Cashback

by Duncan James

  ***

  Robin was both fascinated and appalled at what Will had to say over dinner that evening. He and Marian were off, back to UK, quite early the next morning, while Will and Bonkers had booked themselves on a mid-morning flight to Johannesburg and then on to Cape Town, so that Will could tell his father personally about the financial settlement that was on the way.

  They had all laughed earlier, when Bonkers had insisted on looking at a statement of his account at almost every cash machine they had passed, in case his settlement had come through early. Neither he nor Will could quite come to terms with what Robin had organised for them, and, secretly, would only really believe it when they could see it - cash in the bank.

  So this was both their farewell dinner and a celebration, but Robin could not help but be concerned about what Will had told them all. It was bad enough that the Zimbabwean head of state could have the nerve to rob the country's treasury to fill his own coffers, but quite something else that, when confronted with evidence of the deed and the threat that it would be made public, he should still cock-a-snoop at his opponents and resolve to keep the money. It was cash that his country desperately needed, and for any man to make a priority of feathering his own nest when the people he led were in such dire straights was something that Robin could not understand or forgive.

  Robin knew that he had both the knowledge and the skill to return the money to the Treasury from which it had been stolen, and was sorely tempted to do just that. But what would happen if he did? That was his dilemma - he really couldn't begin to understand how that man's mind worked, and how he would react if, once again, his personal fortune was wiped out.

  Suddenly, Robin wished he was within reach of his Padre friend, Frank Tucker.?? He needed the wisdom and the comfort of the man's advice. Thinking about it, he also needed the peace and solitude that went with a day's fishing. Robin was tired, and needed a break. Perhaps, when they got back to Oxford, he would be able to get away with Marian for a few days at home; a few days away from the office, away from the problems of East Africa and Russian mathematicians, away for a bit of fishing and the quiet common sense of Frank Tucker. He should also pay a visit to his Aunt Gladys before it was too late - his father had said that she had been remarkably strong since she had moved to the hospice, where the care was magnificent, but that she couldn't hang on for much longer.

  It was Marian, who leant across and put her hand on his arm, who brought him out of his reverie.

  "You're miles away, my love," she said. "Are you all right?"

  "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm quite all right really. Just a bit tired, that's all, and worried about what to do next that will be for the best."

  "There's nothing you can do, is there?" asked Bonkers Mbele.

  "There is something I could do, as a matter of fact," replied Robin. "I could put that wretched man's stolen money back where it rightly belongs, in the Reserve Bank, so that it can be put to good use for the benefit of the country that he and his cronies have ravished, but I really don't want to."

  "I never thought of that," said Will, excitedly. "Of course you could! You've done it once, so you could do it again!"

  "So why don't you?" asked Bonkers.

  "Because I can't work out what might happen if I did, that's why," replied Robin Hood. "I don't understand the man we're dealing with, and I don't want to make matters any worse than they already are. And with all due respect, there's nobody I can ask."

  "You could ask Charles Bowman," suggested Bonkers.

  "Don't be an idiot, Bonkers," said Marian. "The last thing we want to do is to broadcast the fact that Robin can rob banks, so to speak, and in any case, the UK Government wants to keep well out of this. No; we're going to have to work this out for ourselves."

  "If you ask me," opined Will, "there's no working out to do. You've been valiantly trying to take money from the rich to repay those whom they have impoverished, Robin, while this man is doing just the opposite. If you're still able to do it, you really must try to put that money back where it belongs, and to hell with the consequences."

  "I must say that I tend to agree with Will, Robin," said Marian.

  "I had hoped," sighed Robin, "that I'd done the last of that sort of thing. I really want to concentrate on running my computer business now."

  "One more time," pleaded Will.

  "I'll sleep on it," said Robin. "Now let's enjoy our meal."