Miss Peeg Meets Hando

Miss Peeg peered out of the front window; surely he wasn’t coming in here. She’d been watching the shaved headed man walking back and forth in front of the office for the last ten minutes. She couldn’t stand it any longer.

"Excuse me young man, are you looking for someone, may I help you?" She stood tall in the doorway. He stopped and turned, the most amazing eyes, still he was a strange looking man.

"Un yeah, is the solicitor here?"

"He should be here within the next fifteen minutes would you like to come inside and wait?"

"Nah…I’ll come back some other time." He started to leave.

Miss Peeg’s interest was up, what could this strange looking man want with Mr. Roberts? "He’s only next door, gone for his lunch and is due back in fifteen minutes, he’s always prompt. Do you have an appointment?" knowing he didn’t.

"I have to have an appointment to see him?" he looked at her strangely.

"It’s the usual practice for a solicitor."

"I ain’t looking to hire him."

"I see," she said not seeing at all. "Do you know Mr. Roberts?"

"That his name?"

Ah so…"perhaps I can be of help to you, I’m his assistant Miss Peeg."

"It’s about the cleaning and painting." He mumbled

"Ah, the flat conversion upstairs…" perhaps he was a worker

"Look I don’t know anything about a flat; I came here to see about cleaning the…paint off the building. I’ll come back when he’s here." He turned and stopped seeing Richie coming out of the boarding house tavern.

Richie slowed when he saw Hando outside his office and then walked up to him. "Hello Hando…what can I do for you?"

"For me…nothing," he looked Richie in the eye, "I’ve come to see about cleaning this paint off your building."

"Well…I’m glad to hear that, it’s been quite an eyesore in our community, an embarrassment for the people who live here."

Hando wasn’t moved, "so what do I need to do?"

"Come inside we’ll talk about it. You’ve met Miss Peeg? This is Hando, spray paint artist."

Miss Peeg’s smile didn’t quite make it to her eyes, so this was the one. Now that he was inside she looked him over seeing the tattoos on his arms and above his collar…why would an otherwise good looking young man do such a thing to his body.

Richie led him inside his office, "have a seat."

Hando sat down in one of the leather chairs facing Richie’s desk and stared at Richie.

Riche stared back a minute, "Let me tell you something Hando, you don’t intimidate me, you don’t scare me okay, I’ve faced some real hard cases in my life, you ain’t one of them…just so you know where I’m coming from. I have looked into what it’s going to take to clean up the mess you made. The building is going to have to be primed and painted. The stuff you sprayed all over it doesn’t wash off."

"So I just paint over it?"

"Yeah…pretty much. I had one of the contractors that’s working out here in The Glen look at it; he says it should be pressure washed first. So are you going to do the work?"

"I planned on it."

"Fine…find a pressure washer and clean off what you can with that. Then you’re going to have to go into Coffs and buy the paint, primer and tint. You got to find a ladder, brushes; scrapers whatever it’s going to take and you’re footing the bill."

"How much…is the bill?"

"I have no idea…that ain’t my problem Hando." Richie sat back in his chair.

Hando stood up and turned to go he stopped and turned back to Richie, "I ain’t never painted anything before."

Richie smiled, "well this will be a learning experience for you Hando…in more ways than one, who knows you might like painting with a brush instead of a spray can. Talk to the people at the paint store, Miss Peeg has the information on what was used on this building when I built it, they can advise you what you will need and what it will cost you."

Miss Peeg hearing the last words was already in her file cabinet pulling out the information. She had it copied for him when he came out of Richie’s office.

"This is what you will need to show to the people in Coffs," she handed him a paper.

Richie came to his door and watched Hando leave he glanced over at Miss Peeg who was also watching him walk to his car.

"In all my travels I don’t think I have ever encountered a skin head that is what he’s is called?" she asked.

"That’s what he was Miss Peeg and is still trying to be." Richie smiled slightly and walked back in his office. He knew all about Hando, where he was born, where he went to school and what he was involved in prior to the big bust up of the gang in Melbourne. He was a smart guy to have left when he did otherwise he would be doing time like his buddies.

Miss Peeg sat down at her computer and looked up skinheads. "Oh dear," she said aloud. Well she would see about that surely that young man could be turned around.