THE ROAD TO PREDATION REDOUX*

This post will use a clever split time device in keeping with the wanky title and the film references in the way that that plagiarist Quentin Tarantino famously does. SEE HERE

MID 1970s

Richard ushered Peter and the two women out of the door of his motel unit which he'd been living in for some months since he had taken up the music teaching position at the local high school.

"We have to hurry along" he explained "the club doesn't like people to eat too late. We are in the King Country you know"

 He giggled at something that Robyn and her sister didn't understand. I did. Richard, when at university had self-titled himself as The King of The White Sports Coat And The Pink Carnation Society which is another story.

Peter waited while Richard was locking up and noticed that he was wearing glasses or some sort of sunglasses.

"Why are you wearing sunglasses? It'll be dark soon" he asked.
"Um, they're special glasses that Robyn posted up to me in advance of her visit. She asked me to wear them" he said.
"Fine, no worries" said Peter, looking askance at Richard and then having a closer look at Robyn.

He shrugged and joined the two women at the car. Richard was driving as only he seemed to know the way to 'The Club' in Miriama Street. In typical Richard fashion the half a kilometre drive took about a half hour but it was still before 5 O'clock - tea-time in rural communities. 'The Club' turned out to be the Taumaranui Cosmopolitan Club. It wasn't the grandiose edifice that Peter was hoping for with images of London gentlemen clubs filling his mind.

NOT THIS

THIS

"Oh" he said.

Richard parked out front of the club, hopped out and opened the doors for Robyn and her sister. He left Peter to open his own door and fussed and fumbled around the women. Peter didn't mind as he needed to make a quick change of clothes which he had with him and dressed in 'rural chic' style.

The image above isn't accurate however as it is one that Richard provided. Peter, at the time in the mid 1970s had a physique normally seen in reproductions of Donatello's sculptures.

Like this but with clothes on

Richard hustled everyone into the club and Peter caught him eying up the women lasciviously.

This is what Richard saw:

 Peter in turn looked closely at Richard and the dribble of saliva going down his chin and wondered. He wondered about those glasses.



JANUARY 2020

Peter had driven from Wellington, leaving The Old Girl to settle in to her new apartment. In the old days he would have thought nothing of driving straight to Auckland but age and increased traffic made him decide to break the journey in two. He went straight ahead at Bulls instead of turning right and drove to W(h)anganui the city that now has an extra and unnecessary 'h' in it. Quickly driving through the city he found the route to Raetihi and drove through the Para Paras, a windy road through the W(h)anganui hills. He passed the area where he, Richard, Chris, Sue, Sue's sister, Tony, Mike, Noel and maybe some others (Robert?) had two years in succession attended the Wanganui (as it was spelled then) folk festival. He smiled at his recollections of the folly of some of the group. Not his own of course. He was learning from Robert how to be 'holier than thou'.

At Raetihi Peter filled the car with petrol and had a quick look for the Raetihi cottage hospital where he had spent a week after a bad skiing accident in 1986 (skiing off-trail on Mount Ruapehu). He couldn't find it. It was gone, another victim of centralisation and cutbacks. They had treated him well there in a time when compassion and human interaction was more important than cash-flows, budgets and profit.   SEE HERE
He arrived in Ohakune soon after and looked for accommodation. Three motel/ski lodges he checked out had unmanned offices with no sign of anyone wanting to deal with a visitor. He kept going to National Park where all of the lodges were occupied (it was after 5PM) and at one that he asked about a deal the helpful woman said that they were full but she looked up accommodation options in Taumaranui.

"I'm an ordinary joker, growin' old before me time, 'cause me heart's in Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line. In Taumarunui, Taumarunui, Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line! You can get to Taumarunui going North or going South, you pull in there at midnight and there's cinders in your mouth. You've got cinders in your whiskers and a cinder in your eye, so you pop off to Refreshments for a cuppa tea and a pie, in Taumarunui........ " But that's another story.


Peter drove to Taumaranui, arriving around 6PM and had a look at Kelly's Motel which had been recommended. He asked for a deal and the sensible proprietor gave him keys to the 'family villa' a two bedroom unit with separate kitchen and living room. The cost was $100 down from the normal $180. After a quick shower and feeling refreshed Peter set off to explore the town and find a nice eatery. Memories of the mid 1970s flooded his mind. Some of the memories were of the mid 1970s in this very town - memories that he thought he had expunged from his consciousness. Taumaranui. Richard. The Taumaraunui Cosmopolitan Club! Aaaarggghhh!

(To be continued).




* A little etymological joke there.