Young and Hungry - For Life - 10. Edwriter

When he was watching a news report about Australia’s SAS soldiers being accused of war crimes, it triggered an interest in SAS soldiers. He didn’t know much about them other than what was reported in the news or portrayed in movies. He did a little internet research and discovered how intense their training is, how they were sent on the most dangerous missions and how many had difficulty fitting back into civilian life after service. This inability to cope with life led some to taking their own lives or turning to crime as a way of making a living. This gave Edward an idea for his book.

He discussed the idea, in length with Peggy, but today she had no direction to give Edward, so he abandoned the idea.

***

One night when there was no event at Divas and Romel was on evening shift, he went looking for Peggy to be company for him while he watched TV. He eventually found her in her favourite spot, the burnt orange pouffe. He called her to come and sit with him. At first she ignored him, which was often her want. Then he called a second time and even used her favourite word num num, which translates as, a teat is on offer. She slowly unfurled and sat up so Edward walked away, assuming she would follow.

When he realised she was not behind him, he went back into the room and found Peggy sitting on the desk, sniffing the computer. Edward took this as a sign, so he fired up his trust old Compaq laptop and picked up writing, where he had previously left off.

Bryce found it difficult to recover from the loss of his partner Sam, murdered by a lunatic plumber in a carpark toilet one year earlier. One night he told a friend how his partner was murdered and expressed a wish to see the perpetrator punished. The friend asked that if the murderer was already in prison, what more punishment could be metered out to him. Bryce told his friend he was working on it.

After his army service with the SAS, Bryce at first found it difficult to settle into a job so the department of defence subsidised a career counselling course for him. The counsellor quizzed Bryce on his experiences and expertise from the army. Eventually Bryce decided to put his physical training experience to use by becoming a personal trainer. Most of his clients were from the wealthier parts of the Eastern Suburbs so Bryce quickly became very successful and soon found himself employing other trainers. His reputation spread, his business grew rapidly and so did his wealth.

Sometimes he attended reunions of his army’s regiment, but noticed each reunion was attended by less former colleagues and there was always a story of how one or more either suicided or found themselves on the wrong side of the law since the last reunion.

When he heard of a former army mate who had been convicted of drug trafficking he decided to visit him in Long Bay prison, to see if he could help him in any way.

“How are you, you old bastard. How’d you get yourself banged up in here?” Bryce asked his former colleague.

“Oh, you know how it is, fell in with the wrong crowd when I couldn’t hold down a steady job. It seemed like easy money, so why not give it a go, I thought” Mike replied

“How did you get caught, I would have thought your training would have kicked in and you’d be able to stay under the radar, even if what you were doing was not quite....”

“I was dobbed in”

“By some do-gooder?”

“No, by my own supplier, further up the chain”

“Why would he do that?”

“He was displeased with me, were his exact words, on the phone. I never really ever met him. He doesn’t take kindly to his minions loosing the stuff. He gave me one week to make good his loss, but I had no way of making that sort of money without any more stuff to sell. So, I begged for more product to sell and he agreed, but what I didn’t know was he was using me as an example to others. I was set up, the police were tipped off and I went down”

“But wasn’t that a bit risky for him to do that, you could have talked”

“Oh I talked alright, even tried to do a deal with the prosecutors but what did I have to offer. I never met him, only got instructions by phone and picked up the stuff in a different place every time and dropped off the takings the same way. The cops claimed they couldn’t do anything with the info I gave them. To be honest, I don’t think they tried too hard. I was an easy target. They were assured of a quick conviction, that would put another notch on their belt and really how often do they catch the Mr Bigs?”

“So you’re pretty pissed off with the system?”

“Fuckin’ well and truly pissed off. When I get out of her in a year or two my name will be mud in the drug trade, I’ll be a convicted criminal, so I won’t be able to get a regular job. I don’t know what I’ll do?”

“What if you had a little cash waiting for you on the outside when you are released? Would that help?”

“Sure, but how?”

“Not now, I’ll come visit you again. In the meantime think over how much you might need to set yourself up in a legitimate business”

“OK, you’ve got me intrigued”

“Good, now which is the quietest day for visitors and which is the busiest.”

“Saturday’s is definitely the busiest. That’s when most kids come with their mothers to visit their Dads and it’s so noisy, you can’t hear yourself think”

“OK, then that might be better than a quiet day”

“I’m not following”

“We need to be able to talk without the guards or other visitors hearing”

“Gotcha, so yeah, busy day best”

“Good, see you in a few weeks”

***

Bryce rented a safe deposit box in a large city bank and made his first cash lodgement of $1,000. Each week he made another lodgement of whatever cash he could manage without it showing in his business accounts.

It was a month before he went to see Mike again. Amidst the cacophony of the Saturday family visitors, Bryce gave his instructions to Mike.

“Do you know a prisoner named Brandon Hales?”

“I’ve not met him but heard about him. He’s the toilet basher, isn’t he?”

“That’s him”

“Why your interest in him?”

“He killed my partner”

“Fuck! But I thought it was a bloke he killed”

“Yes, my partner was a man”

“So you’re....Sorry mate I didn’t know”

“That’s OK”

“And sorry to hear about your loss. That must be a real bummer”

“Thanks Mike. I’m still having difficulty dealing with it, that’s why I want Hales punished even more than being in here”

“You want him to receive regular bashings?”

“No, more than that”

“Oh, now I get it. Poetic justice, is that what they call it?”

“What do you mean?”asked Bryce

“A good fucking now and then, and not always with a stiffy, if you take my meaning”

“That might do for now, but I have something more in mind for later. That will give me time to build your nest egg before you get out”

Bryce then yelled “Fucking little bastard”

“Sorry Mister” replied the child who had just trod on Bryce’s foot.

“Watch your mouth mate” said the father of the child, from the prisoner’s side of the table.

“Yes, sorry about that. Just got a shock, that’s all” answered Bryce.

“Well be careful, I have mates on the outside who can take care of the likes of you”

“I’ve no doubt about that, but no offence intended”

“OK, and as for you Spike, sit fucking still or they’ll keep you in here”

When the fuss had died down, Mike asked “Nest egg?”

“Yes, I make regular cash lodgements on your behalf. Could be quite a tidy sum waiting for you”

“Mmm, like the sound of that. I think we can do business .Leave it with me and I’ll update you next time you come”

***

Bryce continued the cash lodgements, as promised and again visited Mike in prison, six weeks later.

“I’ve got good news for you” said Mike as he sat down. “Your target has become a very good fuckee. Taking it like a man, one could say” and he laughed.

“Good to hear” answered Bryce.

“And on the days nobody’s interested in him, he makes friends with the broom handle and even one of the screws gave him a good rogering with his truncheon last week”

“That must be a sight to see”

“I missed it myself, but you’re right. So how long do you want this to continue?”

Bryce leaned in and whispered “Right up until his death”

“Is he going to die?”

“He will if you can arrange it”

“Ah, now that’s an entirely different matter”

“You mean you can’t arrange it?”

“I didn’t say that .The guys do the fucking stuff because it’s a bit of fun for them, but for what you want now, I will need help and that will cost”

“Of course, how much?”

“I’ll need to find the right bastard to do it and then check”

“No problem, what say I come back again in a month? Will that be enough time?”

“Should be, but how ‘bout you give me your number, in case I need you before that”

Nothing was to pass between prisoner and visitor without the approval of the guards, so Mike called one over.

“Is it OK if my mate gives me his number?”

Bryce scribbled out his phone number, the guard inspected the chit of paper and said “OK, but that’s all”

“Sure Sir and thank you” replied Mike.

***

Edward was pleased with his progress, so pleased in fact that he decided to start publishing a few chapters online. He set up his account, chose the user name Edwriter and sent his first chapter out into the big wide world. After vetting, a requirement for new account holders, his chapter was published. He checked back in a few days later and found his chapter had been read by fourteen people and he had been given five thumbs-up. He even had two comments.

- WOW! I am going to love this story! Waiting for the next chapter!

- Nicely paced first chapter.

Edward was so thrilled, he immediately published a second chapter and waited a few days to see the response. That was also positive with a great comment.

- A great start to this new story. The chapter titles are wonderful and, add immensely to the quirkiness of your story telling. As a fellow Sydney-sider I find the familiarity of the landmarks and locations strangely comforting (perhaps it’s the "COVID isolation effect"). Looking forward to more of your entertaining storytelling, in particular a glimpse, at least, into Bryce's history (I sense there is perhaps a tragic story there).

Spurred on by his new success he returned to the keyboard and churned out more at every opportunity he could find.

Each day he published a new chapter and continued to get thumbs-up and even a few loves. The comments buoyed his confidence and kept him writing and publishing daily for the next month.

With this acceptance from strangers, he figured it was time to let his friends in on the story. Firstly he gave Romel a link to the site and waited for feedback. The only thing Romel said to him was “There was a mistake in one chapter”

No other comment or support was offered from his partner and Edward doubted that Romel continued to read the story, but was afraid to ask after such a rebuke. But that did not deter him and he kept writing and publishing.

***

Prisoners were allowed an occasional phone call, so Mike called Bryce when he had made the arrangements. Bryce duly turned up on visiting day to confirm the arrangements.

“I’ve had to recruit two others and they will want half payment before and the remainder afterwards”

“How do I make the payments?”

“To their families. You will be called by each family and given the payment details. I don’t have anyone on the outside so I’ll trust you to keep mine for me”

“Of course, the brothers in arms, bond never breaks”

A few days later Bryce received the phone call but was surprised by the amounts being asked, so he asked for more time to gather enough cash.

“Cheque will be fine...” replied the anonymous caller “...or you can make a bank deposit”

“Is that safe?” asked Bryce.

“Better than us meeting to exchange cash, but on second thought, a cheque would be better”

“OK, I suppose your kind knows better than me about such matters”

“What do you mean by my kind?”

“You know, shady, outside the law and all that”

“As long as that’s all you mean”

“Sure”

“Now take down this address for the cheque”

Bryce was given a post office box number, then terminated the call.

Rather than send a personal cheque with information that could be traced to him, he purchased a bank cheque and mailed that. When he received the second call he repeated the process and was now out of pocket by several thousand dollars and the same amount due after the event.

Exactly one week later the following headline came up on his newsfeed ‘Convicted murderer found hanged in Long Bay prison’. The remainder of the story confirmed the identity of the deceased.

He made no immediate contact with Mike but mailed the second round of cheques. On the way back from the post office, he stopped off at the liquor shop and purchased a bottle of Sam’s favourite bourbon. At home, he poured himself a mega serve and toasted to Sam, “If there is only one place to go in the afterlife, then give the bastard a hard time. If there are two places, then I guess you won’t see him, but know I’ve taken care of him for you”

***

Edward left his story for a few weeks, when he became busy at Divas. But he had plans to return to it as time permitted.