Apocalypse of Jude

“So let me get this correct. You want to see me? That’s quite a change in attitude in the past few hours Mae.”

Caul’s laugh shows an incredulity as he tucks the phone between his shoulder and cheek.

“Don’t get your hopes too high. It’s just for coffee.”

“How about lunch?”

“I would prefer coffee this afternoon.”

“It’s a bit difficult with work.”

“Oh, come on Caul, pencil me in as an interview or something.”

“You’ve got quite a cheek, you know that.”

“Well, you don’t have much leeway to play with either.”

Caul feels the defensiveness closing around her voice, and decides not to be awkward any longer.

“Okay then. Three this afternoon it is. I’ve pencilled you in for an interview at the Hofgarten. How does that sound?”

“Fine by me. Just don’t be too surprised if the tables get turned on you.”

“Well, if it means anything to you, I’m looking forward to it.”

Caul hears her snort and say goodbye, then the line from her side goes dead and he hangs up. He leans back into an office desk chair to swivel back and forth, softly biting the back end of his pen.

“That’ll make for an interesting interview.”

A heavyset girl opposite him looks up.

“Oh yeah. Who’s going to be the victim of your clinically observant psyche this time?”

He looks at her with a short laugh sparkling his green eyes and spreading to his lips.

“The daughter of the sole agent and developer of our gated golfing village.”

All the time he is speaking, his body and hands are laughing, his voice carrying the laughter’s undercurrent. She is looking on amused at him.

“Look at you. I’ve never seen you this bubbly about anything. What’s the catch? Dirty laundry on her old man?”

He laughs fluidly and sits up in his chair, leaning forward over his desk.

“Well here’s the low down. Ever since her old man came here in the mid seventies, he and Rupert Stetson have been battling for real estate supremacy in this beautiful land of ours. Rumour has it that originally these two were old friends. Together in the ships at Mylae so to speak. The old man actually went on to divorce his wife and marry Stetson’s sister. Things soured however, and instead of an alliance, it got all about sibling rivalry. Apparently the sister had empire plans of her own.

Then about three years ago, Stetson’s son and the old man’s daughter suddenly decide to get married. The old man began to see a way in which he would come out king of both kingdoms, and tried to use the marriage as leverage for an alliance. The catch is that both daughter and son respectfully hate their fathers. Their whole marriage in fact seemed one of spite rather than love, to ensure that there could be no chance of an alliance. So that backfired in old Philip Anthony’s face.

Meanwhile, Anthony has seen massive losses on investments up the coast as well. He has needed to regroup and fortify. That’s why he’s got this golfing village project up and going. It’s a castle for him to retreat into. In my personal opinion, I think Philip Anthony’s on his way down. The thing is, he’s still way too strong for Rupert Stetson to do anything about it. But Anthony lacks a successor. Therein lies the rub. And here’s where it gets really interesting. Earlier this year, who turns up at Philip Anthony’s inaugural party for the golfing estate, but Stetson’s son, sans wife. They have subsequently divorced, and by some weird coincidence, today Gary Stetson begins work for Philip Anthony, thanks partly to the influence of his aunt. The only thing is, I have no idea why any of this has happened.”

Wasteland Mix: Fragment 27