Chapter 05

A New Start

Mack is almost the last off the coach when it stops at the ACT Bus Terminus in the Jolimont Centre, Civic, Canberra around seven at night. He sees Helen waiting off to the side. They spot each other at the same moment and move toward each other. In a few minutes he’s showing the driver his ticket to be allowed to take the backpack and two bags of his from the stack of luggage. He puts the backpack on and they grab a bag each before going to where Helen parked her car in a side street.

With his gear loaded they get in the car and drive away. Helen says, “As you know from our last talk we’ve been looking for a bigger house in the area. We want to buy but we can’t find one we can afford to buy. What we get for your board does allow us to rent a bigger house. So we moved to a larger place in Queanbeyan just before Christmas. You’ll have your own room, so will Mary, James, and Diane. I know you weren’t looking forward to sharing a room and now you won’t be. Best of all, it’s just a few houses away from Karabar High School where the four of you’ll be going next year. It also has a pool. We’d love to buy it but we can’t get a loan or meet the payments. Oh, well.” She continues on with a lot of information about the part-time work she does and what her husband, John, does, plus how their three kids are doing in school and local sports.

They stop at the KFC outlet in Fyshwick so Mack can get some late dinner. He gets a large bucket of chicken because he’s sure the others will want a snack as well. He’s proven right, and they all enjoy the food.

They spend a couple of hours getting to know each other while they eat and he unpacks. When Mack is shown the room he detects some family tension until he smiles and nods before he starts to put his gear away. He’s the second eldest, a few months younger than Diane, and the eldest boy, several months older than James. But he has the smallest room. The house has a master bedroom and four other bedrooms. The four rooms are in sets of two with a shared bathroom toilet area between them. The girls on one side of the hall and the boys on the other. Diane and James have the two rooms that are a little bigger, so he and Mary are opposite each other in the smaller rooms. The difference isn’t much, but it’s big enough to trigger teenage social status concerns. Mack isn’t concerned; heck, his old bedroom was very close to the size of the master bedroom here, so the difference in size of the kids’ rooms is nothing to what he’s already given up. He’s wise enough to make no comment on room sizes beyond, “Well, it seems big enough for what’s needed.” It has a double bed with a single bunk, desk, computer desk, cupboard, and a chest of drawers. It doesn’t take long for Mack to put everything away because he hasn’t much gear. He left most of it behind for the boys so he has only a few changes of clothes at the moment. He says, “Most of my clothes weren’t suitable for here so I’ve left them behind for others. I’ll buy new clothes here. I figured forest and logging clothes are out of place here. I’ll need some help with picking the styles, etcetera.” He gets a few smiles from the girls and Helen.

His laptop goes on the computer desk, for the moment, as he’ll get a new desktop for there. He saw no point in bringing that either. But he did bring his external hard drive with all of his stored data, plus he has his games and programs disks.

The adults leave the kids to get to know each other while the kids sit and chat in Mack’s room. All of them are within a year or two of Mack’s age. Due to some quirk with when they started school James and Mack will be starting in year nine with Mary the year behind and Diane the year ahead. Helen chases the kids to bed at eleven o’clock.

First Day

The next day is a business day so John is off to work but Helen isn’t working today as she works just two full days a week and today isn’t a work day for her. With Mack’s need for clothes as well as some needed for her own kids a shopping trip is on today’s agenda for them all.

When they sit down to a light breakfast Mack asks, “Excuse me, John, Helen, but how do you wish me to address you all the time? I’m not going to be calling you Mum and Dad or Aunt and Uncle, since you’re neither of those to me. Also, Mister Thomas and Missus Thomas is too long and formal for everyday use in such close quarters.”

Helen replies, “Mack, I spoke to Irene a lot over the last half a year and she made it clear you’ve been living in the adult world and relating to adults as an equal since your father’s murder.” Her kids look up at that because they didn’t know he’d been murdered, just he’s dead. “She said your understanding of when to be formal and when not to be is very good. So why don’t you act the same as you did with the Hanson family you’ve been living with for the last several months. OK?”

“Thanks, Helen, that’ll make life easier for me. The only people I’ve called Mister or Missus all the time are my teachers.” John Thomas gives Mack a weak smile as he’s not happy about a teenager calling him by his first name, especially one living in his house, but Helen won the talk they had about it because she has to see a lot more of Mack and interact with him than John does.

Soon after John leaves for work the rest leave to go shopping. The car is loaded with clothes and things before they break for a late lunch. They follow this with a stop at the computer store for Mack to buy his new desktop computer. He gets the best hardware he can from a local shop that puts them together. He avoids the name brands due to them being over a year behind the latest hardware, they’re hard to get upgrades or parts for, and are expensive for what you actually can get. The store owner will deliver it later after putting it together and loading Zorin Linux, which is based on Ubuntu. Helen and the kids are surprised Mack has a credit card which he uses to pay for all of his purchases, even the computer.

When asked about the card Mack says, “My trustee gave me a debit card on one of the trust’s bank accounts so I can charge purchases to the trust account. I keep the receipts and list what they’re for when I send them to him. It makes it a lot easier to manage expenses and things.”

They get home in the mid-afternoon, and they soon have everything except the shoes and boots in for a wash before being put away.

Real Estate

After that’s done the kids are released to show Mack a bit more of the City of Queanbeyan. Helen gives them the cheque to pay the rent while they’re down the street. The others want to spend time in the video store so Mack leaves them there to go to the real estate agent because he can see their sign just a few doors down the road.

Mack walks in and hands the cheque for the rent to the receptionist. She gets the file and writes the receipt. When he takes the receipt he asks, “Excuse me, may I speak to a sales representative, please?” The young woman looks at him, shrugs her shoulders, and makes a call. A young man comes out, looks at Mack, shakes his head, smiles, and leads him through to the back office.

When they enter an area with four small offices the man heads to one on the right while pointing to another on the left as he says, “In there.” He raises his voice, “Joan, a hot client for you.”

Entering the indicated office Mack sees a young woman with a look on her face that says she’s not happy with the young man’s attitude. She smiles at Mack and says, “Good afternoon, Sir, how may I help you?”

He grins back, “In a lot more ways than that idiot can.” He hands over the rent receipt, “Are you familiar with this property?”

“Yes, I showed it to Mister and Missus Thomas.”

“Good. Do you know if that property or another that size or bigger is for sale in the area? If so, where, and how much?”

“That property is the only one of that size for sale I know of right now. There’s a story behind it and the asking price is three hundred thousand dollars. Which is more than Mister Thomas can borrow. The property is worth nearer three and a quarter but it’s in the middle of a divorce property settlement. She tries to sell it cheap to her friends and he keeps renting it out on long term leases. None of her friends can afford it as an investment property, so they’re at an impasse.”

“I see. Would I be right to assume he doesn’t mind the idea of a low sale, just not to her friends?” He gets a nod yes. “Is the title clear and ready for sale?” Another nod. “Please call him and ask if he’ll take two and a half from someone just arrived in town from the mountains!”

“You do realise the Thomas lease means they can’t be moved out until it ends?” He nods yes. She picks up the phone and makes the call. She speaks to the man for a few minutes, then she puts the phone on speaker.

The man on the phone says, “Two eighty and you can have it.”

Mack responds, “How about I give you two sixty as a cash transfer today and it’s mine?”

“Electronic bank payment today?”

“Yes.”

“Joan, you still got that paperwork to act for me?”

“Yes, Patrick, I do.”

“Write the contract, but rip it up if I don’t call back to confirm receipt of the money today!” He gives them the bank codes needed. She glances at Mack and completes a prepared form on her computer, prints it out, and gives it to Mack. He asks to use her computer. She moves aside.

He accesses the trust’s bank’s Internet site and logs on. The tribe has been paying Mack eighty thousand a month since June. That’s seven months ago, so he has plenty of cash in the account. He authorises the payment of the agreed amount to the bank account he has the details for. Joan is very surprised when she sees the size of the account and it accepts his authority to pay. Both note the payment receipt codes from the site. He logs out and closes the site. Mack smiles at Joan, hands her Mr Malcolm’s card, and asks, “Please send a copy of the papers to this man and he’ll sign them. I control the cash but he does all of the legal signing because I can’t.” She nods while she sends Mr Malcolm an email with a copy of the contract as Mack gives him a call on his phone.

A few minutes later the receptionist walks in to give Joan a fax copy of the contract signed by Mr Malcolm just as Patrick rings back to tell her he has the money. Joan signs and copies the papers, gives Mack a full set, then faxes a set to Mr Malcolm and the prior owner.

There’s a few minor things to sort out where Mack uses the debit card to pay some minor charges. Mr Malcolm will sort out the rest when he needs to. Just as Mack is about to leave Joan signs for him to wait while she puts her head in the other office and says, “Thanks, Barry! That kid just organised a sale for two sixty grand for me, and it’s already paid. The quickest and easiest sale I’ve ever had. Plus it’s on a property that’s been giving me a lot of trouble.” From outside the room Mack hears the young man groan. They both giggle about his attitude costing him a commission. She walks Mack to the door and thanks him for the business.

Mack walks out. Now he has the problem of how to tell Helen and John without getting screamed at or letting the kids know!

The kids join up again at the video store and head for home with a few DVDs to watch. They arrive while the man is still setting up Mack’s new computer; the 27 inch wide-screen monitor looks big and seems to overwhelm the small bedroom. But it looks nice on the computer desk as it’s almost as wide as the desk is. Mack leaves the kids there and goes looking for Helen because he has something important to discuss.

Fast Talking

He finds Helen weeding the herb garden in the backyard. He smiles, walks over, and asks, “Helen, got a moment for a serious talk?” She stops and gives him a close study before nodding yes. “You’ve got a bit of accounting training, haven’t you?” Another nod. “Good, please work out how long you need to pay for a loan at a rate you can afford of two hundred and sixty-five thousand at five percent per annum compound interest.” That gets her interest and she gives him a very hard stare. He turns and walks away after giving her a weak smile.

A little later she’s on the phone talking to John, then checking their overall financial position. Followed by calls to John, the bank, and a few other places she needs or wants to contact about her finances.

The kids are still busy playing with Mack’s new computer, so it’s easy to leave them there and go talk in the kitchen. Helen says, “Loans are at nine to ten percent at the moment and I can’t find anyone who loans at five percent. The house was sold today! What’s going on?”

“I heard the owners were looking to sell and I didn’t like the idea of having to move again in a year. So I bought the house through my trust company. I don’t really want it so I figure to carry the loan and sell it to you on terms you can afford. Since it’s through the trust I have to show a rate that won’t cause issues with the courts later, but I can go real low. A lot of other legal hassles to do with loans can be avoided too. So how much can you afford to repay and over how long? Also, I’d rather not have anyone else know I’m financing the loan. Here’s the details of Mister Malcolm, my trustee and solicitor. He’ll handle everything on my side of the matter.” He hands over Mr Malcolm’s business card.

She’s stunned, but she accepts the card, “How can you do this?”

“Mum sold the farm to stop some very not nice people from using the courts to take control of it as trustees. We did a similar thing there. We carry the loan and they pay me. The first half year’s payments gave me enough to do this. It’s simple when you look at it in that light. By my owning the property when we do the sale and loan contract it makes it very easy.” She slowly shakes her head as she goes to her computer. A little later she’s sending Mr Malcolm an email with the details for the contract so she can have all of the papers on hand when John gets home.

After dinner that night Helen tells John how Mack put her in touch with an investment group that’ll finance them to buy the house at a rate they can afford, which is about the same as the rent they pay. He goes over the figures and he signs the papers she has from Mr Malcolm. She sees no point in telling John the full details.

Mack soon settles in with the family and the kids see about getting to know the kids in this area, one that’s new to them all. The New Year soon comes and is celebrated by everyone.

Welfare Work

A few days into the new year Mack feels it’s time he got started on some of the work Ma and Marker Hanson want him to do. So he gets out the list of names and addresses he has. Most are within a kilometre of where he now lives so they’re easy walks for him. He decides to start with the three nearest because they’re the ones they’re most worried about and are the easiest to reach. If his cousins hadn’t moved he’d have needed a taxi.

They’re a few streets away near a park on the other side of the new school he’ll be going to. A few minutes easy walk later he’s crossing a park large enough to have a soccer field, a kid’s playground, and public toilets. Some teens are down at the other end playing a sort of half field game of soccer. He enters the cul-de-sac street the three families he’s seeing are listed as living in. These are the last known addresses but their phones are disconnected so he’s not sure they still live there.

He walks up to the first house and knocks on the door. An early teen Aboriginal girl answers the door, and he asks, “Excuse me, does Missus Browning still live here?” The girl nods yes, “May I speak with her?”

The girl gives him a wary look, “Just a moment and I’ll ask.” She leaves the door open when she turns and walks away. He hears her say, “Ma, there’s a boy at the door that wants to talk to you.” There’s a low murmur. The girl comes back and opens the screen door for him, “She’s in the bedroom on the left.”

Mack walks through a lounge with three kids watching cartoons and on into the bedroom. The woman is in bed with a cast on both her left arm and left leg. He walks up and holds out his hand, “Morning, Missus Browning, I’m Mack Dean. I just moved into the area. Ma Hanson asked me to call in and check on how you’re doing.” While they shake hands her eyes go wide with surprise at the mention of Ma Hanson.

“I’m not too well, Mister McDean. My last boyfriend beat me up bad, which’s why he’s now my ex. The police expect him to spend some time inside for doing this. I’ve been laid up for five weeks and the doc expects me to stay here for another four weeks. He calls in twice a week since I can’t go to the surgery and there’s no room at the hospital.”

“Mack is my first name and the family name is Dean, not one name. I guess the phone is off because you can’t pay it while in the bed! How are the other accounts?”

She frowns while she nods yes about the phone, “The utilities and rent come direct from my pension, so does some money for food. The local store delivers the food each week so the kids can eat. But nothing else can be paid until I can get out. Melody wants to get the money from the bank, but it’s not safe for a girl her age to do that.”

“Right, I’ll sort something out. In the meantime, you best speak to Ma Hanson.” He pulls out his mobile phone and hits the speed dial for the farm. The phone is ringing when he passes it over to her. In a moment she’s talking to Ma Hanson and her eyes go wide while she listens to what Ma has to say about Mack and his role within the tribe’s structure.

A little later she hands the phone back. “Ma says you’re authorised by the Tribal Council to look after people and you’ve some authorities for me to sign. Where do I sign?” Mack smiles as he pulls a folder out of his bag. He puts names in four forms while Melody runs next door to get two of the neighbours to act as witnesses. He puts the filled in forms on a book for Mrs Browning to sign to give him a limited authority for her three children and herself. She signs them and the two neighbours sign them as witnesses. Mack starts filling in forms for the neighbours while she tells them about his position in the tribe. A few minutes later he has forms for the three tribal families in this small street. He also has a small pile of bills from all three families that need to be paid.

One neighbour, Mrs Grace, is a widow like Mrs Browning while the third, Mrs Hall, has a drunkard for a husband. He didn’t used to be a drunk. At the moment they all have money issues of some sort.

Mack looks at the ladies and says, “Missus Grace, will you please stay with Missus Browning while I get a taxi to take the rest of us down the street to pay these bills and to do some shopping. I think we can get all of the kids’ back to school stuff in one major shop today if we go now.” The women talk for a few minutes and agree, so Mack calls for a taxi to carry the ten of them: Mack, Mrs Hall, and eight young children.

Mrs Grace has money problems due to having done full-time work for eight months before the business closed down. Due to the work her benefits got cut back a lot and it’s taking time to get things sorted out for full payments, so she had to stop some expenses like the phone bill.

The taxi arrives and takes them down to the main shopping area of Queanbeyan. They could have walked but it would have taken a lot more time. The first stop is the bank where the tribe does all its business. Mack opens accounts for each of the women and kids by transferring ten dollars into each one as an opening balance so he can request debit cards for them. They leave with two signature forms for Mrs Browning and Mrs Grace. This is followed by a visit to ’Centrelink,’ the government agency that handles all of the welfare payments. They take a bit of time while they sort out the paperwork to have each of the children receive their Youth Allowance paid direct into their bank accounts. All of the adults have the rent paid direct from their benefits and they change the payments of the balance to go to the new bank accounts. He also sorts out the issue with Mrs Grace’s payments. He gets some extra money for Mrs Browning by lodging all of the medical certificates she hasn’t been able to lodge yet. With that sorted out they head to the Telstra office to sort out the phone services for the three families.

The day has gone well, until now. The Telstra office is no longer an office of the telecommunications giant but only an agency for them. He uses a direct line to talk to a Telstra call centre. In half an hour he has the information he needs to pay the phones up to date, but they’re saying it’s two to seven days to get the phones connected. Mack knows this is just bureaucratic bullshit because the work takes only a few minutes by the techs in the exchange. The tech at Wood Valley is the father of a friend and they’ve discussed this issue in the past as the problem is head office paperwork shufflers delaying things. Mack gives up on them to go to the counter to pay the bills from the tribe account he has a debit card for, issued to him to pay things like this. While he waits at the counter he gets out his mobile phone to ring the service provider he uses. After a few words with them to describe what he wants and where he wants it, plus an account code from him, they promise to have the phones live within twenty-four hours. The deal includes twelve basic cell phones and three ADSL modem / routers for the Internet access, all of the gear will be shipped today. This will allow the families to keep in touch.

Seeing the store manager standing nearby Mack says, “Excuse me, Ma’am, I don’t know what influence you have with the Telstra HQ, but can you please let them know their bullshit system just cost them a lot of clients.” She frowns at him. “I’m the welfare coordinator for a tribal company. Three of the tribe’s families had phones cut due to payment issues. I’ve just paid the accounts. When I tried to get them going again I was told it will take days to organise. I know the tech side takes only a couple of minutes, so it’s HQ paperwork crap.” She grins as she knows this too and she likes the way he says what he thinks. “I’ve organised with a competitor to have the phones up within twenty-four hours. The service has been expanded to include twelve cell phones and three ADSL services. Future new accounts for the tribe will be through those people so we can organise a group discount. I’ll also be transferring over people as soon as I can. Now I know that’ll mean a few hundred land-line and ADSL services, over a thousand cell phone services, and a few business services for the tribal companies before we’re done. I’m sure that’s a lot of revenue, all up. I thought you may like to tell them that you lost all that income due to their bullshit paperwork and delays, and we’ll be doing our best to get our friends to shift as well. Maybe you can get them to change their ways so they don’t lose too many of the local clients and see you close down through a lack of business.” The woman loses her smile when she sees where this could lead. She nods her understanding and heads to her office while he leads the rest out to the street. Mrs Hall is smiling at how well Mack handled the issue.