Chapter 49

Nobody asked.

The pair had money for food and a ute. They moved into a garage flat and bought both ... the flat and the garage. People took them to be mother and daughter.

The name was unusual ... Flintkote ... Tyche Selene was 4 but very smart. Mom was 22 and American. Surprise Me Flintkote. Tyche was Aussie born and had the accent ... unless she was having you on ... then she was posh.

The garage was on Beach Road in the flight path of the Whangārei airport down at Onerahi the seaside suburb of Whangārei. Air traffic being what it was ... the house and garage was less than ideal. The house was slated for demolishing when an International Conglomerate bought it. Investment it was said. The Flintkotes are ‘caretakers’.

Surprise was said to be a recent war widow ... Vietnam. In this, the year of our Lord, 1972, nobody asked. Tyche was too young for school and the widow was making ends meet ... or so she said.

“Cash,” she said. “Strictly cash.” And so it was. Having an income made her a target for the layabouts. Having a child ... not so much. And the child was mouthy. Couple of weeks and the layabouts stopped pestering the widow.

“She’s attractive,” they said. “But that kid.”

They had one thing that set them apart; tools. Special tools. Planers and table saws, woodworking and air tools. And they were building a BOAT! The woman seemed to know what she was doing.

“Skilled ... she’s meticulous. Like a cabinet maker. A craftsman ... and a teacher.

“That kid ... she works right alongside her mother. And they wear masks that filter out the dust. Never heard the like. The woman doesn’t smoke ... bad for the health, she says.”

“‘nother thing. That is the cleanest woodshop. All their power tools are connected to a big vacuum.”

There was one frequent visitor ... Bruce Farr. He stopped by ... just to watch, he says.

“One of my designs,” he said, when asked. And that was all he said ... all the way to the bottom of the pint.

Of a Saturday, Surprise celebrated ... she bought two cans of good beer. “We turned the hull today. Tomorrow we start the second one. Now we know what we’re doing we’ll get a regular production line going.”

She took the beer home.

A young voice was heard to exclaim, “EWW!”

“Good!” said Surprise, “I get ‘rm both.”

Tyche said, “There goes the day.” She sighed.

When the first Farr 3.7 meter was finished, Surprise built a trailer and took the dinghy to the boat ramp. About a city block away.

Soon, there was an audience. The boat was fast and Surprise was a surprise. The form fitting half wet suit couldn’t hide the fact that she was excellently constructed.

A pretentious car drove up. The chauffeur dismounted and opened the back door. The passenger wasn’t portly but he wasn’t thin either.