Two
Itâs now four weeks later. Mickâs house.
The music continues in the background, giving the sense that a party is happening elsewhere.
Mick and Elin enter Mickâs office, both carrying drinks.
Mick So tell me, youâve been in Frankâs chair for what is it, four months now? Really it feels like about five minutes.
Elin Not to me. And itâs not Frankâs chair anymore, by the way. I had it swapped out for something more ergonomic.
Mick Nonetheless itâs nice to actually meet you. Face to face.
Elin Well, thank you for inviting me to your party. Must say, it came a little unexpected.
Mick Itâs a chance for us to get to know each other. Build bridges. Set the record straight. Would you like a top up?
Elin No, thank you. What records need straightening?
Mick Oh, come on. Youâve been nursing that all night. You donât want to make my other guests nervous, do you? If the only sober person in the room is the editor of the Peopleâs Messenger!
Elin Must be exhausting, having such a sociable job, Mr Powell.
Mick You have to be present for all in the community. A shift at the recycling plant here, a morning at the food bank there. And then . . .
Elin Cocktail parties.
Mick The well-heeled need government too, letâs not forget that!
Elin So the poor need food banks and the rich need, what was that waiter carrying around out there, five types of cheese?
Mick Oh, itâs probably a bit much. You know what it is, Iâm excited. This place has been quiet for too long. Katherine, my wife, used to have us host parties all the time.
Elin Oh, I donât think Iâve met her yet.
Mick Uh, sheâs not with us anymore.
Elin Oh, Iâm sorry. I didnât know.
Mick No, no. Itâs all part of us getting to know each other.
As people, I mean, rather than . . .
Elin Adversaries?
Mick Youâll have to meet my daughter, though, Hannah. She actually paused her studies to be a part of this. Is that not saying something? Youth flocking back to be here. Do you really not want another drink?
Elin No, thank you.
Mick Well, I will. Weâve got reason to celebrate, after all.
Mick finds a bottle and tops up his drink.
Westra have begun work and they say theyâre encouraged by the start of the testing. Iâm not a man of science but I am a man of optimism and if theyâre encouraged then I am too. As seems everybody.
Elin Must have been a surprise to Westra. Iâm not sure fossil fuel companies are used to being clapped into the areas they arrive into.
Mick Thatâs because weâre smart around here.
Elin Donât you think thereâs a chance weâre being taken for a ride?
Mick Do you know what that is? That instinct? Itâs inherited trauma. My daughter has a book on it, Iâve read the cover. This country carries its history too heavily. Weâre too suspicious, too cynical. Still got this feeling of inferiority with them lot over the border, we canât believe a good thing when it falls on our laps.
Elin Hardly fell in our laps, you lobbied hard for this. There have been calls for us to run a profile on you. A glossy front page. Mick Powell, hero of the people. What would you make of that?
Mick This isnât about me. Iâm not after public credit.
Elin Not until an election, anyway.
Mick I also promised to renovate the toilets in the park, and I donât expect people to think of me every time they flush.
Elin Oh, Iâm sure some do.
Mick Whatâs that?
Elin So, this isnât about your own ambitions beyond the town?
Mick What is beyond this town? Whatâs out there that we canât do here? Whatâs radical today, I think, is to look closer to home. To protect what you have. This place may have a meaningful history, but it has to have a meaningful future too. This Westra deal is just the start. And it wonât be long before youâre going to have to admit you were wrong.
Elin Iâm sorry?
Mick Thatâs a start.
Elin Iâm serious.
Mick Oh, come on. You accused me of signing a deal with the devil. Corporate gangsters, you called them. Never mind the projected booms in employment, house prices and tax revenue, you had an agenda. You wanted it stopped. But look. We didnât sell our souls, no black clouds yawned over our heads and rained pestilence upon us.
Elin And what if they donât find gas. Do you have a plan B?
Mick Food has always been important in my family, Elin. My great granddad was a cook in the First World War. He found a pride in feeding people. And then when he came back home after winning the war he opened a restaurant, not far from here, in fact. That was the start of a family business, right up to my father. And something he always said to me was that there are more nerve endings in the stomach than there are in the brain. Did you know that? Itâs how the nervous system works. Trust your gut, my dad would say. Itâs smarter than you. Anyway, I feel it here now, wi...