Chapter 5: Two Phone Calls

Life Goes On

August – October, 1980

My life was pretty busy; work, music, sailing, and re-building my friendships with Allison, Mary Beth, Michelle and Garry. Music-wise, we had to get our sets worked out for the Hordern Pavilion gig supporting AC/DC. Normally, it would have been nothing all that special, we’d just do two of our usual rock / blues sets, but with the change in the group line-up, we had to modify arrangements to fit Fiona into the line-up.

The gigs went fairly well, I thought; it was also great to see the guys from AC/DC again and to hear just how well Brian Johnston had worked out with the group. His performances were absolutely fantastic; and he was a worthy replacement for Bon Scott. He wasn’t a second Bon, he was his own performer, but he was brilliant. I knew I had made the right decision turning down the offer of being their new lead singer; there was no way I could have given the sort of performance Brian did.

Mary Haggerty and her boyfriend, Brett Jacobs enjoyed the concert; she introduced Brett to me before we started our sets, he struck me as a nice, typical country guy. I could see him in thirty years’ time, judging the wool clip competition at some local country show, wearing a tweed jacket with his best R.M. Williams moleskins, and well on his way to being the next National Party member for the local electorate. Good, solid, safe. Michelle came along too, she was happy to see us all again, and appreciated being able to actually see the show from the VIP area.

I enjoyed playing; despite it not being quite the same, without Megan singing with me, but having Allison sing with me on some of the songs, and Fiona on some others was almost as enjoyable. The music was helping me to get over my losses.

At the start of the final performance, Murph and Mary Beth announced their engagement to everyone; I pretended that it came as a huge surprise to me; we all congratulated them. Speaking to them on the weekend, they hadn’t set an actual date for the wedding; Mary Beth wanted to talk with Lori, to see when she would be able to be back, since she would be Mary Beth’s bridesmaid. They were planning on a simple civil ceremony and a small reception, most likely at the Royal Motor Yacht Club in Newport.

As far as sailing went, we continued to do well; most races we were in the top three across the line; Ian was turning into a good member of the team. I enjoyed the camaraderie, Don treated me as his tactician; in some of the longer races I would relieve him on the tiller, which was a new experience for me. I still needed to find time to work out regularly; not being at the university meant I had lost the access to the sports centre and the gym there.

Counselling was going well, Margaret suggested that we cut our sessions back to every second week. I was maintaining my journal, the few minutes spent each evening reviewing the day was valuable. I had got into the habit of reviewing my journal every Sunday evening, sitting up in bed and reading what I had done in the preceding week. Sometimes I would read back further, just to remind myself of how I had screwed up in the past, and to make sure that I wasn’t falling back into old habits. Having my regular meal ‘dates’ with Allison, Mary Beth and Michelle was making a big difference.

I was enjoying my job for the State, we were making progress on the state-wide network installation. Late in September there was an upgrade of the mainframe operating system required; again Steve and I had to make sure that this didn’t introduce any new problems into the DCP software. This would mean working back several nights, testing as much as I could once the main frame had been booted up with the new version of its operating system. Again, I worked with Frank, just as before.

He seemed particularly quiet this time, so I asked him how things were going on the home front. I recalled him telling me how his wife had left him to travel around the country with a male friend.

“Things aren’t all that good, Mate,” he said. “In fact, I got some pretty bad news last week. You know I told you how my wife had left me, and was traveling around the country to ‘find herself’, as she expressed it?”

I nodded my head.

“Well, I had a call last Wednesday night from the Queensland Police; she had been killed in a car accident up near Townsville, apparently a semi had drifted across to the wrong side of the road, completely cleaned their car up. Killed instantly, the police said.”

“Oh, Mate, I’m so sorry to hear that. Can I do anything to help?” I said.

“No, but thanks. I spoke to my priest on Sunday, he said that what happened to her was God’s retribution for her sin of adultery, and that all of our actions have consequences.”

Fucking Catholics, with their fixation on sin and punishment. That’s not what he needed to hear from a priest at the moment.

“Well, I’m not a theological expert, but I don’t think God’s like that; not into singling out individuals for divine retribution. What happened to her was just terribly bad luck; nothing to do with any ‘sin’ that she might have committed. I guess you’re pretty much cut up over it though?”

“Yeah; I was angry at her for leaving me, but I never wanted that to happen to her, not in a million years. I know it probably sounds crazy, but even despite what she did to me, the cheating, all that, I still love her; I miss her so much. You’ve gone through something similar, losing someone you love; how did you cope with it?”

“Yeah, nothing quite as dramatic as that. I didn’t cope well at all, not initially, I drank too much on occasions, started to lash out, blame people trying to help me. I don’t have any good answers; all I can suggest is to stay close to your friends; the people who love you and can support you emotionally. Don’t cut people off. And I know this is probably the furthest thing from your mind at the moment, but eventually you’ll find someone else to fill that void in your life. Don’t block that out in your mind; the right person will appear, probably when you least expect it.”

“I suppose you’re right. I mean, it’s hardest on the kids, they don’t understand why their mummy can’t come home. I guess at some stage, I’ll need to find someone prepared to be a mother to them, but I just can’t contemplate that at the moment.”

“Don’t push things, don’t rush it. Things will happen in their own time.”

We finished the testing; there were no issues with the DCP system and associated software caused by the new main frame operating system. I signed off my part of the testing documentation, and went home for a late dinner. Then next day, I had a quiet chat with Karen.

“Hey Karen, I guess you heard about Frank’s wife?” I asked her.

“Yeah, Jim mentioned that to me yesterday morning. That really sucks, first she leaves him for some other bloke – and they’ve got a couple of little kids, and then she’s killed in a car accident. Life’s not fair to some people; why Frank, he’s such a nice guy.”

“Maybe you could ask him out for lunch one day?” I suggested. “He’s a nice Catholic boy, I’m sure your father would have no objections...”

“Oh, I’m so sorry about how he reacted when he heard about you,” she said. “I still haven’t forgiven him for that. But Frank ... maybe I’ll give him a month or two, and see ... He is a nice guy.”

I walked away, smiling, my job as matchmaker done.

An Offer from the University

October 14th, 1980

I hung up the phone; the update from Dave in the Telecom data install branch wasn’t the news that I was hoping for. At least their delays wouldn’t impact the whole installation up in the Dubbo area; the main line that was going into the office up there would still go ahead, but there would be delays in getting some of the secondary links installed into some of the other agency offices. I picked up my notes, and went over to Steve’s desk to give him an update. It couldn’t be helped; we were reliant on Telecom installing the data lines we needed; despite us giving them the overall regional installation plan some six months ago; showing where we intended to run lines; the speeds we would need and the timeframe for installation, every so often they still had problems with insufficient cable capacity for some of the links.

“I guess there’s no way we can pull some strings to get the installation speeded up?” he asked me.

“Unless you have any special favours outstanding,” I said, “I’ve used just about all of my contacts and store of goodwill with Telecom already. I’ll update the main project plan on the board; I don’t think this will have a major delay on things, we’re still going to be right for the system rollout for January.”

“Fair enough; I’ll go and give Jim a heads up,” he said.

I had been able to make some improvements to how the group worked; the organizational skills that I had picked up from Lori and Mary Beth were useful. One of the first tasks I did was to properly organize all of our equipment documentation, including the Telecom TS-72 and TS-76 forms that were needed to attach to the application for new data services; each item of equipment that we would attach to the data line needed a specific approval form. There were different forms for various data line speeds, single or multipoint, plus forms for the network control processors, multiplexors, and so on. I had one four draw filing cabinet half filled with copies of these forms. I also started to use a big project Gantt chart to document the overall project plan, and to track progress as various tasks were completed. We were about halfway through a major network roll-out to all of the state government’s regional offices throughout the state; this was needed to support the introduction of a new on-line finance system that all departments and agencies would be using from the start of the next fiscal year.

I had just sat back at my desk when the phone rang; I picked up the receiver, half-hoping it was Dave calling me to say he had been mistaken about the delays with the installation of our lines.

“Will Morris, Network Development,” I said.

“Will! Murray Allen here, how’s life in the workforce treating you?” the voice said.

Professor Allen: I hadn’t spoken to him for several months, not since the graduation ceremony where I had received my degree.

“Professor, great to hear from you. Work’s going well, apart from dealing with Telecom and their continual delays.”

“Look, I’ll get straight to the point; are you free for a lunch today? I’ve got a proposal that I’d like to run past you; what say we meet up at the Cricketers Club in Barrack Street? 12 noon? Are you able to get off for two hours?”

“Yeah, I could do that, I’ll just check with my boss, but it shouldn’t be a problem; they owe me some personal time. If I can’t make it, I’ll call back right away.”

I stuck my head back in Steve’s office, and asked if I could take a slightly longer lunchtime, as I had a personal meeting that I needed to attend.

“Sure, you’ve been putting in some long hours this week; if it stretches out most of the afternoon, that’s not a worry. There’s no big personal issues, I hope?”

“No, just catching up with some old friends from Uni.”

Steve was good like that; in fact all of the people were; when Lori had left me to go overseas, I mentioned to Steve what had happened, and he said if I needed any time off I could take whatever was needed, or just needed someone to talk to, he would be there to listen.

I spent the rest of the morning updating the main project plan on our big whiteboard; at least the network installation into the Western Region Land’s office would not be affected; so we could still complete the installation of the computer terminals there by the end of the month. That was where the bulk of the financial transactions from that area came from; all the Crown Land lease payments for Western Lands leases. The Irrigation Commission office installation would be delayed, but that wasn’t so critical to the overall project.

At 11:30, I told Steve I was heading out to lunch; and I would be back around two-thirty. The walk to the Circular Quay station only took a few minutes; I didn’t have to wait long for a train to Wynyard; and from there it was a short walk to where Professor Allen had told me lunch would be held. I found where he was sitting in the dining room; at the table were several others; Claude Sammut, David Carrington, Michelle Jones, Ken Robinson and Professor Dunworth. I was sort of surprised to see all of them there, particularly Michelle.

“Will, great to see you, glad you could make it,” Professor Allen said.

“I’m sure you remember all of these other people, it hasn’t been all that long since you left us. Take a seat; tell me, what’s it like working out in the ‘real world’, working for the State?” he asked me.

“It’s interesting; I like the guys I’m working with; I’ve learned a lot about how real world things can impact a project, things beyond your direct control. What I’m doing is quite different from what I expected I would be doing when I first started the course almost five years ago. A lot of what I do on a day to day basis is more administrative or project orientated; there’s very little actual programming or system design work involved.”

“Well, we might be able to do something about that,” he said. “But first of all, would you be interested in returning to the University as a full time student, but involved in a big research project and working towards your PhD?”

I was amazed, this was something that I had always wanted.

“Yes, of course; assuming the project and subject matter would be something that I know about, and would be interested in.”

“I think this will be right up your alley; and the experience you’ve gained working this year will be of benefit,” he said. “First, some background; I assume you’ve heard of the Australian Universities Vice-Chancellor’s Committee?”

I nodded my head.

“Every university in the country is involved in that, and they work on high level policies and projects that impact the overall university sector in the country. They were very interested in our connection to Arpanet, the one that Doctor Thomas worked on several years ago; and back in his last year with us, he came up with a proposal for connecting all of the Australian Universities in a similar network, which would eventually link into Arpanet. He called it “AARNET”, the Australian Academic Research Network; and it’s taken quite a while to get the green light from the committee to go ahead with it. I was hoping that we would have got approval and funding for the project this year, and I would have offered this to you starting in January, but...

“Anyway, the project will involve connecting a number of universities into this network; plus designing the network interface unit; replacing the role of the IMP that Arpanet uses. So, it’s not a traditional PhD thesis project, but one that should be right up your alley. Your thesis supervisor will be Doctor Dunworth here, but I’m hoping you can work in conjunction with Alonzo Thomas, over at Stanford University. Still interested?”

“Of course, it does sound pretty exciting and interesting,” I said.

“There’s a second part to this offer,” he continued. “As you are probably aware, we have lost two of our lecturers; Phil McCrea left at the beginning of this year, and Paul Baker left halfway through this year. We are seeing a big increase in enrolments for our computer science courses; not just Electrical Engineering students, but those taking a Science degree and majoring in Computer Science. We’ve begun a major review of our overall curriculum; Ken Robinson has been leading that project, and we will start by rolling out some new first year subjects. What I want to do is have a dedicated ‘first year teaching unit’; with academic staff concentrating on teaching the new subjects. That’s why David and Claude are here; they will be two of the three teaching staff in that unit. I’d like you to be the third; so I’m offering you a position of ‘Teaching Fellow’ within the Computer Science Department.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, it was like all of my dreams coming true. I looked at Michelle, she had what could only be described as a ‘shit eating grin’ on her face. Of course, she must have known that this was in the wind, but she had said nothing to me at our regular lunches, not even a hint of a suggestion.

“I ... I don’t know what to say,” I said.

“I think ‘Yes, thank you, I’ll take it’ would be appropriate,” Michelle said, smirking at me.

“Yes, thank you, I’ll take it,” I said, smirking back at her.

“Great, I was hoping you’d say that,” Murray said. “Now, the reason why Michelle is here is that she’s the administrative assistant for the first year unit; she will keep you, Claude and David on the straight and narrow; manage all of the paperwork, and stuff like that. The only thing we need to determine is when you will be able to start with us. Even though the AARNet project won’t be kicking off until February next year, there’s lots of work you three will need to do to get next year’s computer science classes organized. Now, I’ve already spoken to the head of the State’s Information Technology Services Office; John Martin is an old colleague of mine, and I told him earlier that I would be poaching one of his up and coming network engineers.”

“What was his reaction? I would doubt he would know me by name; I’m just one of maybe a hundred people in the organization,” I said.

“Don’t undersell yourself; he knows you by name and reputation, apparently you’ve made a big impact on how they do things in the network operations area. He wasn’t all that happy about me stealing you away from him, but he understood, and by the time you return to work, all of your managers should know. Now, with that out of the way, how about we get some lunch?”

I was so excited that I really didn’t have much of an appetite; I just got a chicken salad for myself. Claude and David welcomed me into their team, they said as soon as I started, we would get into reviewing all the curricula for the first year subjects. Michelle asked me when I might be able to call in to see her, to get all of the paperwork sorted out; I said I could get there tomorrow sometime; I made a note of her phone number and told her I would call her when I got back and made arrangements with my boss.

The remainder of the lunch was quite pleasant; the others asked how my music was going; at least no one asked me about Lori. I assumed Michelle had probably filled them on what not to ask me about or bring up. When we had finished eating; I thanked Professor Allen for the offers, and I told him I would call later today to give him a confirmed starting date, and I told Michelle I would tell her when I could come over to complete the paperwork. I was still in a state of disbelief as I headed back to the office; after what had been a pretty shitty twelve months, it was as if things were starting to fall back into place for me. The AARNet project would be really interesting; I would have to look through Alonzo’s initial proposal to see what the scope of the project would be. Designing a replacement for the IMP would be challenging, but a very interesting part of the project.

When I got back to work, Jim and Steve were waiting for me.

“Congratulations on the job offer, Will,” Jim said to me. “We’re going to hate to lose you, but from what I understand, you’re going to work on a pretty revolutionary project, and take the first step to becoming Professor Morris.”

He shook my hand, and clapped me on the shoulder.

“Um, well, thanks for that ... I will miss working here with you guys, it’s been great, I’ve learned so much from you all.”

“You’ve taught us stuff too; that project management technique; there’s nothing like coming in and at a glance seeing how everything is going,” Jim said. “I think John will be down a bit later this afternoon to talk with you personally; but I know he’ll echo what Steve and I have said. When do they want you to start at the university?”

“I got the impression they would like me to start as soon as possible; but I said I would have to talk with you here, and see what needs doing to hand over my projects, so I don’t leave you in the lurch.”

“There’s no problems with that,” Steve said. “You’ve done a great job of keeping me up to speed on things; I’ll just get you to brief a guy who’s transferring from the installation team; I think you know him from university, Evan Stansbury. He will take over the network installation stuff you’ve been managing.”

“So, once you’ve done that, you can leave and take up the new job anytime you want,” Jim continued. “Maybe start the new job on Monday; so you would finish out a full pay period here; if you do that it makes things easier for Personnel.”

We discussed a few more things about me leaving; then I returned to my desk, called Professor Allen to tell him I would be able to start first thing on Monday, which made him quite happy, then I called Michelle to tell her that date, and to arrange to see her tomorrow afternoon.

“The first year unit has taken over that area where Alonzo had his office and meeting room,” she said. “I can even show you your new office. So, tomorrow at eleven? That’s a date, Will.”

Later that afternoon, Evan came over to my desk for me to brief him on my part of the project. I gave him my list of contacts at Telecom; told him what the status of each line’s was, showed him how I had organized all of the data line application forms, and other bits and pieces. Just as we had finished, the Director, John Martin, came to see me.

“Will, I hear my old colleague Murray Allen is stealing you away from us,” he said. “Well, now he owes me a favour or two; I said I wouldn’t stand in your way. That’s a great opportunity you’ve got; you’ve been a huge asset to us in the time you’ve been here, and thank you for all the work you’ve done.”

I thanked him for his kind words, and told him how much I enjoyed working for the team. I decided I should start to go through all of the things I had in my desk and filing cabinets; work out what I would take with me, and what needed to stay. If I took home a box of personal stuff each day, then by the end of the week, I wouldn’t have a huge amount of stuff to take with me. I had started to put my collection of photos from my desk when Robyn, from the personnel department came around with some forms for me to sign.

“These are the standard resignation forms, Will,” she said. “You need to sign here, and here, and initial this part.”

She indicated the correct areas on the forms, which I dutifully signed.

“That’s all the paperwork done,” she said. “Friday will be your last day; there will be a cheque with your final monies sent to your home address probably Tuesday or Wednesday. You can give my name and number to the personnel people at UNSW, and I’ll make sure they get sent the details of your service and leave; all that carries over from the State to the Uni. They use the same state superannuation scheme for your retirement, all of your existing contributions will transfer, so there’s nothing for you to do there.”

I thanked her for her assistance, and continued to pack the box of photos and other items. Knockoff time came; and I caught the train back home. Everyone was excited for me; wanting to know when they would have to call me ‘Doctor’ or “Professor”, and generally stirring the shit out of me.

“By the way, Will, Cathy Parsons called for you, just before you got home. She asked if you could call her this evening; I’ve jotted her number down on the notepad,” Garry said.

I wondered what she wanted; anyway, at least I could tell her my news. Before dinner, I called my parents to let them know what had transpired; they were both pleased for me; my father told me that his old professor, Rex Vowels had tried to get him to go back to do his PhD and get into lecturing; but he had chosen to stay with the PMG.

Cathy’s News

October 14th, 1980

After dinner, I called Cathy’s number, she answered the phone and I identified myself.

“Oh, Will, thanks for calling back; it’s great to hear your voice. I’ll get right to the point ... Martin and I are getting married, the end of next month at St. Johns in Mona Vale.”

“Congratulations, that’s really good news,” I said. “I’m happy for you both, I truly am.”

“That’s not all ... I want to ask you a favour; do you think you would play the organ at the service for us? And if your band isn’t busy that day; it’s November the twenty-ninth, the Saturday, could I get you to play at the reception? We having it at the Royal Motor Yacht Club, in Newport.”

“I’d be honoured to play at the service, Cathy,” I said. “I’ll check with the guys, but we should be fine that afternoon. I’ll get back to you and confirm that, probably tomorrow, but in the meanwhile, try to come up with a list of what you want played at the service, and also at the reception. There’s stuff that we’ve played at other receptions, but if you want the traditional bridal waltz, what songs would you like for that, and are there any others you would want.”

“Sure, I’ll put together a list, maybe I can fax it to your work?”

“You can do that, but I’m only going to be there until the end of the week.”

I then told her about the University offer; she told me that was wonderful, it was what I had always hoped to do.

“Just one other thing about my wedding; when I tell you it if you want to reconsider, I’ll understand,” she said. “Lori will be there, I’m having her as my principal bridesmaid. I know when she left to go overseas, you two didn’t part on the best of terms, so...”

That was the understatement of the year, ‘didn’t part of the best of terms’. Of all the cock-ups I had made in my life; that was the one that I regretted the most. Still, I wasn’t going to spoil Cathy’s big day because I had been a complete dickhead.

“No, that’s not going to change my decision. I know I did the wrong things when Lori left, I’ve come to terms with that, and I’m prepared to apologise for what I said to her. If she still has a problem with me, well, there’s not much I can do about that. And if she wants to make a scene, that will be her decision, but I won’t do anything to spoil your special day.”

“Thank you, Will; having you there playing means a real lot to me. Now, you’re paying for this call, and it’s a long distance one ... I don’t want to waste all of your phone money. I’ll send that fax to you tomorrow, okay? And congratulations on the new job, and the PhD project.”

I thanked her, and told her I’d call her once I’d spoken to the other guys. When she hung up, I called Paul and Phil’s place, and told them both bits of news. They wanted to know if I would still be staying in Banksia Lodge, because the garage here had the studio room on the upper level, and if I was moving, we would have to find somewhere else to practice and keep our equipment. I told them I had no plans to move. I then told them about Cathy’s wedding; they said it would be great to play there. That wasn’t a scheduled night at the Civic Club, so we would be able to play.

“I’ve got an idea of something special we can play for her, too,” Phil said. “Do you know Nick Lowe’s ‘I knew the bride when she used to rock and roll’? What if we slipped that in at some stage?”

“Sounds good; what if we go through some stuff Saturday; Cathy will be faxing me a list of what stuff she would like us to play,” I said.

Once I got the list from Cathy, we started work on the set lists that we would play. Since Lori was going to be in the country at the end of November for Cathy’s wedding, Mary Beth and Murph scheduled their wedding for the Saturday following that wedding. It was going to be a busy few weeks; I called Reverend Collins at St John’s to find a time that would be convenient for me to practice Cathy’s songs on the organ there.

Starting Back at University

October 1980

Just on eleven of the day after I had been offered the University job, I walked from the office across Circular Quay to the bus stops at Alfred Street, and got on the waiting 394 bus which would take me past the University. I got off at the Anzac Parade stop, and walked up the main campus to the Electrical Engineering Building. Taking an elevator to the third floor, I headed to the far end, and into the old computer centre where Michelle said the office would be. She was sitting at her desk in the open area of the set of rooms; I noticed a sign on the door saying ‘First Year Computer Science Unit’.

“Hey, Will, come with me into what will be your office,” Michelle said, leading me towards the corner office. It was still furnished much the same as when Alonzo occupied it; a large bookcase and cabinet against one wall, a large desk in front of that; a coffee table and three chairs in the centre of the room, towards the windows. All of the other contents had been removed; it was a blank canvas ready for me to take over.

“Did you want me to get some different furniture?” she asked me. “Will you want anything else in here?”

“No, well, maybe a small desk that can go against the wall there,” I said, pointing to the wall next to the main desk, against the side window. “I will need something for a computer terminal connected to the systems I’ll be working on. I guess there’s no problems with getting stuff put up on the walls? I have some photos and other stuff I’ll bring in on Monday, if that’s alright.”