Category: Before the Rain

We became friends
like rain in the tropics.
There were no beginnings,
it just began – strong and resolute.

I never quite understood how,
he could have been my father – just.
I could have been his kid bother – just
but ….
age seemed all wrong.
Perhaps it was cricket –
we were both mad about the game.

Whatever the nature of our bond,
he always made time for me
and I sought him out most days …..
animated talk, much laughter and occasional gossip.
Once expecting emphatic denial
I quietly asked about
just heard tittle tattle – that a staff member beat his wife.

He took a long while to answer
then spoke as if much older,
soft
slow.

“ You haven’t been here very long …..
in this town, you might know someone’s business,
but,
you don’t mind it for them.”

“ Peachy,”
infrequently heard as descriptor before
and never since.
I was on the curve of age where everywhere,
everyone was older – work no different.
Perhaps it was colloquialism briefly lived –
fad
never becoming fashion –
carbon dating specific time, before my time.

I saw it and showed him –
the colleague with whom I felt most comfortable
empathy
and ally against conceit – and almost fifth columnist.
Spookily coincident
alone – no eavesdropping or witness
openness able to be open.
‘ we seek …..’
No Bluff. No strategy. The truth – self-preservation,

“ it’s easier  to get a job with a job –
now could be finite … this is permanent …..
what do you think? ”

Anticipation considered enquiry superfluous
had prefigured encouragement,
a wink,
an offer of assistance with marketing.

“ I think that’s really peachy.
Chilly and Bryan give a young guy a chance,
and you scarper at the first opportunity . …”

The Director’s  nickname was chilly –
genial about most things
but arctic if deference wasn’t paid.

He’d come to the district a few years before
from head office
to the leased block
getting the farm when the will was read.

Successful  : station well above his ideas.
There were stories,
but he was never prosecuted,
never charged –
able to retire several pay grades to the good.

Ghosts – loyal and quiet. Silent.
He knew which cogs to oil
who mattered
and who didn’t.
Who was impotent
and who could be defamed –
a man to be listened to.

He told me to fit in
and
to be seen fitting in.
Not a function went by without my attendance.
It was written on their faces
lips curling,
“rent a crowd 
he’d turn up anywhere if there’s a drink on offer.”