Sharp Turn - Marianne Delacourt [33]
He glanced at his watch. ‘Looks like I might make it out to practice after all. So I’ll take it early. Eleven thirty.’
I nodded and turned to Bolo.
‘No, thanks,’ he said.
I gave Clem another quick look. He had his back to us, his head buried in a crate looking for something.
‘It’ll be waiting for you,’ I said to Red.
After leaving the stall, I took a couple of steps around the corner and stopped. Within seconds their voices were raised again and the argument continued. Red blamed Clem for being lazy and useless. Clem came back at him saying that Red was too busy sniffing after her to know what was going on. Bolo chimed in with some ‘Calm downs’ and a promise to get to the bottom of it, then it all quietened down.
By the time I got back to the van, Cass was having a D&M with a scruffy teenager wearing a dusty uniform.
‘Hi, Cass,’ I said. ‘Hi, T-Dog.’
The boy’s mouth sagged open. ‘How’d you know my name?’
‘You just look like a T-Dog.’
He gave me a scared look, mumbled something about having to sweep the pit office and scarpered.
Cass screwed her face up at me. ‘You freaked him out.’
‘Faint heart never won fair lady,’ I countered, but she didn’t seem to have a clue what that meant.
We got into the van and did the rest of the food prep while I told Cass about the argument I’d overheard at Moto-Sane.
‘So the rider’s blaming the mechanic for putting a rag in the petrol tank?’ she said.
‘Yeah.’
‘Maybe it was an accident?’
‘Try telling Bolo that.’
Sharee appeared to drop in her order, interrupting our discussion. She was wearing a bright-red tee-shirt that said ‘Bike Me’. Today’s earrings were red guitars.
‘How’re you settling in?’ she asked us.
‘Fine. Other than the fact that some of the natives aren’t all that friendly,’ I said. ‘Or happy.’
‘Oh?’
‘Just walked in on a big argument in the Moto-Sane stall.’
‘Don’t tell me!’ She slapped her hand to her forehead. ‘Lu and Clem going at it again? It’s been like that all season. Someone needs to bang their heads together.’
‘What’s the problem?’ I asked.
She glanced around to make sure no one was listening. ‘I think Clem’s hot for Lu’s girlfriend, and Lu knows it.’
Cass gave soft derisive grunt, which thankfully Sharee didn’t hear.
‘Really?’ I said.
‘Lu is so in love with her. He’d never cope if she left him.’
‘Is that likely?’
Sharee thought about it for a moment. ‘She wouldn’t leave him for Clem, I don’t think.’
‘For someone else?’
She shrugged. ‘Dunno. Hey, I better get back.’
Cass and I exchanged looks and I added some more notes to my phone.
Jase did a couple of pass-bys to check on us; and Red came by to pick up his order right on the dot of eleven thirty – without a thank you.
As rush hour approached, Cass started to take control. ‘Everything’s ready to go. You wanna do the deep-frying?’ she said.
I sighed. ‘If I must.’
‘I’ve set the oil to the right temperature,’ she said, like a mother encouraging her ten-year-old to cook.
Tentatively I dropped half a packet of straight-cut fries into the bubbling oil.
‘Take them out now!’ Cass said from behind me a few minutes later.
I lifted the drainer up and the chips, amazingly, appeared golden brown and appetising. ‘I did it!’
Cass held out a metal tray. ‘See, you can cook.’
‘They look good. I’ll have a large serve of those,’ said a deep voice from the queue building outside the van window.
Feeling ridiculously pleased, I scooped some into a paper cup and salted them.
From then on, Cass and I didn’t get a chance to speak other than passing food to and fro. We fell into a rhythm where I took the orders and gave change while Cass made up the food. I repeated each order out loud as she was about to make it so she didn’t have to read it from the pad.
When Jase came for his lunch, I added a freebie bucket of chips. His aura brightened in gratitude, so I took the opportunity to fish a bit.
‘These bike racers are pretty intense. Heard a bunch of arguments while I was taking orders this morning,’ I said, poking the chiko rolls and potato scallops with a fork as