t was 8:00 a.m. in Park Road, and Walid had just arrived for Iwork.
“WALLY!” Gordon shouted. “Come here.”
“Yes, Gord.”
“Sit. Interesting, huh?”
“You mean the things we found last night?”
“What else, Wally? We need to go inside again.”
“What now, Gord? It’s only eight o’clock.”
“I mean, tonight, Wally. We need to photocopy stuff and check everything on Khan’s computer. There were hundreds of files we need to open.”
“And thousands of emails,” Walid added.
“Dead right, Wally. Now listen to me. I called Roger, Roger called Colin Asher and Kevin sent them all the photographs he took last night.”
“Good,” Walid said watching Gordon’s knees jigging up and down in excitement. Walid’s knees started doing exactly the same. “What is Colin Asher going to do?”
“No idea, yet Wally. It was only a few hours ago but remind me, what’s the name of the old guy, the maths teacher at Woodland’s School?
“I didn’t go to school, Gord. I was in Syria.”
“Ah yes. Why do I always think you’ve been here for eighteen years?”
“Maybe it just feels like eighteen years, Gord. But Winston knows him. He calls him Willie.”
“Willie and Wally, huh? Reminds me of Pinky and Perky.”
“Who are they, Gord?”
“Parrots, Wally. One day, I’ll introduce you to Pinky. Perky died, and Pinky is a bit lonesome. Would you like to meet him, Wally? But what were we discussing? Oh yes, Mr.
Willie.”
“It’s Wilkins, I think, Gord.”
“That’s him. Tommy Wilkins. Has he still got long hair, or has he lost it all?”
“He’s still got it - one of those horse tails tied in a rubber band. I met him at Winston’s place. He’s teaching Winston how to hack computers.”
“That’s him -Willie is who we need. Someone who does things for free after school,” Gordon said excitedly. “It was Kurt who mentioned him to me once. Willie then called around after school and fixed this darned computer. That was two years ago. The computer’s still going and Willie didn’t charge a penny. Just accepted a cup of tea and a long chat about whether he could bring a group of boys here to look at a 1.6 litre Ford engine that was lying in pieces and if we could use the chain pulley to teach basic physics, geometry, and gears. ‘Great idea,’ I said. ‘I’ll provide some doughnuts and cans of coke. They’ll enjoy that.’”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. He called around a few days later and said he was fed up with the school’s health and safety regulations. They would need a full risk assessment and they’d have to wear goggles and helmets and yellow vests and I’d have to provide a list of hazards and those two kids had physical disabilities and the doughnuts had to be checked and that Coca-Cola was frowned on . . . and so it went on.
“But we spent an hour discussing why some boys struggle at school, why university is a pointless and expensive waste of time, and why employers still can’t find anyone to do a job like you do, Wally. Have you finished with that Fiat 500
manual by the way?”
Walid nodded. “Back on the shelf, Gord.”
“Good man. Call Winston, Wally. Get Willie’s phone number, and I’ll see if he’s free. By the way we call it a pony tail but horse tail will do.”