Chapter Eleven – Heading up the Coast with Gary

An occasional cyclist passed by, they never seemed to be in a hurry. Matt watched a cat carefully pick its way through the neighbour’s garden toward him. It noticed Matt’s gaze and froze. After a few seconds, the cat crouched down and stared. The cat would wait, knowing that Matt would leave.

Gary’s ute came into view. This was certainly one of the vehicles which were not in a hurry. Gary drove across to the wrong side of the road alongside Matt.

“You can have an inside seat if you like,” joked Gary. He was smiling broadly with his arm hanging out of the window. Matt walked around and climbed into the ute. He noticed quite an assortment of tools on the back including a lawnmower and trimmer. “Had some breakfast?” asked Gary.

“Not really,” replied Matt.

“Good answer.” Gary reached around to the back seat and opened up a chilly bin. “Here’s a bacon bun to get you started.” Gary dropped the bun on Matt’s knees and reached back again, this time returning with a bottle of water. “There’s plenty of food, so tuck in.”

“Thanks,” Matt replied. His stomach was already rumbling from the smell of the bacon.

“You should be very pleased to hear the radio doesn’t work,” said Gary, “I suspect my idea of music would have you sitting outside on the tray. Your idea of music might have me stopping to check the engine oil.”

Matt smiled at Gary. He too was pleased the radio was broken.

“I like to think when I drive, or chat if I have company. So what’s the speed limit here?”

“One hundred,” Matt replied.

“How fast are we going?”

“About… eighty-five,” said Matt as he leaned over to see the dashboard.

“Why would we only be going eighty-five in a one hundred zone? Seriously what sort of old fart would do that?”

Matt laughed and put the last bit of his bun in his mouth. He held out his hands in front of his chest while pulling his best ‘no idea’ face.

“Well, I’m not suggesting there are any particularly good reasons or reasons that anyone else would agree with at least. Otherwise, they’d be doing eighty-five too, right? Clearly, they aren’t, just look at them go. Regardless, here come the reasons. Firstly, if I drive fast all I can think about is driving. If I drive slowly, however, I can ponder other things more easily and pay attention to things along the way. Secondly, I’ve noticed that if I drive slowly I’m more likely to stop, say if I see a roadside stall, or for someone who might need help. Accidents are much more fun at a slow speed, it’s cheaper and better for the environment. But perhaps the biggest reason is to remind me that I’m not in a hurry. Life is to be enjoyed and that starts with being present in the moment. Honestly, I think everyone would do it if they gave it a go. What do you reckon?”

Matt thought long and hard. It was such an unusual idea. Fancy rethinking something as obvious as driving at the speed limit. “I thought you had to drive at the speed limit,” Matt finally offered.

“Well, that’s a reasonable thought. In fact, most things we do seem reasonable if you don’t think too hard. It’s fun sometimes to take a step back and think hard about what we do and why. We might just come up with a better idea. Like not working ourselves to death for example!”

“Yep,” replied Matt. He had already warmed to that idea. Gary seemed to have a pretty good life and Matt loved the farm.

Gary rubbed his chin in thought. “Take driving. It’s obvious why we do it, it’s to get about more conveniently and to take more stuff than we could carry walking or on a bicycle. But should it be the default? Should we still drive when we could walk or cycle? That’s a personal choice. But one thing which is true for all of us is driving is one of the most dangerous things we’ll do. It’s probably the only thing we do each day which could kill someone. In my view, we should think about this each time we put our hands on the steering wheel.”

Matt nodded and looked out the window. “I like going slow,” he said wistfully.

“That’s a good start. With safety in mind though we’ll add a couple more things. Leave a big gap between cars, four seconds on the open road at least and always, I mean always, always, keep your eyes on the road, front and behind. Got it? Now, do you have any goals for the coming year? What’s going to be different next year from this year?”

Matt shuffled in his seat. Was he supposed to have goals? He’d never thought about having goals. “Not sure,” he finally said.

“I don’t think I had any goals at your age, Matt. Now, what do you do on a typical day, a day when it’s just you deciding what to do?”

“Well,” started Matt, “I do my drills.”

Gary reached over and rubbed Matt’s shoulder. “I know, I can tell. Good work.”

Matt continued. “Some days I go and see Jed and we play games. Sometimes I go to Art’s place and meet up with Dylan.”

Gary spent some time telling Matt about his life at thirteen years of age. Working on his parent’s farm, raising and selling his own calves, playing rugby and going on bush adventures. It was, they both agreed, very different from being thirteen now. It took about fifty minutes to drive up the coast. They mostly drove in silence, a comfortable silence, punctuated occasionally by a question from Gary and a short discussion. There was plenty of time to think.

“We have three properties to visit today. Just simple things, we’ll mow the lawns, trim the edges and pick up any leaves or branches laying about. Maybe pull a few weeds. The goal is no more than one hour at each property, we’ll just do all we can in that time. The first stop is Amira and Tama. Let’s go.”

Matt followed Gary up the driveway to a gate.

“Now keep the gate closed unless you’re going through it, you’ll see why in a minute.”

“Raaaa, raaaa,” yelled a young boy. He was wearing a red cape and brandishing a yellow plastic sword as long as himself. He ran toward Gary swinging the sword back and forth. “Raaaa, raaaa.”

“Don’t chop me up, chop him up,” said Gary while pointing at Matt.

The boy paused and looked at Matt. “Raaaa, raaaa,” he yelled while running at Matt. He struck Matt as hard as he could on the legs. “Raaaa, raaaa.”

“Don’t chop his legs off before he’s mowed the lawns,” said Gary, “otherwise I’ll have to mow them.”

The boy paused before launching himself at Gary a second time. “Raaaa, raaaa,” he yelled.

Gary scooped him up with one hand and removed his sword with the other. “Now let’s be polite to our guests. Tama, this is Matt. Matt, this is Tama. How old are you, Tama?”

“I’m free,” yelled Tama, while holding up an ever-changing number of fingers.

Gary draped Tama over his shoulder and carried him across the deck. “Come inside, Matt, I need to give Tama a beating.”

Matt followed Gary and Tama inside. Tama was beating Gary on the back as hard as he could.

“Amira, meet Matt. Matt, meet Amira. Now please excuse me while I beat this boy.”

Tama had an intense look on his face as he pounded ineffectively on Gary’s back. Gary dropped Tama onto the couch, and with mock fury pounded him with punches, elbow strikes and pokes to eyes. Tama screamed with delight. He fought and kicked as hard as he could. “Ah, no biting,” cautioned Gary, “UFC rules remember.” After a couple of minutes, Gary sat down and held Tama tight against him. Tama squirmed and fought. “Time to settle, Tama,” said Gary softly, “time for a cuddle.” Tama kept struggling, but Matt could see his struggling gradually diminish.

“Matt’s going to help me tidy up, anything, in particular, need doing?” Gary asked.

“No,” replied Amira, “just the usual spring things.”

Matt looked carefully at Amira. She was slightly built with shoulder-length straight hair. She somehow looked a bit uncertain and unconfident. She spoke very softly and slowly.

“That should be fine, I’ll hang onto Tama for you while I show Matt what to do. Enjoy the break.”

“I sure will,” said Amira, “take your time.”

Gary carried Tama across his shoulder with Tama’s head hanging over his back. Tama was grinning and looking at Matt as they walked outside. Gary pulled a rake and large sack off the back of the ute with his free hand. 

“Okay, Matt, let’s rake up the leaves and sticks and put them in this sack. Would you like to help, Tama?”

“YEEEES,” Tama yelled.

“Great. Sit in the middle of the lawn with the sack and anything that Matt rakes up, you put in the sack. Got it?”

“YEEEES.”

Matt started raking the leaves toward Tama.

“Faster, faster,” Tama yelled.

Gary winked at Matt and smiled. Matt raised his eyebrows back. This boy was clearly hard work. Gary sent Matt and Tama to rake the back lawn while he mowed and trimmed the front. As Gary explained, they could simply not have Tama around power tools. Once the section work was complete Gary and Matt sat down with Amira, who had put out some drinks and biscuits. Tama continued to rake the back lawn. Each time he had made a small pile he would kick it away yelling ‘Raaaa, raaaa.’

Gary turned to Matt. “Tama is normally much more placid and we do embroidery together.”

Amira burst out laughing and put her drink back on the table. “Oh I wish,” she said, “that would be SO nice.”

“Next time, if Matt’s comfortable with the power tools, we can take Tama with us to some other properties for a while and you can have a break. Maybe head out if you need to.”

“For that, I’ll bake you a cake,” exclaimed Amira, “that would be lovely.”

“Matt, how about you load up the ute, I’ll come out in a minute.”

“Yep, thank you for the food,” he said smiling at Amira.

“No problem. Would you like a little brother?” joked Amira back.

As they left Gary tooted the horn and waved at Tama, who was standing on the window sill inside the house and brandishing his sword. Matt did not need to hear to know what he was yelling.

“That boy is a bundle of energy isn’t he?” asked Gary.

Matt nodded. “Yep.”

“The three properties we are visiting today are all specials. Ones that I help the tenants look after and give a special deal to. For example, Amira is single at present, so Heather and I give her cheaper rent. That way she can keep a house for Tama and have some control over her living arrangement. We also drop off some food, which is what was in the chilly bin. Amira has whanau close by and they are good sorts. So she is fine. The next two are oldies. An old man and an old woman. We really should stick them together eh,” said Gary as he chuckled. “They don’t have family around, so I keep the section tidy, drop off some food and keep an eye on them. What we’ll do though is focus on getting you safe and comfortable with the mower and trimmer. Hopefully, they won’t be attacking us with swords.”

“Do they have walking sticks?” asked Matt.

“Yes, but they can’t hit very hard,” replied Gary.

By the time they got to the final property, Matt had mastered the lawn mowing and almost mastered the trimmer. He couldn’t get the edges as straight as Gary, but it was fun all the same. Once Matt was underway Gary headed inside to talk with the lady. As they were leaving she came out to thank Matt and handed him some scones neatly wrapped in paper.

“Hey, those were supposed to be for me,” joked Gary.

“He’s had plenty, these are for you,” said the lady smiling.

Gary shook his head with fake disappointment. “Oh well,” he said, “Chrissie, meet Matt. Matt, meet Chrissie.”
Gary reversed slowly down the drive, they waved and with a toot of the horn were on their way. “Do you need a drink or a stop,” asked Gary, “otherwise the next stop’s home.”

“All good,” replied Matt.

“Okay, those are great scones, you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve had plenty. Those are all yours.” There was much less talk on the drive home. Gary just tootled along at his own pace, being sure to let others pass when he could. Matt started to doze.

“Hello, what have we got here?”

Matt opened his eyes, the tone in Gary’s voice had gotten Matt’s attention. Matt looked up to see three men on the side of the road and two parked cars, one of the men waved Gary on. But Gary pulled over and reversed until he was across the road from the car parked in front. Gary wound down the passenger window.

“It’s fine mate, all under control,” called one of the men.

“The driver does not look happy,” said Gary quietly to Matt, “you wait here.”

Matt looked at the driver, it was a woman. She had her hands on the steering wheel and was looking straight ahead. Her face was solemn. Matt could see a boy’s face in the back seat, he looked unhappy too.

Matt watched Gary walk over. One of the men approached Gary and stood in between Gary and the car. He started talking but Gary pushed past and bent over to speak to the driver. Matt could see Gary’s head move about as he spoke. The woman stared straight ahead, but he could see she was speaking too. Gary stood up. He put his hand on the roof of the car and drummed his fingers. He turned to the man who had stood in his way, the other two had already walked back to their car.

“Time to go, brother. You’re not welcome here,” said Gary, he stood very still. The man said something back which Matt could not hear. Gary smiled. “Okay,” he said, holding out his hand and taking a step back toward his ute. “Have a good day.”

The man shook Gary’s hand. The instant their hands met Gary stopped smiling, he turned back toward the man and stood very close. They stared at each other, the man glanced down at his hand and winced, his knees buckled slightly and he looked back up at Gary’s face. Gary reached his left arm across the man’s back and pulled him around so they were standing side by side. Gary slowly walked the man back toward the car at the back, with his left arm over the man’s shoulder and his right hand firmly gripped in a handshake. As they approached the car the other two men stepped back, they looked worried. But Gary was smiling and chatting. He let go of the man’s shoulder and kept talking while gently shaking his hand up and down. The man’s mouth was open and his eyes almost closed shut. Matt could see he was in pain. Gary let go of his hand and the man immediately turned and walked to the far side of the car. Gary held out his hand to the other two men and walked toward them, but they kept backing away. Gary held out his hands, then dropped them to his side. Matt heard him say, ‘Oh well.’ Gary walked back to the lady and spoke briefly to her. He waved to the boy in the back seat and walked over to Matt.

“The car is broken down and their phone is flat. Pass my phone.” Gary looked at his phone before handing it to Matt. “Great, there’s plenty of signal and battery. Take this to the lady, be as cheery as you can. She’s having a bad day.”

​

Gary opened the door and handed Matt the phone. “Chat to the kids in the back.”

Matt walked over to the car. “Excuse me,” he said while holding out the phone.

“Thanks, kid,” she said. But she did not look at him. She dialled a number and waited. 

“That dude looks like a robot.” It was the boy in the back.

Matt followed his gaze over to Gary. Gary was leaning back on the tray of his ute, staring at the men in their car. His arms were folded, this with his dark glasses and leather jacket made for an uncompromising look.

“Nah, he looks like a dog looking at a cat.” Matt looked over and saw a girl in the backseat.

“Nah, a robot,” said the boy. He looked straight at Matt with a serious look and asked, “Is your name John Connor?”

The boy and girl laughed uproariously. The woman turned to look and huffed. “Nah, just a man. They’re all the same. Wankers.”

Matt looked at the woman, he wanted to say something about Gary. That Gary would help her, was helping her. That he would protect her from the other men no matter what risk to himself.

“She’s just pissed cause no one’s picking up.” It was the boy, who had sat back in his seat and resumed his sullen look.

“Those pricks will be drinking, boy, that’s why they’re not picking up. They’ll be pissed, useless.” She huffed again. “Men, yeah men.”

Gary heard the children’s laughter, followed by the anger from the woman. Time to make a move. He whistled and when Matt looked waved him over. “We need to get moving while the sun’s up, Matt. Time to give them a tow. I will move the ute over, please tell the lady.”

Matt walked over and explained they would tow the car back to town. The woman looked resigned to this and nodded without speaking. Gary parked his ute in front of the car, bent down and attached a tow rope. The car wobbled back and forth as Gary tightened the rope.

“Christ, no need to pull the bumper off,” muttered the woman.

Gary approached the window. “Ever been towed before?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, I will explain how it works.”

“Whatever, man. Just tow.”

Gary looked back at his car for a moment, thinking. He bent down and looked through to the back seat. “Have either of you two driven a car before?”

“Yep,” replied the boy immediately, “mostly stolen ones.”

The girl burst out laughing.

“That would be right,” said the woman in a deadpan voice.

“Driving under pressure, those are good skills,” said Gary, in a matching deadpan voice.

“Are you happy for the lad to drive?” asked Gary.

“Sure am,” she replied, “all yours smart arse.”

Gary smiled at the boy. “What’s your name?”

“Nikau,” he replied.

“I’m Gary, and you?” Gary asked, looking across at the girl.

“Kiana.”

“Nikau, Kiana, this is Matt.

“Nah, he’s John Connor now,” said Nikau as he opened the door.

Gary looked at Matt with a quizzical look.

Gary took Matt and Nikau to the back of the ute. “Okay, gentleman, this is how towing a car works. Once this tow rope pulls tight, it stays tight. The next time it goes loose is when we’re finished. This is important. To achieve this the front car needs to be the engine for both cars and the back car needs to be the brake for both cars. If you let the rope go loose and drive over it, it will snap and that is that. No more towing. So when it’s time for you to brake I will put my hand out like this and you slow us both down. When we start you put your foot gently on the brake so the tow rope stays taught and does not jerk. If I push down with my hand it means more brake, if I push up it means less brake. Got it?”

“Yep,” replied Nikau. Matt could see that he was paying attention and thinking things through. “Yep, got it,” repeated Nikau.

“The first step will be for me to pull the rope tight, you stay on the brake until I give you a hand signal.”

Nikau nodded. “Let’s go, bro. This is going to be choice.”

Gary slowly pulled forward, there was a slight bump as the tow rope pulled tight. “Good to see our friends have given up,” Gary said cheerfully. Gary waved at the other car as it did a u-turn and left. He gave a thumbs up to Nikau and slowly pulled away. The towing went remarkably smoothly, it helped of course that Gary drove very slowly. When they were trundling along at a steady pace Gary started to talk.

“Now, Matt, a very important thing happened back there. Those gentlemen behaving badly backed down. They were given the opportunity to engage, but they didn’t take it. This is a very important outcome. If they didn’t back down, right now they would be spouting all sorts of nonsense and talking themselves into a rematch. Once someone has either done something or said something, in public it’s very hard for them to go back on this. Making someone back down like that shuts them up and shuts down future hassle. Do you understand this?”

“I think so,” replied Matt.

“Think about it, we’ll cover this in training. It’s very important.”

As they approached the address that Nikau had given them Gary put his hand to his mouth. “You’ve got to be joking,” he said. “Matt, don’t get out of the car. I’m going to get the tow rope off and we leave immediately. Don’t get out no matter what happens.”

As the cars slowed down Gary unclipped his seat belt. The moment the cars stopped he got out and went straight to release the tow rope. Matt noticed he did not stop the engine. Matt looked at the house they had stopped outside. There was loud music playing and a couple of men came out to see who had arrived. They were, Matt could see, unmistakably gang members.

“Cheers guys, have a good day. Very well done, Nikau, don’t steal any more cars,” called Gary as he got back in the ute. Although Gary was smiling, his breathing was strong, his movements quick and focused. “That,” said Gary as they started to drive away, “is a family that’s not very fond of me.”

Once they were around the corner Gary turned to Matt. “So what’s this John Connor business?”