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Can Am Story

Page 31

by Oliver Rill


  Then I called Aristo and let him know that I’d be there on Sunday and I had some news.

  Aaron had whittled down the choices on the car. He had found a used Range Rover that was over ten years old at 17 thousand Euros and another that was only seven years old and looked considerably newer. I called the dealer and told him I would send him the paperwork right away if he would let me hire the car and deliver it to the harbor. I transferred the money there and then and looked at my bank account. I had to make do with only 250 thousand Euros up to the end of the year. I smiled secretly thinking that even I would probably manage that.

  “So Oli, now we’ve gone through all that, you have to look at your new underwear. I want to know what you think.” A whole collection of boxers and briefs lay on the table. There was also something else.

  “What is that?” I asked holding the jock straps up.

  “I thought that if you wanted a little pep in your bedroom, they wouldn’t hurt. They will look really hot.”

  “I’m not sure. I’ll try them. The cotton boxers are good, but I never wear briefs, they can go back if you’re passing that area again.”

  “I thought you’d give a little fashion show.” He grinned mischievously at me.

  “Ha ha ha! You thought so, did you? And where are the models?”

  “You’re the model!”

  “No, no. I’m much too shy for the catwalk!”

  I called a meeting of all the heads of departments on Friday. Melvin took the floor first giving a financial report on the firm and then Matt took over, explaining which routes we were strengthening and where our new routes were taking us. Mark reported on the customer bookings, Sharon on the customer feedback she’d received. Only Rebecca had little to report except that the preparations for the anniversary were underway and that the budget for this year was used up.

  “Rebecca, maybe you would sit down with Melvin and talk about your budget for 2018. Then you, Sharon and Mark should get together and talk about what sort of campaigns we can think about for next year.” There was a general murmur of agreement and on that note I brought up the subject of the change in the Head of Personnel.

  “Let’s say he didn’t seem to fit in that well and was busy with other things during worktime, so we had to let him go and his successor will be Aristo, who you all know and love. Daniel’s in training with Sharon as Head of Customer Relations. And another matter: As you have all noticed, Matt is no longer my assistant, but has become an executive officer, which is well earned. It’s thanks to his analytics and route knowledge that we have been able to pull such an enormous profit off this year. A really enormous profit. If I had set a target with him this year, he would have gone miles and miles beyond it. Can Am owes its thanks to Matt for that and it’s with this key that I’m giving you now, Matt, we can show our appreciation. You wanted it and you’ve really earned it. Just carry on the really brilliant work you are doing.” There was a spattering of applause and Matt opened the envelope that I had given him. His eyes widened with surprise and he gasped with delight.

  “No it isn’t, is it? You really mean that? A Porsche? I don’t believe it! Where is it?”

  “Matt, the Porsche is a delicate thing too. We want you back in one piece. Enjoy it, but be careful in it!” Matt threw his arms around me.

  “Sorry, I’ve got to go!” And he raced out of the room and down to the parking lot amid laughter from the others. I wickedly imagined his face if he found a child’s pedal version of a Porsche down there instead of the smart black 911 Cabriole that I had wrestled from Melvin.

  I popped into Melvin’s office quickly before my meeting with Daniel.

  “Mr Hoffmann, I know it’s not my place, but I hope you aren’t turning the firm into a self-service place for your friends?”

  “No, of course not. Matt really earned his reward and I trust Daniel and Aristo. That’s important to uphold.”

  “If Mr Fowler hadn’t earned it, you would have paid for his midlife crisis on wheels yourself and you giving away these jobs is also important. I just don’t think it would be a good idea if it went further than that. And you’re off on vacation yet again soon. I think I’m the only one here who does any work!”

  “I think you’re right. You deserve a raise too, Melvin. And why don’t you book some holiday? Nobody’s stopping you. Do you think the place will burn down in the next three weeks?”

  “No, I know, you’re right. I would actually love to go fishing for three weeks.”

  “Fishing?” I tried hard to imagine Melvin, this scrawny little black guy with round horn-rimmed glasses sitting in front of a loaded fishing rod instead of his columns of figures, but I couldn’t.

  “What’s wrong with fishing? Do you think all black guys should vacation in the ghetto, dancing around burning trash cans?” The image had me replying with a belly laugh.

  “No, of course not, Melvin. Go book your holiday and come back full of life and vigor.”

  “And if that Greek doesn’t come back from his vacation soon, I’ll start reducing his wages!”

  “’Risto’ll be back next Monday.”

  Daniel was waiting patiently in my office by the time I got back.

  “Hi. Am I late?” I asked flustered.

  “No, I’m early.”

  “How’s things?”

  “Yeah, good. Everyone is really motivated.”

  “Daniel, I’ve given a promotion to Aristo and to Matt too, I really ought to do something for you, for your career.”

  “Na. It’s fun. I like it here.”

  “I would certainly not be here if you hadn’t taught me so much about planes and we hadn’t spent all that time playing that game together. I want to make a suggestion. Sharon from Customer Service … The department’s growing and she’s done everything on her own since day one. There are more people there now and she’s bogged down with rotas, data entry and data analyzing. Anyway, she’s missing the contact with customers and the hands-on approach a bit. We do need someone there though to write up our standards and drive the whole office. If you two get along ok, then I’d say that’s the ideal job for you. What do you think?”

  “Oh, yeah. That sounds fine to me!”

  “I suggest you go down to Sharon’s office, have a chat and start working with her on Monday.”

  “Yeah! Awesome! I’ll do that. You’re flying to Sifnos this week with Aaron, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. I’m going to have to sort something out about that.”

  “Aaron’s going isn’t he?”

  “He’s my bodyguard, so he’s coming, yes. Why?”

  “Nothing. Nothing at all. And you’ve finished with Matt?”

  “Yes. Unfortunately.”

  “That’s a shame, you two were good together.

  “Stop! I’ve cried enough over him.”

  “Yes I know, but you have Aaron now.”

  “Exactly, Daniel! Now I have Aaron and you have Sharon. We’ll see each other in four weeks. Don’t burn the place down if you can help it!”

  As I gathered my things together, Matt burst in.

  “Oh I’m glad I caught you. The car is awesome! The people’s faces when I stop at the lights! And you can really feel the power behind it when you take off. Crazy! Thank you Oli. Really, it’s a dream. What are we going to do with the Lincoln now?”

  “We’ll leave it in the car lot here. When someone needs a lift from the Airport or something, we can haul it out.”

  “I’m going to find the best routes imaginable for you. I promise.”

  “I’m glad you like the car.”

  “Tell me. What happened in Santa Barbara? What’s going on there?”

  “Oh yeah, that. I saw three houses and one of them would really knock your socks off. I hope it works out.”

  “What do you mean? You hope it works out. Is anyone else interested in it?”

  “I’m not sure but I am definitely interested in it. It just costs a bomb and I don’t get my bonus until the end of
the year. And right now, I don’t even have enough money for the deposit.”

  “Do you want me to lend you some?”

  “What? Have you got three million?”

  “Well not for the whole house, just the deposit.”

  “That is the deposit.”

  “It isn’t. You’re kidding! Are you buying the whole town?”

  “Santa Barbara is an expensive area. And the house I like there is not shabby!”

  “I want to see it when you have it. But no, I don’t have that much. I would have lent it to you if I did though.”

  “That’s nice of you. Thank you. Ok buddy, then let’s stay in touch by telephone. You can get hold of me if anything comes up. You’re at the tiller now, ok?”

  “’Buddy’, he calls me. Ok have fun!”

  After gym Aaron dropped me off home and I started to think about my packing. I started opening drawers and doors and then sat down on the bed thinking about Matt. It was no good, I had to do it. I raffed myself together and started again, then stopped to get a glass of wine, unpacked what I had packed so far. I rethought my choices after a gulp of wine, put some music on and restarted the packing with more gusto. By two a.m. I was peacefully sleeping in my bed.

  I felt a definite and positive swelling of my heart when I entered the Can Am Terminal. Not just because of the furniture that we had donated and the clean and bright style it was fitted out in. It had a ‘cared for’ atmosphere. All the people standing around and waiting to board were Can Am passengers. I looked proudly around. Our clientele personified. With Aaron I waited for Debbie, looking forward to meeting her girlfriend.

  “I wanted to use this opportunity to see what the new terminal looked like.” I spun around at Ad’s familiar voice.

  “Ad! It’s good to see you.”

  “It looks great, but then you had the best interior design architect there is!”

  “I did indeed. Where is she?”

  “They’ll be here in a minute. Women! They had to stop off in the boutique before they could board. Come over and see me when you get back. I’ve been a bit busy lately, but we should get together soon.”

  “Anything serious?”

  “Well not just to chew the fat, but I would like to keep up to date on where you are with everything. Come by and have dinner with us.”

  “I would love to. I’ll be back in four weeks.”

  “Four weeks? How the other half live! Have fun and keep in touch! The terminal looks great, by the way and the entrance there is impressive. Now, go on, go!” He had meant the lighted columns that you saw on the drive into the airport. It really was the pièce de résistance. I mentally thanked Alan and Rebecca.

  Debbie arrived in a fluster. Beside her was a disappointingly normal brunette. Straight-haired, petite with a delicately pretty face, she was definitely not the lumberjack shirt type.

  “This is Rachel.” Debbie introduced us. “Rachel, this is Oliver. And this is?”

  “This is Aaron. Nice to meet you Rachel. Aaron’s coming with us to make sure that I get back to my desk safe and sound.”

  “And Aaron was attacked by 38 wasps and that’s why he looks all swollen at the moment. Well done. Respect!” Debbie joked.

  “Erm Debbie. Can we check in now?”

  There were only two places free in first class and I gallantly gave them to Debbie and Rachel. Business class was full, so Aaron and I were relegated to economy.

  “I’d normally be cursing at the narrow seats, but these aren’t so narrow. Come on, let’s test it out, how they feel for the common-or-garden flyer.”

  I didn’t want special treatment as the airline owner and made this known to the staff. I wanted to see how it really was for long haul economy passengers, but, of course, the crew enquired if we had everything we wanted more than was necessarily the case with the other passengers, which was fine. Food and drinks were very much the same as everyone got in the economy class.

  “I’m going to see Debbie, I’ll be back in a minute. I hope they let me into first class!”

  Debbie sent Rachel down to economy while we were talking and grumbled that I should have come earlier to go through the plans with her. I explained more or less what I envisaged with the help of the plans. The house lay directly on the bay of Kamares. Its terrace bridged the shoreline and the house. It nestled against the steep sides of a hill the top section set slightly back from the first, imitating the slope of the hillside.

  You could reach the lower floor along the shoreline and a small stepped path led to the street above, where the entrance to the house was situated. It was divided into four rental holiday rooms as it was.

  “I’d like to have a garage in the upper part, but enclosed so that it looks like part of the house. So I would be in a way parking inside the house. I just don’t want the entrance to look like a garage entrance but part of the house. Do you know what I mean?”

  “Couldn’t you park somewhere else? Aren’t there any spaces where you could put the car?”

  “I don’t… I could probably put the car somewhere but not for the whole winter, I’d rather know it was safely in a garage.”

  “I’m not sure what we’ll do about the entrance, but it’s a good idea!”

  “The authorities in Sifnos would never agree to building a garage, so it will have to look like it’s part of the house, then of course, I need the upper part and the lower part to be connected.”

  “You are a sly fox! I would never have thought of that!” Debbie said sarcastically. “I haven’t had a proper look at the load bearing figures yet, but I think we’re going to have to rebuild the floor and strengthen it. I can’t imagine that it was built to take the weight of a car. We’ll have to see.”

  “This is really exciting. I’m looking forward to working on it.”

  “Go back down to your Michelin Man and send Rachel back up here. You’re not supposed to be in first class.”

  “You wait. I’ll get you back for that.”

  We eventually landed in Berlin, then took a Ryanair flight. That certainly opened our eyes to how the other half lived. There was a bright yellow plastic sheet directly in front of me with a diagram of the emergency exits. I felt that I was all elbows and knees in the space allotted. The seats didn’t recline and the cabin lighting was unforgiving. Once in Athens we took a bus to the Port of Piraeus, where I discovered my gleaming, black Range Rover. It was brand spanking new, no scratches or dents, no sign that another had ever been in it. When we opened the door a waft of luxury hit our senses from the beige leather. I took the paperwork from the dealer after giving proof of identity and Aaron loaded the bags into the trunk. I drove to join the end of the queue for the ferry to the island, the front of the queue was already moving slowly onto the ferry slip.

  I smiled quietly. How many times had I watched the cars loading on the Sifnos ferry? I had just never done it myself. As I came to the front of the queue, I had to tell them which of the three islands that it visited, I wanted to get off at and the loader nodded and shouted.

  “Ela! Pame, pame, pame.” (Ok move on, move on) I pressed the gas pedal slowly, brought the car noisily across the ramp and into the belly of the ship. It took a while until the guy in charge of parking inside was satisfied that I had it as close to the next car as he wanted me to be, shouting and bullying me into position. I squeezed out of the narrow gap between the vehicles with relief and he smiled generously, wishing me a good trip.

  Aristo met us at the port, widening his eyes as I rolled down the ramp and onto the ferry slip at Sifnos in the new car. Aaron got in and I asked Aristo to take the girls to Car de Mar, the car rental. After only a few yards I dropped Aaron and he lugged the cases out of the trunk in front of our accommodation. I drove on to the Kamares parking lot.

  The girls had got an automatic Opel Corsa, I had to work on keeping a straight face when I saw it, but Debbie either didn’t notice or didn’t care as she waved good bye. We were going to meet up again in the morning, they were g
oing to check in and then relax after the long flight at their private pool, in their private chalet at the luxury Hotel of Vathy.

  Aristo and I wandered over to the Italian restaurant, Antonis dropped by later and Christos served us personally. Aaron joined us and we chatted late into the night then moved on to the Old Captain, a bar on the beach for a nightcap. I looked over at my house and sucked the Sifnos air deep into my lungs. I could smell sea and wild herbs, a light breeze touched me, but the warmth of the day had not yet dissipated. I dug my toes into the soft sand. It felt good to be here.

  I shot off a text message to Aristo:

  Business meeting at Pipi’s Café. 10 O’clock.

  Aaron and I had already jogged around the bay when Aristo, Debbie and Rachel turned up.

  “You don’t know much about your job, Aristo.”

  “That’s not fair, I learnt a great deal from my boss.” He said defensively.

  “I don’t mean that. I mean, have you got someone to look after that junk shop now?

  “I couldn’t decide, it’s difficult.”

  “And it’s not going to be any easier when you leave the island to take up your position in the office on Monday. In L.A., Venice Beach. Do you need the address?”

  “Oli, it’s hard to find anyone that really understands the business and is trustworthy, too. And apart from that wants to work on Sifnos for a paltry sum.”

  “For me, it would be easy to find a Head of Personnel on a salary of 100 thousand.”

  “Huh?”

  The waiter came and took our order. We were sitting in Pipi’s Café on the promenade overlooking the bay. The tourists, who were mainly French around us ate breakfasts, hastily grabbed their suitcases, many of these cluttering the walkway as they waited for the ferry. We weren’t sitting in the broiling sun thanks to the sun shade that, like all restaurants and cafes on the main street of the harbor town, shielded us from the worst of the glare.

 

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