The Thousand Smiles of Nicholas Goring Read Online Free Page B

– but then Robin lived in England, so it wasn't as if he needed it all year round.
    "You right, Dave?" asked Rosie when she reached them.
    "Yeah, thanks. This is Robin." He nudged Robin with an elbow, prompting him to hand over his ID. "He's legal."
    Rosie considered the card for a long moment, and then lifted her chin in acknowledgement as she handed it back. "What'll it be, Dave?"
    "Four Cascades, thanks, mate."
    The bloke sitting near them on a barstool had been gazing sideways at Dave this whole time. Dave offered him a brief nod, wondering if the guy was simply curious about the ocker who'd married the son of an English earl. Maybe that wasn't it, though, as eventually the guy asked, "New client, Mr Taylor?"
    Dave's brow rose in surprise, as he was pretty sure they'd never met before – but he readily answered, "No, Robin's family. Not a business trip, this time."
    Rosie came back with the beers, so Dave left it at that. He paid, exchanged polite nods all round, then he and Robin took the beers back to their table and settled in.
    After they'd all taken their first appreciative mouthful, Charlie asked Robin, "You're here for the winter?"
    "Yes, it's our summer holidays back home. The ‘long vacation'. Dad said he'd pay for me to come here, if I got three A levels at grade A. And I did." Robin added with cheeky pride, "Actually, I got four!"
    "Good for you," said Charlie, apparently understanding more about what that meant than Dave did.
    "I had, like, a conditional offer from Oxford, so of course I was always gonna totally blitz it … Dad didn't need to bribe me," he added with a beaming grin, "but I wasn't complaining!"
    "It wasn't bribery," Nicholas said, correcting him. "It was a reward."
    "Whatever. It meant I got to come see you – at last …"
    The two of them looked fondly at each other, and Nicholas said something soft that was meant for Robin alone.
    Dave was feeling just as fond, but he took the opportunity to turn to Charlie and quietly ask, "That guy at the bar next to where I was standing … You know him?"
    Charlie took another mouthful of beer, and discreetly lifted his gaze as he did so. "Yeah – know of him, anyway. Ted Walinski. Works as a surveyor."
    "Huh," said Dave. "Never even heard of him."
    "Why d'you ask?"
    "He knows me! Well, my name, anyway, and what I do." Dave shrugged. "I don't suppose it matters, but if I meet someone through the business, I try to remember them, you know?"
    "That's the smart thing to do," Charlie agreed, before they turned to more interesting concerns.
     
     
    The next morning saw Dave driving down towards Cunnamulla, with Nicholas beside him and Charlie and Robin in the back. Nicholas's smile had a happy anticipatory kick to it, as it always did when they were heading for the waterhole. Charlie's usual cheerfulness was in full bubble, and even Robin had put his phone away to engage with the countryside and his companions.
    "So, what's this place called?" Robin asked at some point about an hour into the journey.
    Charlie replied, "It doesn't have a white-fella name."
    "What's its black-fella name, then?" Robin persisted.
    Dave glanced at Charlie via the rear-view mirror, but Charlie was the last person to take unnecessary offence when someone was genuinely interested and willing to learn. Nevertheless, Dave said, "We call the Indigenous people around here ‘Murri', Robin, yeah?"
    "Oh. Yeah, okay. What's its Murri name, Charlie?"
    Charlie grinned at him. "Only your Uncle Davey and me know that."
    "What, not even Nicholas?"
    "Not even Nicholas," Charlie confirmed. He seemed to ponder this for a moment, and Dave himself was prompted to wonder whether or when that should change. They'd kind of coasted along together on the current arrangements for a few years now – but who would he and Charlie pass the Dreamtime knowledge to, when it was time?
    "What about –" Robin continued. "I mean, isn't there a tribe that belongs there?"
    "Nah, there was but they're lost to us,