at her in that grandfatherly fashion of his and she was grateful for his concern. Not wanting to take up any more of his time she stood to leave, reaching out to shake his hand.

  ‘Thanks again Clive. If you need to contact me my mobile would be best. If I don’t answer leave a message and I will get back to you when I can.’

  Clive nodded agreement.

  ‘Look after yourself Aurora.’

  Aurora simply smiled. She was going to look after herself, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. Clive opened the door and she moved towards it, pausing on the threshold.

  ‘See you Clive.’

  ‘Bye.’

  With that she left, hearing the door close softly behind her. She nodded to the receptionist and went outside, temporarily blinded by the brightness. She made her way around to her red beetle, unlocking it and settling in behind the wheel. After getting herself organised, she pulled out into the traffic and took off in the direction of her next stop.

  Ten minutes later she pulled into the Toyota dealership at Mosman. She exited the car and was almost instantly greeted by an enthusiastic, slightly smarmy lad of about twenty years old.

  ‘Good afternoon. Is there anything that I can help you with?’

  Aurora’s skin was crawling but she couldn’t afford to worry about it at the moment. She was a woman on a mission.

  ‘Yes. Could you please point me in the direction of your four wheel drive vehicles.’

  ‘Certainly. You would be looking for one of the latest model Rav4s? Great for weekend getaways...’

  Aurora cut him off. She quickly took his name from the name badge.

  ‘No sorry Steve. I am looking for the larger end of the four wheel drive market. A Rav4 won’t be suitable for what I want to do.’

  He looked slightly taken back. Aurora wasn’t re
morseful at all. He shouldn’t have stereotyped her.

  ‘Oh, over this way then,’ and he indicated the other side of the yard, which joined the showroom. Aurora started making her way over straight towards one that had caught her eye but she was interrupted again by Mr Suave.

  ‘You would be looking at a Prado then?’ he asked.

  Aurora tried to hide her irritation. She didn’t appreciate being labelled as part of the city dwelling ‘Prado set’.

  Aurora’s voice was a little clipped when she continued.

  ‘No. I’m interested in that one over there,’ indicating the gold one that she had been heading towards when he had stopped her.

  ‘Are you sure? It just that the Sahara is much dearer than the Prado, and for city driving may not be the best choice.’

  This guy was really getting on her nerves now.

  ‘Look, I don’t mean to be rude and I am sure that you are just trying to do your job, but it’s half past two. In a perfect world, I would like to go and have a thorough inspection of the car that I have just indicated, get your price to trade in my Beetle and be on my way before you close this afternoon. That will probably involve me having to go and get a bank cheque if the car is worth close to what I am expecting. So, would you mind if I go and have a look?’

  The look on his face was priceless but Aurora refused to feel badly about her little eruption. She was sick of his patronising attitude. When he was still silent she made her way into the showroom and circled around the car. Poor Mr Suave followed in her wake.

  By the time he caught up with her she was inside having a good look at the dash and features from the driver’s seat before reaching over and checking out the glove box. She then climbed out and sat in the back seat, judging it for comfort and looking at the air bag options, air conditioning and sound system as it applied to the rear of the vehicle. Finally, she went around the back and opened the back door. When satisfied she turned around to the almost cowering Steve.

  ‘I’ll take this one.’

  ‘But Ma’am...’ his voice trailed off. His hesitation wasn’t lost on Aurora. She lifted her eyebrows, willing him to continue. He started again.

  ‘Ma’am, the drive away price for this car is around $125,000.00. Are you sure that this is the car that you want? There isn’t another model that might suit you better?’

  Aurora was adamant.

  ‘No. This is the one that I want. Can you arrange for an appraisal to be given on my car that is sitting out the front while I wait?’

  Steve’s eyes bugged. She could almost bet that he hadn’t anticipated a sale this big for this afternoon.

  ‘Certainly. I won’t be a moment. We have lounges around the corner if you would like to have a seat while you wait.’

  ‘Sure. Could you grab me a brochure on this model so that I can have a look at the specifications and features before I sign on the dotted line?’

  She had taken Steve by surprise again, but he recovered quickly and the smarminess was back.

  ‘No problem. If you follow me I will grab one for you.’

  Aurora padded after him, settled herself in the lounge and waited for him to come out with the brochure. When he emerged she took the brochure, gave him the keys and relaxed back to have a read about the features of her soon to be new car. She was impressed with what she saw and at the back consulted the range of available colours. The one in the showroom was ‘goldrush’ and she was glad as that was the colour that she would have chosen anyway. She loved red cars, but her current one was red and the two before that had been as well. It was really time for a change.

  When Steve returned he had a much older man with him whom he introduced to Aurora as the manager, who informed her that his name was Jakob, pronouncing the ‘j’ as a ‘y’. She politely shook his hand and introduced herself. It was no surprise to her that he had appeared. With the amount of money that they were talking about, she had expected no less.

  ‘Aurora, would you like to come into my office and we can discuss your purchase in more detail?’

  As Jakob was addressing Aurora, Steve handed her back her car keys and appeared to almost scuttle off. Aurora followed Jakob into his opulent little office. She was grateful that he kept the door open despite the glass wall panelling. He pushed a piece of paper across the desk toward her.

  ‘Are you happy with these figures for your proposed trade in?’

  Aurora wouldn’t let on that she had no idea what the car was worth. It was only 12 months old and there was a sizeable gap between what she had paid for it and what they were offering but if she were honest with herself she didn’t really care if they were ripping her off. Normally she would have spent ages researching something like this before acting, but today, today she was going to be impulsive even if it meant that she cost herself thousands of dollars. She simply wanted to do the deal and be gone. She looked at Jakob.

  ‘I will accept your offer. How do you want me to pay for the Sahara? I have a gold limitless VISA card on me, my cheque book or I can go and get a bank cheque. Whatever you would prefer? If you are worried about my ability to pay by cheque I am happy to phone my banker and get them to fax you over a written guarantee that I can cover it.’

  Jakob appeared to be speechless so Aurora continued.

  ‘I would prefer personal cheque with bank guarantee. It would be the quickest method. If you give me your fax number I can call Max and get him to fax something through straight away.’

  Jakob simply nodded and handed her one of his business cards. Aurora pulled out her mobile phone and dialled Max’s number.

  ‘Hey Max. I am at the Toyota dealership in Mosman. I want to buy a new car by personal cheque. Could you please fax through a letter to confirm that I have the money and you should probably guarantee that the bank will honour the cheque regardless. It will probably make them feel a little better.’

  Jakob could hear Max’s laughter from his side of the desk. Aurora knew that he wouldn’t get the joke. He couldn’t possible know what she had sitting in the bank, but she did and so did Max. She had several million invested with him and when the Estate was finalised there would be somewhere around ten million dollars to add to it. The car was a drop in the ocean but she wasn’t going to tell Jakob that.

  When she hung up she turned to him.

  ‘Max said to give him five. While we wait for him, do you want to sort out the final figure?’ Jakob sprang into action scribbling numbers down on the pad in front of him. Aurora couldn’t help herself and added as innocently as she was able, ‘I assume that I get a decent discount for cash?’

  Jakob paused in his calculations and assured her very smoothly.

  ‘Naturally.’

  He still hadn’t finished working it out when one of the office staff knocked on the open door before placing the fax from Max on the desk and leaving. Jakob read the few lines and smiled at Aurora.

  ‘Lovely. We should be finished in a few minutes.’

  And they were. Aurora wrote out a cheque while Jakob buzzed through to the office asking them to send Steve to take the car out of the showroom and leave it in the customer parking bays. Aurora went out and took the boxes out of her old car, along with the CD’s and personal bits and pieces and placed them in the new one.

  She had not long finished when Jakob emerged, paperwork in hand. He handed her the relevant forms, complete with receipt and handed her the keys. She in turn promised that she would drop the second set for the VW in to them in the morning. He seemed satisfied. Nothing left to be done there, she climbed into the driver’s seat and fiddled with the seat and mirrors before pulling out of the caryard.

  The journey home in the afternoon traffic was an interesting one as this car was somewhat larger and completely different to drive to the other one. She counted herself lucky that she had at least driven the hire car which had given her a bit of a head start. She eased the car into the garage at the units and noted that it was much more of a snug fit than the other one.

&nbs
p; When she got upstairs Tim looked guiltily up from the lounge again. Feeling emboldened by her drastic changes this afternoon she couldn’t help but tease him.

  ‘Tim, you really need to stop feeling so guilty. If I wanted to kick you out of here I would. Speaking of which...’

  Tim cut her off before she could finish.

  ‘I am so sorry Aurora. I have been looking, I really have. I even went through a few this afternoon with one of the agents, but the competition is fierce and the units are very ordinary with huge price tags...’

  His words which had tumbled out on top of each other slowed to nothing. Aurora felt bad for intentionally teasing him.

  ‘Tim, it’s all good. I have something to put to you. I have taken a very long period of leave from the University effective today, which means I won’t be returning for the rest of this year or the next.’

  Tim’s eyes bulged. She continued nonetheless.

  ‘I also traded my car in for one that will be better suited to what I propose to spend the foreseeable future doing. So, as of tomorrow, I won’t be here. If you want to stay here you are very welcome. If you are prepared to pay the phone and electricity bills I won’t worry about getting them transferred to you. As for rent, you pick a figure that you are comfortable with and we will leave it at that. I don’t know when I will be back, it may be weeks, or it may be months. I simply don’t know I am just going to play it by ear. Short term I will probably need you to keep an eye on my mail for me. Are you interested?’

  Tim’s eyes may have been bulging before, but he looked fit to burst now. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. It took him a few seconds but he regained control and was grinning like a mad thing.

  ‘Absolutely. That would be fantastic and of course I will pay the phone and electricity and I am happy to keep an eye on your mail for you. That’s just...that’s just brilliant Aurora. Thanks a heap.’

  He looked like he had just been handed the world. Aurora was glad for him as she watched him ruffling Orinoco’s fur.