by wa5 » Wed Jul 27, 2016 4:55 pm
Friday Morning came too soon.. I could have easily slept in, Sausages for breakfast.. trying to use up my frozen food...
Bus arrived on time, Jeff at the wheel, and only three other passengers...
"Where's GI Joe?" I asked.
It seemed the Soldier hadn't turned up this morning..
Jeff quietly told me that the bus service would finish this evening, Essential service or not, the boss has said he wont be running any services tomorrow.
I asked Jeff his plans, .. "Stay with my family" was all he said.. I didn't push any more, we both knew the outlook was bleak..
we chatted all the way to town, the other two passengers alighted before me, we had the last ten minutes of my ride alone..
The roads were just about abandoned, there was evidence of a few outbreaks of violence, burned cars and buildings, some smashed windows in roadside shops, some signs of looting.. but it was pretty quiet at that time..
A small yellow car passed us, its young driver hanging out the window screaming abuse at Jeff, for some imagined wrong doing... the fool in the small car, An old Hyundai I think than slammed into the side of the bus, delivering little more than a scratch to the sturdy vehicle.. but leaving what appeared to be half the little Excel on the road..
Jeff, the quiet gentle God Fearing man, snapped, the bus burst forth with a turn of speed I'd not thought possible.. he had a crazed look in his eyes ... as he manoeuvred the big Volvo into position at the left rear of the little Korean car, he spewed out curses the likes of which I had never heard him utter...
"Um, Jeff, mate, I don't think this is a good idea mate, just let him go, hes not worth the trouble", I yelled ..
It was, it appeared, little trouble at all. as Jeff executed a perfect PIT manoeuvre on the poor little Korean Econobox...
As the Hyundai pirouetted across the road and rammed its nose into a parked car, coming to rest in a pile of broken plastic, glass and a cloud of escaping steam .. Jeff screamed out the window, "NSW demolition derby champion 5 years running , you messed with the wrong guy you stupid fucker"... He looked at me and said, "I should go back there and punch his fuckin lights out".. I looked back at the crashed car in time to seed the still angry driver spring out of his broken car and start sprinting after the bus.. .. as calmly as I could, I told Jeff that wouldn't be a good idea.. He seemed to come back to himself at that point and said "Dear God, what have I done"?
Figuring that involving the Authorities in this "little fender bender" would probably result in Jeff spending his last days in gaol, I told him to keep driving..
As we came to my stop, he began to slow down, to drop me off, and kept repeating, I should go back, I should go back"...
I put my hand on his shoulder, and asked him if he knew where my work was, "next left and a quarter mile down the street " he answered, rather distractedly.. ''
"Could you please do me a favour Jeff, theres some bad things happening today, I really don't want to walk down that road alone, could you possibly run me to work please" I had to think quickly while Jeff was still in shock.. He seemed unsure, and said it was against company policy to deviate from the route.... Yep, so is punting some moron off the road, no matter how much they deserve it, I thought... but chose not to say it... I ended up guilting him into it by saying I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see any bad people coming "because of my bad eyes".. A bald faced lie, but I was trying to get the bus off the road before Mr Angry Hyundai driver had a chance to report it to the Police...
When we got to work, Darius was waiting at the gate (he didn't have a key).. He walked up to the bus as we arrived, "you know theres a fair bit of damage to your front bumper" he asked.. Jeff was still in shock, I told him to drive the bus around behind the building and Darius would see what he could do. Darius walked in with me as the gate trundled closed behind us.. "Trouble" he asked .. "yeah.... In about ten minutes, come in and tell us that the bus is unroadworthy"... "Ok Boss". said Darius as he disappeared behind the workshop..
I unlocked both buildings and fired up the computers.. and just enough lights so I wouldn't fall over.. then brought Jeff into my office "for a nice cup of tea"...
With each sip, and each moment in the dark, he calmed a little, Darius came in on cue, and delivered the bad news.. I asked him what we had in the yard .. Turned out there was a 2000 Fairlane, A high mileage hire car, nothing wrong with it, but cars with seven hundred and fifty thousand kilometres on the clock got wholesaled. and that is what the old Fairlane was destined for... I asked Darius to fill it up and bring it round..
Jeff still wanted to see if the other driver was ok, he was very upset that he might have hurt another person... It took me half an hour to talk him round, in the end, I simply told him the truth, if the Police became involved, He would go to gaol... and not see his family again.. he relented, I gave him a permission to drive note on a company letterhead and pointed him towards his family... Darius and I settled in around the radio..
I decided to put a call in to Jim, around lunchtime, give him a bit of an update on how the place was running, and to see how he was going.. I should have guessed, He sounded terrible on the phone. "Ive got it" he said.. "Ah ****" ... That seemed to be all he wanted to say on the subject..." Hows things going" He asked, so I filled him in.... He wanted to know if the busses were still running, I told him about the mornings adventure... "Manager will have your arse for handing out cars if she finds out", he joked.. "Not very likely , besides, I do have a quarter of a million dollars worth of Volvo Bus, as security" I countered... He laughed and asked how I was planning to get home today, I answered honestly, that I had no idea.
"Take the Territory', he said,' its ready for a camping trip, theres good fishing gear in the back.. and theres a little something hidden with the spare tyre... A ten shot pump action Shot gun, with a couple of boxes of ammo, I never go camping without it"..
Forgetting for a moment that Jim had the K, I asked "Wow, are you sure"," You're the only one I'd trust her with, throw on the signs and pack a part, it might get you past any roadblocks"... I was still in shock that he was giving me "his" car, his pride and joy.. oh and the shot gun too, I knew that was going to be a blessing... "Wow, Jim, thankyou.." and then it struck me I wasn't just thanking him for the car and the gun.. there was so much more, Here was the Man that had gone against the tide to give me a chance when nobody else was willing to do that.... The Man that had taken me under his wing and showed me the ropes, taken the time to teach me how to replace him when the time came, to do the job.. the right way.. "Thankyou Jim...... for everything" ....... "its been my pleasure Son" The call ended.
Darius quietly found something else to do, as I sat in my office, coming apart at the seems.
it seemed my trip in that morning travelled through the eye of the storm... and all hell broke loose soon after 10 am.. By lunchtime there were no safe areas in the city. According to the radio, Most of the retail areas were burning or full of looters, or both..
Michael came in at 2 PM.. with two broken windows and another broken mirror.. I picked the parts, and talked with Michael as Darius did his thing..
"How bad"? I asked.. "its out of control and heading this way" he said.. as soon as I leave, you should too. Get home, don't come back, its over."... I asked him about the army, .. he told me they had been withdrawn this morning to protect essential assets, like the RAAF base, water supplies and Electrical Generation Equipment.. He went on to say that Police were withdrawing from the war zones and were being re deployed to stop people fleeing the cities, it turned out he would be guarding the bridge I had to cross on my way home... "Why I asked, whats the point of that?".." No Idea" he admitted
CRASH... Darius let out a band of expletives as he picked up the replacement mirror and threw it at the concrete floor for the second time.. "DONT WANT TO GO IN YOU BASTARD? I'LL TEACH YOU A FUCKIN LESSON".. The mirror lay on the ground in many pieces.. Michaels hand went to his gun...
'Hold on mate, let me take care of it, no need for that"... Michael nodded in my direction, but kept his eyes on Darius, and his hand on the butt of his pistol...
I walked over to Darius and calmly asked him to come with me, He raged on for a moment, but as I stood in front of him with my palms towards him, he slowly came down... I took him by the arm and led him to my office, turned off all the lights and told him to stay there til I returned.. I picked another mirror, and headed back to finish the work on Michaels patrol car...
within twenty minutes I had it finished, (I wasn't as fast as Darius) Michael thanked me. asked about the usual paperwork, I said, I cant see the point, can you" he nodded sadly, wished me luck and was gone, reminding me to get out asap as he drove out the gate..
I went in to find Darius where I had left him. I asked how he was feeling, "very angry" came the curt reply... I gently suggested he stay in my office a bit longer, as I went to get Jims car from its undercover parking. As he suggested, I also retrieved the magnetic signs that fitted on the doors, with metre high 'KLOSTER FORD" written on them.... part of Jims claim that this was a legitimate delivery vehicle... the signs fitter perfectly, once I removed their protective wrapping... Jim had suggested taking a part with me to try and convince any blockades I might come across that I was on company business, it was a good Idea..
I bought up the name of a Police Officer whom I had dealt with at a police station located at Nelson Bay, about 20 miles further up the road past my home... and invoiced the last right front door glass we had in stock to him. I loaded that into the Territory and returned to tell Darius it was time to go and to lock up..