BoomBust
By Lisa Chappel
1
Cassoulet
‘To a successful sale,’ said Malcolm as the three couples raised their glasses in a toast, the flickering candle light cast rippling shadows on the wall and the glasses themselves looked like Chinese Lanterns.
They sat around a mahogany dining table on modern chrome and white leather chairs. The china was old fashioned, the candelabras super modern. Sleek meets bohemian thought Andrea. An effect that only her best friend, Lu and a swag of cash could pull off.
‘Mmmmm. Some more red would be lovely – this is a great casserole,’ said Alannah as she finished off another mouthful. She uncurled her bright red nails from around the stem of her wine glass and slid it in the direction of Simon who was pouring himself a rather generous slosh. As she leaned forward, nearer the bean casserole, she sniffed and laughed.
’Maybe I should go off the red, because I could swear that was bacon I can smell!’ She looked down at her plate her eyes widening. Then she looked at the casserole dish sitting on the table.
‘No….it’s definitely not…. it’s a bean cassoulet….I mean casserole,’ said Lu.
Andrea sniffed. The smell of bacon was undeniable. Now that the word had been mentioned.
‘Lu. Maybe…. did you cook bacon today, for lunch?’
Lu nodded vigorously as Alannah pushed her serve of now suspect casserole to the side of her plate and nudged the lettuce and spinach around vigorously. Everyone watched her doing it, and while she didn’t say anything it was clear she wasn’t going to eat any more. Andrea felt her breath tighten. The vision of this Rich List woman picking through her wilted greens was embarrassing. Draped in camel jersey, huge diamonds on her ears and around her neck, her clothes might be casual but everything about her kind of casual elegance suggested she brooked no opposition – it was coordinated with military precision. The slight flare of her nostrils suggested that to cause any discomfort in her world would be interpreted as an act of war. Andrea shuddered.
‘Ah Cassoulet…..I remember a lovely trip we took in
‘That was over twenty years ago, dear. I wish you wouldn’t bring that up…. …..not eating meat is my spiritual practice…and I don’t like to be reminded of those earlier days….even the smell….’
Kyle laughed, ‘Don’t worry honey, they are not forcing you to eat it….or anything cooked in it so don’t sweat…and as for our happy days, the reference was accidental, believe me.’
Malcolm looked at Lu questioningly. Lulu smiled the sort of smile that looked like it was stretched on canvas. Alannah glanced up and saw the exchange.
‘You….did know that……this bean casserole, the beans weren’t cooked with the meat?’ Alannah asked.
Lulu started. Andrea watched, her friend wouldn’t lie. That was the problem. She had watched Lu carefully pick out the haricot beans and prepare them in their own special casserole dish. There would be red meat juices and duck fat all through it. Silence. Andrea held her breath, what would Lu say. Alannah stopped moving lettuce around on the plate. And everyone stopped, waiting for her next move. Malcolm slugged a big mouthful of the red wine. Lulu stared at him across the table. Accusing.
‘Um… sorry, I must have misheard Malcolm, I didn’t realize that I couldn’t….’ said Lulu as Alannah went very pale and pushed her chair away from the table, clearly unable or unwilling to speak…’ I didn’t realize…’ Alannah was turning green while Lu spoke.
Andrea intervened. ‘Bathroom is downstairs,’ she said . Alannah got up and headed in that direction.
Lu, between clenched teeth, held up the current bottle of wine as if it were a weapon. ‘More red, anyone?’ she asked no one in particular.
Silence at the table. Implements were downed. All reached for their glasses and gulped in tandem. Andrea leapt up from the table and started clearing the dirty plates to distract attention. ‘Let me help clean up. Malcolm, have you shown Simon and Kyle your new Xbox?’
Simon, Malcolm and Kyle scraped their chairs back almost in unison and broke into an overly animated discussion about the Xbox on their way towards the stairs. Andrea leaned in towards Lu, who was clearing plates with a death wish. ‘So this is the peril of open plan - if you get dinner party overwhelm, everyone can hear you scream,’ whispered Andrea as Lu kept clanging the plates breathing very jagged, shallow, tear-tinged breaths.
‘Oh God,’ said Lu. ‘I am…mortified….’ she continued. ‘But what a bitch – she’s being such a drama queen about it…Andrea, I’m so sorry, if you guys don’t get the job because of this…’
Andrea smiled.
‘If we don’t then so be it. I’m just so glad to be here, with you, that you went to all this effort for me and that I don’t have to cook tonight. Relax. We’ll all survive - even Alannah…..the duck fat will probably do her the world of good.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Kyle put his hand on Malcolm’s shoulder as they walked down towards the study.
‘No,, fault is mine…….’ said Malcolm. ‘Will you let her know that it wasn’t Lu, I clean forgot to tell her Alannah was a no tolerance vegetarian.’
‘Mate, just float the Castle, get me my eight hundred million dollars and we’re square. Anyway, she’s so bloody figure obsessed that she would have hucked it all up later.’ Kyle looked in the direction of the stairs. ‘The only difference is whose bathroom. So. Simon….I hear good things about Validation Services. Malcolm wants me to get you in to audit our books for the Float. How long have you been going?’
‘Just over a year,’ said Simon.
‘And business good?’
Simon smiled.
‘Yeah.’
Kyle looked at him.
‘OK. So what else do you do other than audit?’
‘Well, my background is mergers and acquisitions, so we do a bit of valuation work. Andrea has the insurance, Chief Financial Officer background. We do a lot of work with insurance clients.’
Kyle looked straight into Simon’s eyes. ‘But it could be better right? I hoisted myself up from nothing once too. Bloody nightmare. Working with your lover ain’t a breeze either…..’
Simon paused as if caught out. Malcolm opened the door to the study and jumped into the silence. ‘The great bit about Validation Services is they have an experience set your bidders will value and you’ll get the focus you want. No fluffing around, ‘ said Malcolm.
‘And we’re smaller so the pricing is attractive,‘ said Simon perhaps a little too eagerly.
‘Sure that would make a change’ Kyle rubbed his chin and almost purred. Then he stopped speaking. But no one took the space. He was clearly expecting their attention.
‘My accountants are slow as they please and they charge like wounded bulls….but of course they can’t bid for this business – conflict of interest
If you want a look in email me Monday. Now – Malcolm - you promised me Doom…...’
‘Yeah’ said Malcolm. ‘You’ll like this, I have it on the no death option.’
‘Wish I could do that for my footy team – they got caned last week’ said Kyle.
‘They won’t make it past the semi final at this rate.’
Malcolm nodded at Simon. ‘Well, Kyle, after tonight you have one extra option and you’ve met the principals. So let’s cut to the chase - you can play whatever position you want, and I’ve put it on unlimited weapons…’
Kyle laughed. ‘Perfect.’
‘Can we join you?’ asked Lu who had a slight slur to her voice. She and Andrea walked in and before they could sit down Alannah passed them, fresh from the bathroom and sat down right next to Simon. She leant back on the sofa.
‘Ah, I see you guys have got to the business end of this. Huh. The best kind of business. Don’t let me interrupt you….’ she said as Simon, who seemed distracted by her closeness, was being sprayed by Malcolm’s machine gun fire.
‘Are you dead?’ asked Andrea, speaking from the back of the room.
‘Nope. Malcolm has it on no death.’
‘This is great,’ said Kyle. ‘You’ve been promising me this game for ages and here we are. I haven’t played this since I was at Uni…..’
‘What, you mean in prehistory?’ asked Alannah. ‘Show me how to play?’ she purred , turning to Simon.
‘Have you played Doom before?’ asked Simon.
‘No, I’m afraid I’m rather clueless. You’ll have to show me….everything…..’ said Alannah, languidly. Andrea had to turn away as Alannah draped herself into the contours of the couch, kicked her shoes off and revealed blood-red polished toe nails. They sliced the air as she swung them back and forward. The sensible part of the evening had clearly begun.
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