Paint. The art of scam. (44 page)

‘Well if there’s
anything we can do to help. ‘ said Cyril, backed up by Chris and John’s
mumbling

‘Maybe there is. ‘
said Gerald. ‘Can’t really think what at the moment. Need to put our thinking
caps on.’

‘Stupid question
Gerald but can’t you get the money back somehow?’ said Chris nervously.

‘Not a stupid
question at all Chris. No I’ve tried, believe me. Cost me five grand, just to
find out it would cost about fifty grand to hire a lawyer to try, with no
guarantees! Bastards have got us snookered you see. No, there must be a way.’

‘So you have
inherited the Estate?’ asked Cyril.

‘Oh yes, the
whole bloody thing, debts and all.’

‘Well maybe you
don’t have to invest much at all, if you still want to do it. I mean, if you’ve
got people behind you.’ said Cyril, wondering if he was being too forward. ‘Me
and Sir Thomas talked a lot about his dream. I always said it wasn’t a dream at
all. He never told me about Edward and the money though, of course. But I
remember something bothering him about three years ago. He stopped talking
about it.

‘That’s it.
That’s when it happened. I was in jail at the time.’

Chris and John
suddenly looked up at Gerald.

‘Is that right?
What for?’ said Chris ,excited.

‘Oh just breach
of the peace I’m afraid, nothing glamorous . We were trying to stop a wind farm
construction over in Wales.’

‘Oh, why’s that?
I thought wind farms were a good thing.’ said Chris, suddenly feeling more
relaxed to be talking so casually to his new boss.

‘Sadly that’s
what most people think. But they couldn’t be more wrong I’m afraid. Truth is,
the wind doesn’t always blow and certainly never at a continuous speed when it
does. You can never depend on wind as a reliable energy source. That means all
other power stations, usually coal, gas or nuclear , have to operate at above
their requirement to compensate if the wind stops. I mean imagine if they all
said. Ok chaps, sorry, no wind today, afraid there’s no electricity. Imagine.
Plus the fact, the carbon it takes to build one of those bloody great machines,
means that it would have to run at full capacity for five bloody years, just to
replace the energy it took to make it in the first place. After that time the
bloody things have to be completely overhauled anyway, which takes even more
energy. No the whole thing’s a political con, hijacked by the Germans and the
Japanese.’

‘I never realised
that.’ said Chris.

‘That’s the
trouble you see. We’ve all been conned by a politically backed mafia. My way
of thinking is that we have to have a society that uses less power, not try and
produce more and more to feed our insatiable appetite. And why the hell should
nature come up with the resources for us to have electricity 24 hour a day
anyway. A, it’s not scientifically possible and B, totally unnecessary. It’s a
bloody disaster waiting to happen. That’s why Tommy and I wanted to show that
it could be done.’

‘And it can.’
said Cyril.

‘Well that’s right
Cyril and you are a glowing example. Tommy used to talk a lot about what you’ve
been doing at your place. I think you played a big part in inspiring him. Maybe
I could pop down and take a look myself.’

‘Of course
Gerald, anytime. And I wanted to talk to you about my access road sometime.’

‘Don’t you worry
Cyril. Suzy filled me on all that. I’ve already ripped up those letters and
informed Edwards lawyers to drop all actions. Seems like Edward really had it
in for you Cyril?’

Cyril nodded.
‘Believe me Gerald, I don’t feel special.’

‘Yeh he had it in
for all of us one way or another.’ said John as he kicked at a lump of oil
soaked mud.

‘Well Edward’s
gone now. We’ve just all got to pick up the pieces as best we can.’ said
Gerald.

‘Did you find out
what happened?’ asked Cyril.

‘Beep. Beep.’

‘What on Earth
was that?’ said Gerald.

All four of them
looked over to the direction of the sound.

‘Sounds like one
of them pager things.’ said Cyril.

‘Beep. Beep.’

Cyril led the way
over to the ditch by the side of the road, followed by Gerald, Chris and John.

The
End.