Freckles(55)

Told you. Spanner in the Village Bakery.

What kind of name is Spanner.

What kind of name is Rooster.

What kind of name is Freckles.

What kind of name is Jazz.

He sucks in air. Jasmine.

So what’s with the stinky mood this morning.

I called an early meeting. No one showed up. After yesterday, showing you around, I was embarrassed by their unprofessionalism. But it’s hard to get your mates to work for you.

They’re your friends.

Most of them from school. We grew up gaming together. My dream is their dream and as soon as I could set up this business, I asked them to work with me.

For you.

Yeah well.

For you.

Okay.

And your uncle with the fancy office with the best view in the building, who does he work for.

Well he’s in kind of an advisory, consultant, management, agent type role. He did the deals for me from the beginning, organised the sponsorship. He’s the one who saw the potential in a fourteen-year-old gamer on YouTube.

What does he do now in his big office.

He, well … he, well, there’s no actual product yet for him to sell. All the games are in development – loads of them actually, are in development, some of the ones I showed you yesterday. I brought Andy and Ben in for that. They’re qualified game software developers, they’re focused on the more technical side of building the game, whereas I’m on the creative side. I need them all. The more time I’m away from gaming though, the less of a fan base I’ll have, so my uncle is keeping that Rooster awareness campaign going. Conventions, sponsorships, the occasional game endorsement, teaming up with other YouTubers, that kind of thing.

And you pay him. He works for you. Just as your friends do. You’re the boss.

I’m not. It’s a different kind of business. I’m young, they’re young, he’s my uncle, my mum’s his sister. I can’t be … you know, barking at them. I prefer to create a place where people want to be. That’s why we have the pets, the games room – they’re allowed to have fun, so they want to come to work.

Only they don’t.

I don’t want them to be afraid of me. I don’t want my mum to be stuck between me and my uncle.

They don’t have to fear you to respect you. Jazz doesn’t know her arse from her elbow, Andy’s one of the rudest people I’ve ever met, and they’re masquerading as people who know what they’re doing.

You always say it how you see it.

Sugar-coating is for Belgian waffles, I say. Now I understand why the phrase was on your mind, why you passed it on to me. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You’re the one who has built a team around you. You’re trying to surround yourself with a certain type of people to become a certain type of a person. But did you get the people right, I muse. Hmmm. Have you, too, become lazy, obnoxious and working in the business you used to love for all the wrong reasons.

Ouch, he smiles.

We walk in silence for a while.

You hated me before I said anything to you, he says.

That’s true.

Why.

Your car.

Don’t you think that’s very closed-minded of you.

Yes, it is. Because you’re actually quite okay.

He shakes his head and laughs.

It makes me confused about the yellow car. It doesn’t seem to match who you are.

What’s wrong with a yellow Ferrari.

What’s right about it.

I bought the Ferrari because it was my dream to have a sports car. Like most boys. And when I bought it, I felt like it was the best moment in my life. That I’d made it. But you’re right about it not fitting me and my life. I still live at home with my parents … Truth is, I can’t drive it home because of the speed bumps in the housing estate, so I have to park it at a garage every day. I call my dad and he meets me there and drives me home on his way back from work. So much for independence and making it in the world.

I laugh.

And the reason it’s yellow is because it was the only one they had in stock. I actually wanted a silver one. Gunmetal with a red interior, but I had to wait months for that … I was so excited, I couldn’t wait. Shouldn’t you be giving tickets or something, we’re just walking here.

You know there are a lot of days when I don’t issue many tickets. I’m not an animal.

What about them.

We look across to a van parked on a wide pavement. Two men are fitting windows to a house. When working with glass, I explain, rules state you must park very close to the spot, so they’re allowed on the pavement.

Oh.

You’re disappointed, I laugh.

I want to get someone. I want some action.

It’s not about getting people, Tristan, it’s about observing the law, respecting the rules.

You really believe that.

Of course, why do you look so surprised. You think I was doing this to catch people out. Rules are a gift. Wouldn’t you love a rule book to help you out of your little hole at work right now. I mean, why else would you be looking for motivational quotes. You want to be guided. Isn’t that just another way of following rules.

He gets the action he wants when we circle back to the village and see a white van parked on double yellow lines outside a house. Hazard lights on. The hallway door is open and the builder is inside sawing wood.