The Boys from Binjiwunyawunya Read Free Page A

like the Rolls to run around in, too?Bad luck I haven’t got a nice seventeen-year-old daughter. You could have her as well. Go to the shithouse will you.’
    â€˜Please yourself, then,’ said Les, and shrugged. ‘Let this mug rip you off for half a million dollars — and make a complete dill of you at the same time. And then wait till the word gets out about it. They’ll be running tour buses up here full of people wanting to laugh at you.’ Norton drained his stubbie. ‘Makes no difference to me,’ he added.
    Price was stung by his last remark and he also knew that Norton had him in a corner. But he trusted Les completely and there was something in the doorman’s confident attitude that suggested he just could have something up his sleeve that might be worth a shot. And Price, above all, was a gambler.
    â€˜All right,’ he nodded slowly. ‘A hundred grand it is. When do you want it? Now?’
    â€˜No. We’ll do this strictly by the book. Straight up and down. Just open a bank account in my name with a hundred grand in it because I’ll have to make quite a few cash withdrawals over the next two or three weeks — of which I’ll see that you get an itemised account for each one. And if there’s some money left over and this all goes to plan there might even be a little drink in it for me. What do you reckon?’ Norton added with a smile.
    â€˜There’ll be a hundred grand in your name in the ANZ bank at Bondi Junction first thing Monday morning,’ nodded Price. ‘Sheldon can take you up there and you can sort out the signatures and all that. Okay?’
    â€˜Leave it till Wednesday. ’Cause I won’t know for sure whether it’ll be on till then.’
    â€˜Okay.’
    â€˜And if I have to take the time off, Billy, can you get Danny McCormack or someone up here?’
    â€˜Sure. No problems at all.’
    â€˜Right then,’ said Norton, tossing his stubbie in the bin as he moved to the bar to get a fresh one. ‘That’s about all I need for the time being.’
    â€˜Hey hold on a minute,’ protested Eddie Salita. ‘Don’t leave us all up in suspenders, Les. This is all very blood mysterious. Strange phone calls to Dirranbandi. Secret bank accounts. Time off from work. Just what are you up to?’
    â€˜I’ll let you know a bit more about it on Wednesday. But Eddie. If this works out like it should — mate, you’ll deadset shit yourself. Now,’ Norton added, glancing around the room. ‘Anybody else want a drink while I’m up?’
    They ended up leaving the club around four-thirty. Norton refused to elaborate any more on what he’d already told them, despite persistent and sometimes exasperated questioning from Eddie and Billy. He just kept the smug smile on his face and told them to be patient, they’d know what was going on on Wednesday — all going well.
    Sunday Les didn’t do a great deal. As was his normal procedure at the end of his working week, he was up around lunchtime. And as it wasn’t a bad late spring day he went down to North Bondi for a hang in the sun and a mag to some of his old football mates from Easts. He went for a paddle on a surf-ski he borrowed from the surf club, had a few beers at the Icebergs in the late afternoon, then it was a huge stack of takeaway Chinese food and home to watch the Sunday night movie on TV. Warren, who shared with him, invited Les down the Sheaf at Double Bay for a bit of a rage and maybe bring a couple of girls back home for a drink later, but Norton declined, saying he wanted to have an early night as there were a few things on his mind and he intended getting up early in the morning.
    Norton glanced at the phone a couple of times while he was watching the movie, but didn’t bother to ring his brother. He knew Murray and Elaine used to like to get on the drink on Sunday night, kick up their