by Ian Berry
Saskia said, “I love you too, Dad.”
“And I love you too, Rob,” I said. I didn’t actually say this out loud very often, in fact, if memory served, this might have been the very first time, certainly not more than the second or third. I felt Rob’s arm tighten around me. He didn’t say anything but the gesture spoke volumes.
Sunday. All three of us left the house at more or less the same time. Rob to see if he could sell his entire stock of cars, Saskia and me to pick up Melanie and Rio. Rio and Melanie got on really well despite the age difference. It wasn’t Melanie talking down to Rio while Rio tried to be older and wiser than her sixteen years, they sort of met in the middle with no effort whatsoever. That pleased me, Melanie would be one of Rio’s points of contact at the plant, especially if Saskia and I needed to be elsewhere.
While we waited for Mark to produce the helicopter, the four of us hit the cafeteria and made them produce hot chocolate. Jeff was already there.
“Ah, there you all are. Rio, I need to give you this. Don’t lose it.” He produced a pale blue plant badge on the inevitable lanyard.
Rio looked at it. “It’s got my name on it and everything.”
“Have you registered it with the computer Jeff?” asked Saskia.
“Mm. It’s live and ready to go.”
Saskia turned to Rio. “This thing isn’t just a badge, it unlocks doors, probably not many in your case but the important ones are the front door at weekends and the cafeteria door. You can come on your own and wander about as much as you want, you can’t go where you can’t go, if you see what I mean. Like Jeff says, don’t lose it.”
“Not going to do the underwear gag, Twin?” I whispered.
“No. Rio’s still a bit young. I remember how that made me feel when we started our first day. It can’t really tell the colour of our pants, it’d only worry her.”
“You’re right. She’ll find stuff like that out soon enough.”
Rio was speaking. “But we’ve just come through the cafeteria door and I wasn’t wearing my badge then.”
“Ah, that’s where the system falls down,” I said. “Because one of our badges unlocked the door, anybody with us can come through as well, badge or no badge.”
“And the Saskias have white badges,” laughed Melanie. “Opens everything, probably including the desk drawers in Sir James office.”
Jeff cocked his head to one side. “I believe I hear a helicopter. Shall we go?”
I’d been aware of the sound of the helicopter for some time, as had Saskia probably, but it would never do to reveal our super hearing. I’d waited until one of the others noticed first.
Out at the helipad, Mark was waiting alongside his machine. Saskia pre-empted anything he might do or say by walking up to him, giving him a quick kiss, then introducing everybody. I was interested in what his reaction to Rio might be, Melanie I knew could give as good as she got, but Rio lacked such experience.
I needn’t have bothered. Mark was on his best behaviour, no sideways remarks or innuendo. Saskia didn’t have to thump him again. Perhaps she was disappointed - I’d ask later.
Rio surprised us all by taking charge. “Do the windows open? And will they stay open? I’ll need somewhere to tie the camera lanyard. I’ll also need to be able to talk to you, Mark, to get you to twiddle round so I can get the framing right.”
Mark and Rio went off to the rear door of the helicopter to arrange such things, the rest of us just watched.
“I thought Rio would sit in the front,” Jeff said.
“Can’t take pictures through the glass front,” I said. “Easier in the back. You sit with Mark and tell him where you want to go, then Rio will tell him which way round he needs to be and stuff like that. It’ll work out, you’ll see.”
“So what do I do?” asked Melanie. “You sure one of you shouldn’t go instead.”
“You have two jobs. One is to hold onto Rio’s camera bag, the other is to enjoy your first helicopter flight. And no, the Saskias are keeping their feet firmly on the ground today.”
With Rio fixed in, the rest of us walked across so that Jeff and Melanie could get in as well. Mark was quite happy for Saskia and me to organise Jeff and Melanie, belting them in and adjusting their headphones. When we were happy all four of them could hear each other, we closed the doors, stuck thumbs up at Mark and withdrew to a safe distance as he began the start up sequence.
“Don’t want us on any of the shots,” said Saskia. “Let’s watch from the cafeteria, super vision can be handy sometimes.”
“And your choice of the cafeteria as a viewing gallery has nothing whatever to do with hot chocolate,” I laughed.
“Thought hadn’t entered my head, but now you mention it ...”
We watched the helicopter take off then turned and walked into the plant building arm in arm. With not many people around, Saskia and I could use super vision as much as we liked, the change in the colour of our eyes wasn’t likely to be seen, let alone commented on.
“Woo. There they go,” said Saskia. “Why so far away?”
“So Rio doesn’t have to use a very wide angle - that distorts the picture. You can fix it later but it’s better to get it right at the start.”
We sat and watched as Mark herded the helicopter round and round the plant under the command of Jeff and Rio. Anybody watching might have wondered why Saskia and I kept turning around in our seats. We had to rotate to follow the chopper. I think the whole flight took about half an hour.
“They’re landing. Come on, let’s go get them out,” said Saskia.
We ran out to the helipad just in time to watch the rotor blades come to a stop. Saskia went to unfasten Jeff while I went to do Melanie and then Rio. With Saskia and I being ground crew, Mark could stay where he was strapped into his seat. With the other three extracted and retired to a safe distance, Mark restarted the engine and waved as he took off and went back to wherever he’d come from.
“Right,” said Saskia. “Our office I think. Have you brought your wires to connect your camera to a computer?” she answered her own question. “‘Course you have. Got a kitchen sink in that bag of yours I expect.”
“Not quite,” laughed Rio. “I like to keep it all in one place so all the bits are always handy.”
Melanie appointed herself head waitress and went to arrange refreshments while Jeff and Saskia looked at me expectantly. Being the resident computer engineer could have drawbacks sometimes. Still, it meant I knew what I was doing. By the time Melanie was back with a tray, I had Rio’s camera connected to our desktop computer.
“At least you don’t bother with the software that came with the camera,” said Rio.
“Bit of a waste of time,” I said. “It’s just a fancy way of doing what I’m going to do now using the normal computer tools. Just bungs up the computer and takes up disc and memory space.”
I moved Rio’s pictures from the memory card in the camera into a folder on the desktop, not moved exactly, the process is copying, the default condition as the files were on different drives. Within a minute or so I was able to disconnect Rio’s camera and give it her back to pack away. Then we could open the files to look at the pictures.
Saskia and I knew what to expect, we’d seen the plant from the air many times, but Jeff and Melanie were quite fascinated. Despite the fact they’d just seen the view with their own eyes, they were very interested in the pictures themselves.
“I didn’t really see what was going on,” said Melanie. “I had to look around Rio to see what she was looking at.”
“Me too,” said Jeff. “We were always side on to the area we wanted to see, with Rio and Mark on the same side, Melanie and I didn’t have such a good view.”
“Will they do, Jeff?” asked Rio. “Is it what you wanted?”
“Damn right they w
ill. These are just what we want.”
Rio wriggled and beamed with happiness at Jeff’s emphatic comments.
“What happened to this one?” asked Saskia. “It’s gone all sort of circular.”
“Do you like it?” asked Rio. “I’ve got a fish-eye attachment. It makes a very wide angle and distorts the edges. I thought I’d give it a go, might as well while we were up there.”
“That one’s definitely for the brochure. It’s very distinctive,” said Jeff.
Melanie changed the subject. “What about that Rio then? She turned into a proper Saskia. She bullied Mark unmercifully and he did exactly what she wanted. Need to watch her carefully.”
Rio went red with embarrassment. “I only told him where to go and which way round to be. Was I really bossy?”
“Yes, dear, but don’t worry, I think Mark was quite happy. I bet his girlfriend wears the pants in that relationship,” said Melanie with a grin.
“Sandwiches and a bun for lunch, then we have a date with some more motorcars,” said Saskia.
The cafeteria really isn’t open on a Sunday but so long as you arrange it in advance food can be available, you just go help yourself. We did this, or at least the girls did, Jeff went home - probably to relate his adventures to Fiona, his wife.
After dropping Melanie at home, the remaining three of us continued on out of town to Eddie’s garage. Saskia knew where it was, we’d done an aerial recce a couple of days ago. No helicopter for us of course. Eddie was waiting.
“Hello again, girls. I really appreciate this. You must be Rio.”
It seemed that Eddie Simpson was in charge at the moment, that was something of a relief. The session went more or less the same as at Rob’s garage the day before. While Saskia watched out for Rio, I took Eddie on one side.
“Has Saskia’s dad spoken to you?”
“Mm. He rang me this morning. Told me what his arrangements were with Rio and said I might like to make mine the same.”
“Are you happy with that? Saskia and I don’t want to know what the arrangements are, just that they exist and are fair.”
“Should be all of that. I’ll check with Rio when you’ve finished.”
“Ok. Rio will want to mess about with the pictures before she sends them so we’ll do it at her place. I just need you to tell me where to send them. They’re all tagged so that Marvin can tell which one’s which.”
Marvin was a ex-colleague of Richie’s I’d contacted on Eddie’s behalf. He’d been surprised to hear from me - understandable really - but had agreed to get in touch with Eddie. He’d also been interested to hear about Richie and ‘Kylie’ in Australia. I’d promised to keep him updated on progress in that area. I would do - as soon as Saskia and I had decided what was to happen next!
With the photography session over, Rio and Eddie went into a little huddle to make sure they understood one another, then we all jumped in the mini to go back to Rio’s.
Pictures were downloaded, fiddled with, then sent to Marvin. I needed to talk to Rio and her parents.
“Strictly speaking, we’ve broken the law a bit this weekend. We’ve seriously exceeded the allowable hours Rio should work for. It should be ok from now on but we need to keep an eye on it. The other thing you need to watch out for is Rio’s tax position. We’ve arranged all the paperwork, her school has a copy and Accounts at the plant have one as well. I can get you a copy if you want one. Basically, if she earns over the weekly tax threshold, at the moment that’s about a hundred and twenty-odd pounds, she’ll need to pay tax and National Insurance. Keep a record of her earnings just in case. The Corporation want invoices. I’ll deal with that now with Rio. It’s not as bad as it sounds.”
Rio and I went into a huddle round her computer. “Fire up your word processor. What do you want to call yourself? Put that across the top in big letters.”
“I thought just my name, Rio Ashworth - Photographer.”
“That’s good. Nice and simple. Address and phone number and such underneath, yep that’s fine. Now, It needs to say ‘Invoice’, that’s so the people who open the letters at the plant can see it should go to Accounts. Nice and big so they don’t miss it. Next, a space for the date. Put a heading called ‘date’ so you always put it in the same place. So far so good. Each invoice needs a number, so another heading. Spot on, you’re getting the hang of this I can see.”
Rio grinned at me so I went on, “Each invoice needs a number, they needn’t be consecutive but each one needs a higher number than the last one. And don’t start at ‘one’, looks better if you start with a four figure number. No real reason for that except that it makes you look a bit more professional. Another heading marked ‘ To’ then a space to put the name and address of where the invoice is going, in this case, the Robinson Corporation. No, don’t write that in just yet, you’ll see why in a minute.”
“I’m glad you know all about this stuff, Saskia. I’d’ve made a mess all on my own.”
“I said I’d take you through it. Next you need to say what the invoice is for, put another heading, just ‘Re’ - means ‘about’, more or less. Then a big space for you to write in what you’ve done that you want them to pay you for. Then down at the bottom on the right hand side a heading marked ‘total’. This is where you put in the sum of money you want. All the headings are to remind you where to write the stuff as you prepare the invoice, then all your invoices look the same. Now save that as a template not a document, you know how to do that?”
“Ah. So now I just call up the template, put in the details and save it in a file somewhere, print a copy to sent to your people and that’s it?”
“And, as they say, That’s All There Is To It.”
“I could send Eddie and Saskia’s dad invoices as well couldn’t I?”
“Good idea. Then you can keep track of the money you’ve earned as well.”
With the first invoice generated and printed for us to take with us - might as well save the price of a stamp - we just had time for a bit of a chat.
“Did you contact that Jonathan chap Archie Spencer put you in touch with?” asked Saskia.
“Yes. He wants to see me with all my work, probably over the Winter holidays. He says there’s no rush but I’ve to keep in touch and send him stuff I think is good now and then. He says he’ll send me back comments so I can get even better.”
“I think you should send him a copy of that circular picture of the plant.” said Saskia.
“The one with the fish-eye lens? Hm. I’m quite pleased with that one. It turned out really well. Good idea. I’ll do it today later on.”
With a kiss each from Rio, Saskia and I got back into the mini to drive home.
“Been a full weekend Twin. Need to engage the Prime Directive tonight,” said Saskia
“I’m with you,” I said. “Making your dad happy is part of my life’s work.”
“And I love you for it.”
“I know. Good isn’t it. I love you too.”
Saskia’s dad wasn’t there when we got home. “I’ll give him a ring and see what he wants for tea,” said Saskia.
She did this. “Hi Dad. What? Oh no!”
I turned up the super hearing to listen to both sides of the conversation.
“It’s only the loos at the moment but if it gets any worse the showroom might flood as well.
“Oh poor Dad. Anything we can do? Hold your hand or something?”
“Not unless you know a tame plumber. Never mind, I’ll see you later.”
Saskia put the phone down. “There’s a water leak, I suppose you gathered. Do we know a tame plumber?”
“I know a keen amateur plumber.”
“You do? Quick, ring him up.”
“No need. I’m here already.”
“What? But? Oh - I see.”
“Yes. My murky past does come in handy sometimes. Come on, get the mini pointing the right way.”
Saskia drove to the garage perhaps a little faster than she ought to. Rob was unsurprised to see us. What did surprise him was the fact that I thought I could fix whatever had gone wrong.
“You, Saskia?” Then he thought about it. “I’m sorry. If you can drive trucks and fly helicopters and stuff, why shouldn’t you be a plumber as well. Come to think about it, you plumbed in our washing machine and dishwasher.”
“Less chatter, Dad. Where’s the problem?”
“In here, in the Ladies loo, which is why we didn’t notice it.”
“You all being men you mean,” laughed Saskia.
“Something like that.”
In the Ladies, there was water pouring out of the ceiling.
“Can you find me a stepladder and a crowbar?” I asked.
“Coming right up,” said Rob and he went to issue orders. While he was absent, I used super vision to look through the ceiling. It was obvious what the problem was, just a soldered joint that’d given way. I quickly looked around, following the pipes, until I spotted a stop tap.
“Saskia. Just inside the back people door to the workshop. Tap on the wall, turn it off please.” She rushed off to do this and nearly bumped into Rob returning with a ladder and other stuff. He had a pair of overalls.
“Put these on or you’ll get soaked,” he said.
It didn’t matter really, I could just change to be dry again, but the questions that would cause! I put on the overalls. As I struggled into the garment with Rob’s help, the water slowed to a trickle and then more or less stopped.
“How did you do that? Magic?”
“No, Dad, just a stop tap,” laughed Saskia as she came running back.
“I’m going to have to trash part of the ceiling to get to the pipes,” I said. “I’ll try to make as little mess as possible.”
“Just do what you need to,” said Rob. He did stand back a bit as I began waving the crowbar around.