another excerpt - rough draft
Lunch was a plate of jerked pork and beans, a somewhat more functional plate rather than a gourmet treat. Sincerity was true to her word and didn’t talked about their work, nor did she gone on about his ‘illness’. She, it seemed, simply tried to be good company. She talked of the diving to be had off the southern shore, the reefs and the whales that migrated past at this time of the year. She talked of the boat, presumably a ‘company’ boat, that she had access to that she sometimes took out, and promised him a ride out to some of the beautiful unpopulated cays. ‘So private,’ she said ‘we could think of ourselves as the only two people in the world. So very private.’ ‘Oh, good’ he had replied, thinking that he would love to bring Geraldine here to the Turks, but if he were to do so and then they were to bump into Sincerity, well, that would be awkward. Sincerity would not be able to resist mentioning, somehow, that they had kissed. He could just imagine it. ‘Oh Geraldine, you are so lucky to have such a great kisser, oh yes indeed.’ Hole, sink, buried, dead.
Edward managed to get away eventually, he needed to shower and change before he met the Finance Minister. His linen suit had been laundered and was waiting him in his room. He showered quickly and dressed in a white cotton shirt, which he left open necked, and his linen suit. Looking in the mirror he decided that he really ought to wear a tie, he just looked ‘inappropriate’ without a tie; he was representing Her majesty after all. He walked across the grass and went to hail a taxi when Sincerity pulled up in front of him in a Ford SUV.
“Get in, save you a taxi fare, I’ll take you to the Ministry.”
“Fine.” He said no more, he was doing everything he could to discourage her, but still she persisted, following him, appearing in the bar when he did, strolling along the walkways when he was, and he didn’t even bother to try and guess how she knew where he was going now. It was simply part of her job. Her next words startled him slightly, it was as if she could read his mind.
“This isn’t part of my job you know Edward, I am not a gopher or taxi driver.”
He sat quietly as she drove the short distance to the Ministry, there was nothing that he wanted to say to her, she was just becoming an ever greater nuisance, and there seemed no way to deter her. “Oh Edward,” she said as she pulled up outside, “I never had you pegged as the strong silent type. I’ll wait for you.”
Security was unsurprisingly lax, merely a mention that he had an appointment wit the Minister and he was allowed in. There was no checking of names against lists, or demands to see proof of identity. Perhaps, he mused, they already knew exactly who he was.
He sat is the anteroom in a tall cane backed chair and waited. HE read the poster on the wall advising against unprotected sex and the risk of AIDS. He looked at the standard issue portrait of Her Majesty and he looked at his shoes, the floor and the ceiling. The laws of physics were suspended and time slowed to that special time known as local special time. He had a two o’clock appointment, but when two o’clock actually would occur was unclear. He refused to look at his watch as that would only be the catalyst to slow time even more. He traced the hair line cracks in the wall and decided that they matched the county outline of Yorkshire. Looking askance at the creases in the linoleum floor he was sure that he could make out an outline of Australia. In all of this, what he did not see was any sign of his appointment. He was determined to stay cool and not to get agitated, after all, they were not singling him out for the treatment, they treated everyone like this.
He thought of Geraldine, and how she may react if the appointment was hers and she was due to give a presentation. She would probably open her laptop and go through her presentation. That would kill some time, and then she would go through her presentation notes, that would kill some more…
“Mr Seymour. Mr Seymour.” He snapped back, his name was being called.
“Ah, yes,” he replied, standing and walking towards the door where the lady calling his name was waiting.
“Mr Seymour, please follow me. The Minister will be free shortly.” She led them along a narrow corridor, doors leading, he presumed, to offices on one side, windows showing the courtyard on the other. Just before the end of the corridor she opened a door, the last but one Edward noticed, and ushered him in.
“Mr Seymour, please take a seat.”
More high backed cane chairs, more cracked emulsion and more cracked linoleum and what was obviously an interconnecting door. Time returned to its special rate and he wondered if this special local time was anything like dream time. He had noticed that you could experience several hours in your dreams, when only a few seconds passed in real time. Perhaps there was a correlation somehow. Geraldine sat next to him in this special place, he knew that she wasn’t there in reality, but he allowed his mind its daydream.
“He will be big and fat.” She said.
“No, he will be wearing a dark suit with white shirt a blue tie. He will be possibly a little overweight, but certainly not portly.”
“He will have gold teeth and there will be a bird in a cage in the corner that will screech as you enter.”
“Ger, darling, he is the Minister of Finance, not an evil baddie from a Hollywood film.”
“I’m right, you’ll see.”
He stood and adjusted his clothes which were feeling a little tight, and sat down again. Geraldine had gone and now he only had a small lizard for company. After a back weakening interminable wait the interconnecting door opened and a young man called him.
“Mr Seymour, this way please, the Minister will see you now.”
“Thank you,” Edward stood and tried to flex as he walked to remove the stiffness that he felt. As he walked through the door the Minister stood from his desk and walked around, hand proffered. The handshake was firm and sure, as Edward would have expected from a man of power. Edward’s response was equally firm.
“Minister, thank you for seeing me.”
“Sit down, sit down.” The Minister was somewhat overweight, definitely portly, and his gold tooth flashed as he spoke. Edward decided he needed to talk to Geraldine about her prescience.
“Now then Mr Seymour what is it that brings you all the way from England to see us on our little island.”
“Minister. There seem to be a few inconsistencies in some registered transactions that I am sure must just be administrative, however, you know how these things are.”
“And why would it be Mr Seymour that these little inconsistencies are interesting you people all the way back in London Town, why should our little affairs be of any concern to you?” The Minister fixed her eyes directly onto Edward as he spoke. The only thing that he needed to meet the Geraldine ‘Image’ would have been a military tunic adorned with medals and honours.
“Minister, Her Majesty’s Government takes all issues concerning Her Majesty’s Crown Colonies seriously.”
“Now now Mr Seymour, we are an independent people and we really do not need Her Majesty looking at us like some hired Governess, we are not naughty children you know. We can look after our own affairs.”
“Minister, Her Majesty full understands that, and does not feel in any way Governessorial towards the people of the Turks and Caicos, but will always keep a watchful eye open, in the same way as you would watch out for your family, grown up though they may be.”
“Mr Seymour, your mouth says one thing but your Government enacts another. Not Governessorial you say, and yet your Government appoints a Governor. No Mr Seymour, I think that there is nothing here for you. Please enjoy a few days relaxation, enjoy the pleasures that can be had, we are a very friendly island, and then go back to your Government and tell them that the children are all grown up and now walk their own path of destiny.”
“Minster, I still need to examine…”
“No Mr Seymour,” the Minister interrupted, “you don’t need to examine anything. You need to do nothing, there is nothing for you to examine. Have a holiday, go swimming, the water are beautiful, perhaps a little cool at this time of the year, but still perfectly palatable.”
“Minister, with due respect, I come with the full authority of Her Britannic Majesty and I have orders to examine certain transactions. Whilst I would indeed love to enjoy the islands as you have suggested, sadly I have to follow the commands I am given and I therefore must request your full co-operation and that of your staff in my examination.”
“Mr Seymour, you speak of respect but you show us none, treating us like naughty little children. No Mr Seymour, I do not have to co-operate with anything, there is nothing to co-operate with. There are no discrepancies, and what has happened, has happened with the full sanction of authorised persons according to our laws and customs. Now Mr Seymour, as I have said, there is nothing to investigate and therefore there is no requirement to co-operate. I am a busy person Mr Seymour, and I am not on a holiday as you now are. Thank you.” The Minister stood, the meeting obviously at an end.
Edward stayed sitting in his chair, the snub of not standing bringing a scowl to the face of the Minister.
“I have said, Mr Seymour, that the meeting is at an end.”
“And I have said, Minister, that I am fully authorised to demand your co-operation into the investigation into an extremely serious matter.”
“You can demand all you like, coming here from England demanding, demanding, demanding. Well let me tell you, nothing will come of your demands. There is nothing to examine, I shall not, I repeat not, co-operate with a witch hunt and a complete waste of time, and there is nothing, absolutely nothing that you can do about it. Sit there all you like Seymour, this meeting is over and I have other places to be.” With those words he opened the door and left, the door swinging lightly as he passed through, staying ajar as if waiting for Edward to follow.
“Well that went well,” Edward said to an empty desk.
