Day 107 - Bollywood in Budgee Springs - Chapter 5 (1045 words)

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Bollywood in Budgee Springs

Chapter 5

There was no such thing as a surprise arrival in Budgee Springs, long before the internet and mobile phones there was the Bush Telegraph, though the idea of Bush was long gone from the area of Budgee Springs, the “Springs” having dried up many centuries ago. None the less the locals had their own form of Bush Telegraph in that all of the houses, farms, stations or property surrounding the township were all connected by one thing over the many, many hectares of open land. They were all neighbours and they all knew each other, for better or worse.

The convoy of trucks, vans and cars kicking up the dirt careening through the countryside was a trail of dust that could be seen for miles, tracked and watched for well over an hour before the crew got within visual distance of the town itself. The first people that saw them called a friend down the road, and so on and so on until someone let the Whistle know that the Film Crew where on the way and they let Charlie know. Charlie sat on the information for a few minutes and then called Ella first, to allow the MoM members set up their welcome first, and once they had a halfway decent head start, he called his son's assistant and woman who he had trained and had been in the Mayor's office longer than anyone except Charlie himself. She made a note on a piece of paper and left it on Max's desk, though he was out at the café emailing a few messages here and there.

There used to be Cell Phone coverage in Budgee Springs and Gordon's Gully but they were a long way from the network this far out in the country. There was a central tower that provided access but it had been in an unfortunate accident involving a sink hole that left the area bereft of service. The replacement was supposedly coming at some point, but it had been almost a year since the service had died and there was still no word on when the town would get it back. In the mean time the land lines still worked and the Internet connection while spotty was still up at the local café where a dial up connection was the best they could manage for the time being. One of Max's plans coming from the income they would get from the Film coming to the town was to invest in the infrastructure and get a dedicated satellite connection, one that could service the whole town from somewhere central like the Mayor's office or the Whistle. He just had to keep the production on schedule, the town would get a bonus for the shoot wrapping on time.

Max was checking his watch and looking at the expected arrival time when the cars pulled into the main street, they were a few hours earlier than he had been told they would arrive and panic set in as he realised that it was them pouring into the main street, car after car, truck and vans all in a line. He sprinted away from the café and out to the place where they were pulling in and he skidded to a halt when he saw that there was a huge banner stretching across the street, and a small area set up in front of the sign, Welcome to Budgee Springs.

There was Charlie smiling broadly next to Ella who was looking about for Max, spotting him and waving furiously to him to come over. Charlie graciously takes a step back as his son the Mayor runs up and shudders into position and dusts off his clothes and takes a deep breath.

Charlie leans into his son's ear and whispers “About bloody time son. Not a good look for a Mayor to keep guests waiting.”

Max is blushing, caught short by the change in schedule as the lead car door opens and an Indian Man who was about the same age was Max and looking just as nervous takes a few hesitant steps forward, then puts on a huge smile and extends his hand to the Mayor. They shake hands each as happy as the other to see that the person they are dealing with seems is ill at ease with the situation as each other. They can feel the tension in each others arms fall away and the handshake is dangerously close to becoming an embrace of relief.

“Welcome to our humble town of Budgee Springs. We are so very pleased to have you as our honoured guests and everyone here is looking forward to helping you in whatever ways we can over the next couple of weeks during your film.”

The man nods, and the people who are with him, piling out of the cars behind him are joining in, but with the bulk of them it's more of a head-wobble than nodding, and while Max barely notices this having done business with Indian people before Charlie is frowning and asks Ella louder than he intended “What’s wrong with these fella's heads?” getting a thump from her, a scowl for Charlie and a smile for the director.

“Hello, I am pleased to meet you as well. My name is Ashutosh, but it would be better perhaps if you called me Ash?” Ash spoke in a very cultured tone, with an English accent more British than most British people Australians encountered.

“Ash it is then, can I introduce you to some of the distinguished citizens of our town? This is Ella, she is the head of the welcoming committee, and this is my father Charles Clarke, he's the senior. And I am the junior”

“Senior? Is your name not Max Clarke?” Ash sounded confused and pulled out a tablet and was checking the notes he had been given. “I'm so sorry, it seems we may have been given some erroneous information about ...”

Max waved his hand and explained about the taking of his middle name to differentiate between him and his father, getting more nods from the people nearby and in return allowing the men to bond a little more, though neither of them knowing it that well yet.