Educating Danielle

by Karen E. Lea

  

Part Ten

  

Chapter Forty Seven

We drove down the motorway heading towards the studio; we decided Danielle to dress as femininely as possible. She had on a mid thigh black skirt, three inch court shoes and a sleeveless figure hugging white top. Her makeup was flawless. We were first in this morning; we opened up, turned the lights on, started the computers and threw the junk mail faxes into the recycling bin, where in the hell do they come from?

Sonja breezed in a couple a minutes later, "Good morning darlinks." she cooed.

"Good morning Sonja. Could you come in to my office please, I need to talk to you and its very important." She hugged Danielle and told her how beautiful she looked and finally sat down. "Sonja, what I'm about to tell you may affect your catalogue, but I will assist in any way to fix problems this may cause."

She stared at me, but didn't comment which worried me. "We… I mean I, haven't been totally straight with you concerning Danielle." Normally I couldn't stop this woman talking; she stared at me offering no comment. "Yesterday, when I was hesitant in letting Danielle do your catalogue and don't get me wrong, she loves working with you."

"My beautiful Danielle is wonderful."

"Well as I was saying, what I have to tell you may alter your feelings. Danielle is transgendered."

"What is this transgendered?" she asked after a moments thought.

"Umm."

"Is not disease, she will live."

"No it's not a disease, I……."

"What dad is trying to say is, I am a boy."

"You how you say, pull the leg."

"No, not pull the leg." Now I was speaking like her. "Danielle is a sixteen year old boy."

"I am a boy Sonja; I thought you should know, it's not right to deceive."

"This is plot, you have better offer, you want me to tear contract up."

"No, no, no Sonja." I said started to get exasperated.

"I double money."

"We don't wont you to double money; we just want you to be aware that Danielle is not a girl."

"I know girl when I see one, Danielle girl."

Tempting as it was for Daniel to strip and prove himself, I thought better of it. "Okay. You are happy to continue shoot."

"Yes we continue. Darlink you have drug problem, yes."

"No." I answered waving them from the office.

"Ahh, denial is bad," she said to Danielle on the way out. Danielle giggled.

Well. That was a complete waste of five minutes; I would have had a better response if I talked to the wall. I pondered the conversation that I would have with Moira this afternoon. I worked away on some emails. Kelly came in twenty minutes later and we went over some things she wasn't quite sure on, but she was one smart young lady, she always had a better, quicker way to do things. After nine, I rang Moira and made an appointment to see her at three thirty.

The day bubbled along quite quickly. They finished Sonja's work at one thirty and she paid her bill waxing lyrical about Danielle. She hugged and kissed Danielle as she waved goodbye to the rest of us.

Cathy and Charlene went off to do the winter shoe collection, in the meantime a car carrier turned up with three cars for tomorrow's studio shots. John finished the panty hose ad and started to study the cars.

Just after two thirty Danielle and I headed off for our appointment with Moira. We were a couple of minutes early and sat in the foyer. While we waited, we seemed to be in the busiest foyer in Sydney. Nearly every employee on the floor must have dropped or picked up an envelope from the receptionist. I realised then that every body was trying to get a peek at Danielle.

Moira came out and greeted us and led us in to her office overlooking Hyde Park. We declined the offer of coffee, as we settled in to chairs in front of her desk. She looked at us expectantly. "I hope this good news Jeff."

"No. Not really, we have come to give you some information we feel that should know."

"I told you yesterday, no is not the correct answer."

"When we explain why we are here, I think you will accept no." She raised her eyebrows. "Let me preface…."

There was a knock at the door, "Come in." Moira called out. A gentleman, tall, in a well cut suit entered, he was in his fifties, greying hair and a well groomed moustache. "Ah, Mister Spencer, welcome, this is Jeff Williams and his daughter Danielle."

We both rose and shook his hand, "Delighted. Please call me Abe."

It was going to be hard enough to tell Moira, let alone her boss as well.

"I can see why Moira was taken by your daughter, she is very beautiful."

"Thank you." Danielle blushed.

Moira bought Abe up to date, then motioned for me to continue.

"Where was I,….yes, let me preface what I am about to tell you by saying that I have enjoyed our brief association with your company, you are very professional people and it has been a pleasure to work with you."

"Thank you Jeff. But why the past tense…?

I held my hand up. "Let me explain. When you saw the pictures of Danielle on John's desk that Saturday, they were never meant to be seen by anyone outside Starburst. Unfortunately they were seen by you and a music video producer who had dropped in to see John."

"But what's unfortunate about that, she is very beautiful a great future is assured."

"I'm coming to that, I would like your assurance that what I'm about to tell you here is for your ears only."

"Yes of course."

"Danielle is transgendered."

"Trans what?" Abe asked.

"Gendered. Danielle is my son."

"Surely not." Moira gasped.

"Yes he is a boy. Although he is very androgynous to look at as a boy."

"You telling us this beautiful creature is a boy?" Abe said incredulously.

"Yes. He has quite a presence in photos."

Moira studied Danielle "The young boy Daniel…….did all the running around for Cindy and you at the last catalogue……."

Danielle nodded her head, "Yes that was me."

Moira collapsed back in to her chair stunned.

"I'm very sorry we had to come and tell the truth. Now you see why I wasn't very helpful Tuesday. I was hoping you would give up."

"The person she worked for Tuesday knows?" Moira asked.

"We told her this morning, she didn't believe us and continued with the shoot." I took the contract from my briefcase and put it on the desk. "I will make sure my solicitor destroys his copy. I say again we had to tell the truth for every body's sake."

They both thought in silence. "Will she change um….sex?" Abe asked.

"I really don't….."

"Dad I'll answer. I don't know. At the moment I'm sixteen and finding my feet."

We stood to go and shook hands. I apologized once again and we left the office towards the car and home.

§§§

Moira and Abe stared at each other as the door closed. Tears welled in Moira's eyes; she had put heart and soul in to this project. To have it snatched away at this time was just too much. "I'm sorry Abe. I thought we had it all sewn up. Every contingency covered, I for a minute think this one."

"Yes. One wouldn't normally consider such a problem."

"People have been working day and night on this, the overtime bill is horrendous."

"That aside. She has every thing we wanted for this project, style, poise and grace, I mean he. Gods know what I mean."

"She certainly does it well."

"Even you think of her female."

There was a knock at the door. "Come." Moira called. A junior girl entered, "This letter needs to be signed to make in to night's courier bag."

"Thank you Jennifer." Moira said signing the letter.

"Jennifer?" Abe asked.

"Yes Mister Spencer."

"Did you just see the young girl who was just here?"

"Yes. I think everybody sneaked a peek."

"What did you think of her?"

"Me?"

"Yes. Your personal opinion."

"She was stunningly beautiful; I wished I look like that."

"Nothing else."

"No, she's really stunning."

"Thank you Jennifer." Jennifer left with the letter.

"You don't seriously think we should go ahead?" Moira asked.

"I really don't know. But I can't help think we are missing out here."

"But we have to consider the consequences."

"Of employing a transgendered boy? I'm sure somewhere in the thousands of employees, we have one or two already."

"But not representing the company publicly."

"That is true."

"I thought I would have had this signed, sealed and delivered for Easter." Moira lamented.

"Let's sleep on it. We'll talk at nine in the morning."

§§§

We headed over the Bridge for home. "You've lost a lot of money over this haven't you?" Danielle asked.

"It's not the money; it's the regular work for the studio."

"I'm so sorry."

"Hey, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself, its just fate stepping in with a curve ball." I said, "Any way we have to get you back to school."

"I like working for you."

"It's fun for me too, I know I can't force you, but I would like you to finish school."

"I know daddy, you care too much."

 

Chapter Forty Eight

Arriving home, we told Laura about our afternoon at Spencer's. While it may have seemed foolish, I felt better that we had told the truth, than to have a lie get completely get out of control. "Anyway, we would have been caught out if they asked for ID or a birth certificate." I said aloud.

"Oh shit." Laura exploded and raced for the bedroom.

Danielle and I stared at each other and followed. "Mum, you okay."

We entered the bedroom. Laura was digging in her boxes we had bought up from the house. "You okay?" I asked.

"Sorry yeah…it's here somewhere, I haven't seen it since she was a baby."

"Seen what since who was a baby?"

"Danielle's birth certificate."

"Daniel's birth certificate?" Danielle corrected.

"Something like that." she said digging frantically.

"Your mum's lost it, big time."

"Looks like it. Will you adopt me?"

"Stop it you two. I lose a son and gain two of the three stooges." she retorted.

"Nuckk nuck nuck. Say the word and we'll make it three." I said with a smile.

"I don't know why I love you sometimes."

"Probably my good looks."

She poked out her tongue as she started on another box, "I know it's here some where……here it is." She pulled out an envelope, with no markings. "I should have thought of this last night when we were talking."

Pulling out the document inside, I began reading. It was a birth certificate for Daniell An Marsden, female, father unknown. I looked at Laura, "What the…?"

"It's a long story, which I forgot till now, I'm not proud of myself and it was a silly idea, but I felt better at the time." She said as we walked back to the lounge room.

We settled back on the lounge, "When Daniel was born; I was sixteen and very upset. They wanted to take Daniel away for adoption and every body was getting involved, I was in tears most of the time. Anyway the doctor, who was near retirement, came in to fill the birth form. He started filling the form out, but he started at the bottom, signed it and was working his way up. A nurse came in and asked him to come and look at a patient in the next ward. He left the form on the table and trundled off. He must have forgotten, never came back to finish it. So I did it for him. I purposely misspelt the name and checked the box female. It made me feel so much better and I mailed it off."

"But wouldn't you have been asked for it when he started school or something?"

Sure. When I realised what it said, I hid it and just kept putting them off, till they gave up asking. Daniel used to come home from school with a note from school every week for about two months when he was six."

"So we have Daniel Andrew become Daniell An the well known typing mistake."

Danielle giggled. "Mum I love you so much."

"I wish I remembered last night."

"Well it really doesn't change anything, I'm still glad we told the truth." I said.

"Me too." Danielle said.

"Me three." Laura said. "Let's have dinner and a early night."

Next morning saw us heading back to the studio. It was Laura's last day at work before her eight weeks off and she was really excited. Tonight we were heading up the coast for Easter at my holiday unit.

Arriving at the studio, Sam and Sal were waiting for us. They walked over as soon as I parked the Rover. "Hey babe…Jeff…look we've come back with another offer."

"Sam. We are not interested at any price."

"Yeah anyway, we're going to offer ten grand, the director reckons we can knock it off in three days, max."

This guy does not listen. "We are not interested."

"Twenty grand."

"Read my lips. No."

"Thirty."

"Sam. We looked at a contract the other day, hundred thousand for a TV commercial." Half a lie.

Finally got through to him, his jaw dropped. "Who's throwing crazy money like that around?"

"I can't comment, but that was knocked back too."

Sam and Sal shrugged their shoulders, "We'll go and punch some numbers."

If I keep up these lies up, my nose will be three foot long. We went upstairs and prepared for the day. Everybody drifted in over the next half hour and I assigned the tasks for the day. It became a routine day.

§§§

Moira sat down in her office at eight thirty with a cup of coffee. She read her emails and sighed. She had slept about an hour last night, that wasn't consecutive with the most stupid dream, chased around menswear by eighty five drag queens. She wanted to hate Jeff and Danielle, but she couldn't, morally they had done the right thing. It must have been hard for Jeff to sit here and tell us. The worst part was, Danielle didn't look like a boy, she looked like a girl, talked like a girl. If he looked like a boy in a dress, they wouldn't be in this mess. She sighed again and finished her coffee.

She was deciding how to start the day, when Abe appeared at the door. "Come in."

Abe entered and shut the door, made himself comfortable "Good nights sleep?" he asked.

"No. And you?"

"No."

"Any more thoughts on the subject?" Moira asked.

"Coherent and logical, no. Like I said yesterday, I can't but think this is slipping through our fingers to our loss."

"Our thoughts are running parallel." Moira answered.

"The thing I kept coming back to is, if this became public knowledge, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Looking at her, would people believe that she is a boy?"

"Probably not. The thing that bothers me is other organisations pressuring Jeff when we were there first."

"Yes. I thought that too." Moira said looking at her empty coffee cup. She phoned for more coffee.

"Is the next catalogue on schedule?"

"Well it was till yesterday at four o clock."

"What about the girl we have used before?"

"That spoiled brat. I gave her marching orders Tuesday afternoon thinking Danielle was in the bag."

"That's unfortunate."

"It is and it isn't. The way she carried on at the last catalogue shoot, I was embarrassed. She played out on the young boy……..Daniel…….."

"What's that?"

"What poetic justice. Daniel is now Danielle." Moira explained what happened at the studio. There was a knock at the door. Jennifer entered with a tray and put it on the desk. "Thank you Jennifer. Anything need my attention?"

"No. But every one wants to know if the girl signed."

"No not yet, we have a few points to go over." Jennifer left and Moira poured the coffee.

Abe sipped the coffee, then spoke, "Based on what we know, what would your risk assessment be?"

"Hmm. A fairly minor risk of being tumbled, it depends on how many people know she's a boy. You know Abe we shouldn't even be thinking like this, we should walk away."

"I know, I know." Abe said rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Business decisions should be logical, structured and not based on hunches. But since I met her yesterday I have this unshakable feeling deep down this is right. Look at this way, Jeff could have said nothing, signed the contract and we would be none the wiser. All he has done is put the onus on us. They haven't said they wouldn't do it."

"That's okay, you're right, they haven't said no."

"Set up a meeting this afternoon at their place. If the ship sinks, I'll just have to go with it."

§§§

By eleven o clock my routine day was in tatters, Moira rang for and made an appointment for three thirty. When I enquired what it about, she just said, "See you this afternoon."

Just after eleven thirty the phone rang, "Good morning, Starburst."

"Jeff Williams please."

"Speaking."

"Rhonda……Rhonda Baxter, Beagle and Associates."

I had been trying to get work from this company for years. They anointed themselves as the number one agency, but when it came to using others, cheapest was best. "Yes Rhonda, what can I do for you?"

"We have a minor….no a major crisis on our hands and I'm hoping you may be able to help us?"

"Do my best."

"We are doing a print and poster campaign for a local firm who has promised their New York head office that the proofs for authorisation will be emailed to them for before tomorrow morning, their time."

"And."

"Well the photograph needed hasn't been taken yet. I have six people blaming each other for the problem. But the fact remains, it hasn't been done."

I wanted to say, what about the usual people you use, but I bit my tongue, "What's involved?"

"Two girls, fifteen, sixteen, on a beach in bikinis holding a packet of tampons."

"And they have to be certain tampons I guess?"

"Yes."

"Where are they?"

"Here at our office, can you do it? We'll work all night if we have to."

They might want to work all night, but we didn't want to. "I'll talk to John and make some phone calls for some girls. Talk to you soon. Bye."

I walked downstairs, discussed it with John. "Yeah. We'll fit it in, need some girls though."

"Just about to make some phone calls."

"What about young Kelly and Danielle?"

"I don't know….Kelly maybe okay with it. Danielle, I'd rather not."

"Just a thought."

Thinking as I walked, I found Cindy. "Do we have any bikinis hanging around that would suit teenage girls?"

She rummaged in a draw, "Yep. Should be able to sort something. What's happening?"

Explaining the phone call briefly as I could.

"Why do these things always happen before a holiday weekend?" she asked.

"Buggered if I know." I said as I went upstairs to my office.

After four phone calls, I was no nearer than when I started. All the girls were away or at school. John came up to see how I was faring, "No good." I replied.

"Kelly?" he asked.

"Haven't got that far."

"Won't know till we ask. Hey Kelly, got a sec." he called out.

Kelly poked her head in the door, "Kelly, we need two girls in an ad, want to be one of them?" John asked.

"Yeah I guess." she answered. I explained more detail to her, she then asked, "Who's the other girl?"

"When we find her we will let you know."

"What about me daddy?" Danielle said from the door.

"I think we have enough trouble at the moment, without adding to it." I said.

"Please daddy."

"This is a bikini shoot and I………"

"Give her a go Jeff. What's the worst that could happen?" John asked.

"We all could be out of a job."

"No guts, no glory, let's do it. Ring her back. Come on you two, let's go and see Cindy."

Out voted. I rang Rhonda back and told her we could do it and our price and terms. She thought it was a bit expensive.

"Fine. I'll ring the girls back and tell them it's off."

"No, no, it's on, I'll bring the tampons and brief up myself."

"Please hurry, its Easter and everybody would like to get away."

John was finishing off the third car, when the car carrier turned up to take away them away. Once I had the driver's signature, I went in search of the trio to see how they were getting on. The small top on Kelly made her breasts seem even bigger, although she looked fifteen.

Danielle's boys' bits were the next problem. The gaffe could be seen and dispensed with; Cindy went to work with some surgical tape and after some struggle was satisfied with the outcome. Danielle complained it was a bit uncomfortable.

"The things we do." I quipped. She poked out her tongue.

Cathy and Charlene arrived back from the outside job they had been out to do. They bought the gear in and I explained what was going to happen. I glad Cathy was back, she was the real wiz on the computer. Once every thing was put away, she started to sort beach scenes on the computer.

Meanwhile, Rhonda had turned up with the tampons and the layout they were looking for. "When are you going, I'd like to come." she asked.

"Going where?"

"The beach."

"This is the computer age, we make a beach digitally."

"We can photograph them in front of Buckingham Palace if you want." Cathy stated.

"This is an account worth millions."

"Trust us."

The layout called for two girls kneeling on towels at the beach, holding the box of tampons. Friends sharing. John told the two girls to relax as he positioned them. He took a couple of shots, moved them around, but they were both too self conscious.

"Time out." I called as I walked over to them. "Girls, you look great, but you're a bit stiff. Relax. Remember when you were at Dural at the pool, you touched each other a lot, laughing like old friends."

They nodded. "Well, that's where we are heading here. Kelly, I want you touch Danielle's arm and whisper something in her ear, something outrageous that will surprise her okay."

She nodded hesitantly, "I'll try."

John repositioned himself and Danielle held the box of tampons. "Ready?" he asked.

I counted down with my fingers on my hand. Kelly on one reached for Danielle's arm and whispered something in to her ear. We couldn't hear, but it got the result. John just kept snapping till the moment passed. "Yeess. That was terrific." He yelled.

He took the camera to the computer and downloaded the images. We held a conference on what we thought was the best. Cathy merged the images and spent ten minutes 'cleaning up' till it met her approval and printed an eight by ten glossy.

"Is that what you were after?" John asked Rhonda.

"Yes. More than happy with that, I can't believe it's done. The pressure's off."

"We aim to please. Can the girls get changed now?" I asked.

"Oh yes."

§§§

Kelly and Danielle entered the wardrobe room and Kelly locked the door. They both undid the strings around their necks holding the cups of the bikinis up. They then untied each other's strap and they both stood there topless. Kelly embraced Danielle and kissed him. "I've been dying to do that all week. I like you a lot Danielle."

"I like you too."

"Do you like what I said out there?"

"Did you mean that?"

"I sure did."

Danielle had wiggled out of the bikini bottoms and asked, "Could you help me get this tape off?"

"Sure."

Danielle laid on the small lounge, while Kelly removed the tape, "Ow, that hurt."

"Let me kiss it better."

"Kelly?"

"Mmmm."

"That's nice."

Kelly came up to Danielle's face and kissed him. "Kelly you can't leave me like this, I'll never hide it."

"Just relax, Kelly will fix it."

§§§

While the girls changed, I took Rhonda upstairs. She gave me a cheque and I gave a receipt in return. "I hope we can do more business?"

"You've won me. I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks." Cathy returned with the photos in an envelope and told her they had also been emailed to her office. Rhonda excused herself and headed back to her office. Danielle and Kelly came back in their street clothes holding hands and giggling. I took them in to my office, took some cash from the safe and counted one thousand dollars each in to their hands. Kelly looked at the money, then looked at me and burst in to tears.

Danielle cuddled her, "What's the matter?"

"I'm so happy."

"Hate to see you sad." I said.

"Oh Jeff, you don't know what this means to me……before you gave me this job, I was ready to move back to my parents in the country and I owe people money. Thank you."

"Well you earnt it. That was great out there."

"Thank you." She said kissing me.

"Thank you Daddy." Danielle said following suit.

"You two will get me in to trouble."

"I won't tell mum."

"Thanks." I said turning to Kelly, "We'll give you a lift home, I don't want you catching a bus with that much cash on you."

"That would be great, thank you."

 

Chapter Forty Nine

Looking at my watch, Moira and Abe were due; I silently wondered what they wanted. Maybe they wanted to rub my nose in it, although highly unlikely. I don't dare ask, but I would love to know what Kelly said to Danielle, I'll probably never find out. I started to clean up my desk, when there was a "Hey sweet cheeks, is Jeff around?" from the outer office.

God help me, Sam. I rose from the desk and met Kelly at the door, "It's alright, unfortunately I know him."

Beckoning Sam and Sal in to my office, "Hey Jeff, you certainly live well surrounded by babes, speaking of which, how is our babe going."

"I am privileged, twice in one day and she is not your babe."

"Don't be like that, she's hot property."

"She's a person with feelings."

"Yea, yea, anyway we're here to make another offer."

"Sam, do you need a lesson in the meaning of no."

"No has only one meaning."

"Glad to hear it."

"That's what I tell the pizza guy when he asks if I want anchovy."

I groaned. "No more offers Sam, the answer is no."

"Hey, you gotta hear this one; we've been crunching numbers all day."

"You can crunch the alphabet for all I care."

"Jeff, Jeff, Jeff. We're business men, here to make money, just like you make money as a business."

"I also know the meaning of no."

"No has negative connotations…….."

"That's a big word for you Sam."

"Look listen will ya, we've got a deal for you. Sixty thousand."

"And you look Sam, the answer is no, today, tomorrow and next week."

"Be reasonable, she's perfect for us."

"Goodbye Sam, and Sal buy him a dictionary, one with the word no in it." Herding them to the stairs I said goodbye again.

Abe and Moira were coming up the stairs as Sam and Sal were headed down. Sam was muttering something about the father from hell. Greeting the newcomers, I led them to my office, asking Kelly to find Danielle for me. We sat down and Moira made small talk about the weather, Danielle entered and said hello.

"Jeff, Danielle, we'll come to the point. You're wondering why we're here?" Abe said.

Here it comes; we're going to take you to the cleaners over this. "It did cross my mind. I didn't expect to talk to you again."

"Well, you probably didn't expect me to say this either, we still wish to employ Danielle, who I might add, looks absolutely radiant this afternoon."

Danielle blushed. I sat there with my mouth agape. A lot of things had run through my mind since the phone call, this wasn't one of them.

"You think we are mad as hatters?" Moira asked.

"Now that you have bought the subject up. Yes. The question begs. Why?"

"I have a confession to make, when I saw Danielle's photos that Saturday, I took one when John left the room for a moment. We had been looking for a girl for months. Interviewed thousands of hopefuls who could act, sing, model, dance, you name it. But none of them have what Danielle has, and that is presence." Moira said.

"All those other things can be learnt," Abe continued, "but what Danielle has, you've either got it or you don't. When Moira showed me the photograph, I immediately authorised her to get Danielle on board."

"I don't know whether to be angry or flattered."

"I apologise for the cloak and dagger approach, but the one thing we didn't plan on was your revelation." Moira said.

Abe shifted in his chair, "Will you come on board with this, it will be an exciting twelve months, she'll learn a lot and get paid for it."

"Really, I have to discuss it with her mum. Can we give you an answer Tuesday?"

"We would love an answer now." Moira said.

"What would I have to learn?" Danielle asked, speaking for the first time.

"Good question. You would receive the retainer as a weekly page, for this we would expect you to be presentable in public at all times. We would enrol you in courses in deportment, public speaking, makeup so you're not reliant on Jeff." Moira said.

"I already do my own makeup."

"I'm sorry, it's so professional looking, I assumed…….."

"It's okay." Danielle said.

"She's very good at it." I said.

"So I see."

"How many people know Danielle is not what she seems?" Abe asked.

"Just the staff here. Look I have to be honest, why are you pushing for Danielle, you are taking a huge risk on this, it's not a business decision I would expect from a company like Spencers."

Abe stood and stretched, "Jeff, my answer to you, which I will never be able to give to the board or shareholders. I have a good feeling about this, nothing that sounds remotely logical, just forty years of retail intuition."

"If money is an issue, we will negotiate."

"As an act of faith, I'll up the retainer to fifteen hundred dollars a week plus a mobile phone on our account." Abe added. "Those men leaving when we arrived…?"

"The video guys, twice in one day, so help me…."

"Can I enquire as to how much they have offered?"

"Guess there's no harm. We started at two thousand on Tuesday; they were just here with an offer of sixty thousand."

"Well I rest my case, I feel vilified." Abe said.

"They don't know the secret though." I said looking at my watch.

"True."

"You won't sign today?" Moira said hopefully.

"Sorry. I have to discuss it with Laura and Danielle." I stated.

Moira and Abe rose and we shook hands. I promised to keep in touch and they promised to look after Danielle. I saw them out while Danielle shut down the computers and helped Kelly lock up.

We chased the others out, wishing them a good Easter. We dropped Kelly at her rented unit at Lane Cove on the way home. Arriving home at the same time as Laura, we quickly packed, although Danielle had the foresight to do it the night before. Forty minutes later we were in the Easter exodus out of Sydney heading north.

 

End of Part 10 (to be continued)

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  

  

  

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