Chapter 4
Earlier at his
office in Alotau, Tomwaya had obtained from the passenger for his own business
records scant details on what village he was traveling to, how much that would
cost, the type of transport appropriate for the trip – except, of course,
asking for more information on the client’s employment, location of job,
spouse, dependents, next of kin if any, and so on. He simply said fill in this
form, sir, and the girls will complete the rest of the details later. He was
more concerned with the thought that he would be earning some good money that
day. Aside from that, he resolved not to allow any one of his employees handle
his brand new and coveted double-cab four-wheel drive in transporting the
passenger from Port Moresby, except himself.
At breakfast a few hours before that his
wife, Nathalie, had warned him of whom he chose to transport across the rough
terrain from Alotau to the Raba Raba district, including the dreaded Cape Vogel
area. Hadn’t he noticed, she warned him that morning when he told her where he
would be driving to that day, they had to let Pomio Queen remain at
anchor out at the bay for two hours while the police went through each
passenger’s baggage checking for drugs, evidence of arms smuggling, black
market liquor and so on. There were rumors going on as well that people from
Baniara within Cape Vogel itself were now sporting strange connections with certain
religious sects throughout the country, hadn’t he heard? He should be more
careful whom he was dealing with. And anyhow, she concluded, you can’t trust
these Baniaras. The Governor of the Milne Bay Province is from Baniara, mind
you.
Now, as Tomwaya looked at his passenger slumbering away beside him, it
occurred to him that his wife could have been speaking sense after all. Did he
know his client’s name? All he did was ask the city traveler to fill in the
required forms “and leave the rest to the girls” without taking the trouble to
check what was written there. The “girls” in this case meant Nathalie and her
nieces at the office who did the rest of book-keeping for him. Now he just did
not know who his passenger was, least of all memorize his name if he had to.
