The Yellow Cottage

"What?"

"Never mind -- I'll assist you into a new learning curve the night after next as tomorrow night the pool will need to be super-chlorinated through the old filters to rid the piping of crap and I'll change the filters and adjust the water balance."

"You seem to know about spa pools?"

"I worked on pool installations and maintenance during the summer holidays during my first year at Varsity."

She giggled. "You plumb me very well."

"Lucky lady."

Jess hugged him and said it would be a delight to have a man around the house. "Sit down for the best feast I've prepared for any guy interested in my plumbing."

"Oh, am I to share you?" he said, and just managed to grab a flying wet dishcloth aimed at his face.

The advantage -- or perhaps for some disadvantage -- of not having to leave one's mutually attracted partner after an action-filled pleasant evening hit Scott, bringing a drowsy grin to his face at dawn next morning when he became aware of his darling burrowing under the sheet in search of a morning erection. Darling? He sighed knowing he'd conferred the title in thought before his natural reserve could filter it. No matter, no harm done, as he'd not uttered it. Then again perhaps she deserved to hear it.

"Good morning darling," he whispered almost too low for voice recognition. She heard though, acknowledging with a pleased groan because her mouth was full.

Later that morning they went shopping, Jess now injecting the word 'darling' at least once an hour and appearing to be enjoying having a licence to be more familiar with him. Once aware of what she was doing he dropped in 'sweetheart' early in the piece and knew immediately from her glance that she was soaring, recognising all verbal restraint between them had gone. That surprised him as he'd assumed it would take them days to adjust at being so close together and this was bigger than just a week's fling on holiday. He grinned thinking the next thing she'd be asking him to shave 'down there'.

Scott bought her a bikini. It was yellow with her smallest top ever.

"I'll look indecent and the beach warden will order me off the beach," she warned and he simply laughed, saying compared with what teenagers wore her string-tied top was voluminous.

"It's short of being overly daring, I think," said the young shop assistant, not doubt eager to make her first sale of the day.

Jess remained dithering until Scott said softly, "The girl in the yellow bikini from the yellow cottage." Her romantic mind took over and she told the shop assistant to wrap it.

At the pool sales and supplies centre Scott left the motor running, saying he'd be thirty minutes. He wanted to have a good look around. He invited her to drive off and amuse herself for that time.

"I haven't driven a vehicle for three months."

"This vehicle practically drives itself."

"I'm nervous."

"So am I with you talking like this. Flip into positive frame and drive off."

"Okay, if you're sure," but Jess found he was already walking into Pool Warehouse.

Forty-five minutes later Jess arrived back and was beaming. "I've purchased you a heavy glass and aluminium desk which they will delivered, probably this evening as the boss lives up our way."

"How much?"

"Mind your business. I've investing in your potential and for you being so right for me."

"Thanks," he grinned. "You wear your new bikini and I'll use my new desk."

Jess, still apprehensive about the tiny bikini, eyed him balefully and muttered, "You fight hard."

They were having coffee at home when Professor Julie Stuart called and Scott agreed to be in her office at 4:00 to sign his contract and take away all the data on a DVD plus copies of correspondence between the university research unit and the publisher. Scott then went out to work on the spa pool for the next couple of hours. He experienced no problems and left the pool filling up. Jess had called twice to inspect progress, wearing her new bikini.

Scott later found Julie preparing late lunch.

"Please undo my bikini top."

"Why?"

"I want to walk around topless for you and I like you undressing me."

"Really?"

"Yes, but there isn't time for sex. You'll need to shower and change and present at your best for signing your contact."

"Just a quick one?"

"No. You have your instructions Scott."

Christ, she was no better than his mother who was always ordering him what to do, Scott thought darkly. He undid the bikini top and then sat and pulled Jess over to the sofa and put her across his knee. He pulled down her bikini bottom and she guessed what was coming.

"Don't you dare Scott Street. If you do I'll never speak to you again."

Whack!

Jess squirmed and shouted, "You bastard!"

He smacked her four times and then said, "Never order me what to do. Suggest yes, but don't snap orders." He then let her go, watching her red face and attempts to hold back tears.

"You bully," she snarled, and threw herself at him, ripping his shirt open and biting around his nipple, hard enough to make him howl. Within a minute and a half they were slapping against each other in unrestrained passion and then lay in each other's arms, exhausted, and drifted off to sleep after he promised to never again spank her unless she requested it.

Scott arrived for his appointment with minutes to spare, having eaten his lunch when driving to the city. He'd wanted to lunch with Jess and skip the shower but instead of contesting that unsavoury intention Jess simply stood in front of him, looking at his bare chest and held a finger and thumb over her nose. He grinned, slapped her bare ass and hurried off to shower. Just before leaving Scott instructed Jess how to turn on the filter when the water had covered the jets and then the level when she should turn off the hose.

"Bye darling," she smiled happily, waving him off.

* * *

Julie greeted Scott with a lush kiss but without a body press. She looked great, and he said so, and she said he looked so neat and tidy, asking had his new girlfriend dressed him and combed his hair.

Scott said that wasn't the only things Jess did for him and Julie said "Yuk", grinned and called the head of research to her office.

Kevin Morissette, a bald and pot-bellied Canadian, greeted Scott warmly and congratulated Scott for an impressive CV. Scott raised Julie's eyebrow when he said, "Julie speaks very highly of you" because she knew she'd not mentioned anything about Kevin.

While Scott finished reading the single page contract Julie poured coffee and asked Kevin did he want Scott to liase with him directly and email a progress report each Tuesday and Thursday morning.

"The vice-chancellor is screaming for our analysis on the weighting of marks for our new course papers for next year and the adequacy of proposed course materials and I'm working on presenting two contract proposals -- one for the retail music sales industry and the other for a food chain. Perhaps you could consider authorizing Scott to bypass me apart from two brief weekly progress reports and interface directly with the publisher?"

"Yes that's fine. As soon as we've finished here with the signing take Scott with you and brief him."

Scott drove homewards well satisfied. That $22,000 was as good as banked as he intended working at least five to six-hour days on the processing and expected to finish within 150 hours rather than the 200 allocated. The only aspect he wasn't pleased about was his contact person at Falcon and Salmon Publishing Ltd was its executive editor called Linda Ewing whereas he'd been hoping it would be a middle management commissioning editor. That latter contact could have been beneficial if Jess could be convinced to submit her new manuscript to her for appraisal as he would when he produced a manuscript on whatever -- a proposed title for his non-fiction work was 'Clutter in the Female's Head'. That suggested appeal to male interviewers and male journalists and reeked absolutely of controversy. If he wrote on that theme he would admit to the chaos within the male head, but of course craftily down-playing that to stoke reaction.

However, it made sense to interface with this Linda woman as Kevin said she had commissioned the research.

Jess came out to greet him, looking pink-faced and rubbing an eye. Aha, Scott thought, all the sex and eating little to keep her weight down were sapping Jess's energy and she's been asleep. She closed the gates behind his vehicle and they kissed. Scott handed her his contract to read while he tested the spa water and adjusted the balance with chemicals. He checked the water temperature and found it well on the way to the level he required.

They drank coffee and Jess thanked him for allowing her to read his contract.

"That's sweet, I have no secrets to keep from you. I have to liase with some dame at the top of the tree. I was hoping I could seduce a commissioning editor while working with her and then persuade her to purchase your manuscript."

"No thank you," Jess said stiffly.

"Then I'll just use my native charm and..."

Her lips were firm, signalling she was putting her foot down. "Seduce who you like but please don't entice anyone to accept my manuscript -- I want it judged on merit rather than favour."

"Well, what about preparing the way by requesting someone read it?"

She thought on that for a few seconds. "Very well, if you can arrange that but I want you to do nothing more than that. I'll submit it first to my current publisher."

Scott almost felt the need to wipe his brow -- he'd expected no resistance. "Okay, but I suggest you send it to both publishers and in your submission state you have also sent a submission to the other publisher and name that publisher. While most publishers don't abide with multiple submissions they may consider just one competitor is acceptable and that could be to your advantage by hastening the assessment process."

"Well, whatever, but all this talk about my submission -- I've yet to write one word."

Scott smiled and said he had no problem with that, as it was all part of intelligent planning and preparation. "A donkey approach with your first manuscript although undesirable would be understandable. But after your first acceptance, and editor would expect your next submission to be well organized and maintaining a beautiful trot with bouts of cantering to the finishing post with nothing amiss. But enough of that, it's time to sit in the river and have the incoming tide wash over us."

"Good, my mother called and wants me to go up north with her and stay with my aunt for the weekend. I'll tell you about it in the water."

As far as he could remember, Jess had not mentioned family before. Scott learned her mother lived 'with the lazy bum' who was her father, who'd five years ago resigned and taken a part-time job when he turned fifty so could spend more time sailing his 12-metre keel yacht. Jess was the youngest and had two a brother and two sisters; her oldest sibling had just turned thirty-five. In turn she found that Scott's stepfather, whom she had yet to meet although he lived within fifty metres of the yellow cottage when he wasn't hauling road freight, married his mother four years ago. Her mother's only sister had just had her gallbladder removed so the trip north was to cheer her up.

"So I'll meet your mother on Friday?"

"Some other time. I'll walk out to the main highway to meet her. I want her to get a good look at you and the opportunity to talk to you because she's worried that I'm living with a man."

Scott wondered was Jess ashamed of him and then thought that was unlikely as scrubbed up he looked pretty good. Perhaps she wanted to give her mum more time to assess the boyfriend's suitability as a candidate for siring her grandchildren via Jess. Jess had mentioned her three married siblings had been unproductive so far, which to him indicated a matter of timing rather than being unable to reproduce.

The desk arrived as Jess was preparing dinner and Scott helped the guy lug it in. Pouring Jess a wine and beer for himself and the delivery guy Scott, asked him quietly to keep an eye out for two leather swivel executive chairs with low arms to be out of the way when key-boarding.

"I have two black leather veterans in good nick on the floor right now. One hundred each."

"Seventy -- I'm taking two remember?"

"Eighty."

"Done." Scott handed across the money and arranged delivery for the next evening.

When the guy left he set up his laptop and checking emails found one from the executive editor:

'Lovely to hear you've been contracted to process the results for us Scott. I'm most impressed by your CV. I invite you to my office at 4:00 on Friday to have a wee talk and to show you around. Then we shall meet my senior people socially when they join me for drinks at 5:00.'

He replied that he accepted and look forward to meeting the client. He noticed in the address line under the email that Mrs Linda Ewing was well qualified herself, with masters in literature and a BA majoring in French and Italian. He thought that unless she was a wiz in her profession she'd probably be about fifty to hold her position.

After Scott and Jess 'officially opened' the spa pool over a glass of sparkling wine and then ceremonially entered the pool, Jess said she was pleased he had a Friday night function but expressed concern that he'd be driving after drinking.

"Then I'll contact one of my mates for a bed. Male mates," he added for her benefit and Jess flashed him a lovely smile, guessing what that was about.

"Okay, let's discuss possible story lines."

"I've decided," she said primly.

That both surprised and pleased Scott. "When?"

"While you were away signing up for big money."

"Oh, I thought you had been sleeping?"

"Only for the last half hour after making my momentous decision."

Jess outlined her fact-fiction novel. Scott was most impressed and said he would search the university database for her as a political science post-graduate or two would bound to have done their thesis on similar lines.

"Oh, so my idea is not novel?"

"Probably not although in the public arena yes, and you can expand it without having to justify all of your thoughts but I have some ideas."

Jess proposed setting her novel in 2012 with the Australians pushing vigorously and offering incentives for New Zealand agreeing to become Australia's seventh State and in return accept full Australian sovereignty. Australia and New Zealand politicians had been in mostly informal talks about either full or partial merger but in May 2012 Australia stepped up ante by increasing the attractiveness of incentives, including a generous concession in aligning the value of the New Zealand dollar to the Australian dollar. New alarms over global warming had pushed Australia into seeking political union with New Zealand to secure long-term food and water supplies from New Zealand.

She'd said in her outline, "The relationships between the premiers of both countries are at an all-time low but Sandy Malone, elder daughter of Australian Prime Minister Helene Malone, displays incredible qualities as a political scientist in modifying the thinking of her mother and Australia's Ministers of Defence, Homeland Security and Economic Development. That softening in their attitudes leads to both nations stepping back and examining each other's motives rationally and then commencing more harmonious negotiations. Although on the opposite side, but understanding that failure to reach settlement fairly quickly would once again raise talk of a military intervention, Dame Helene Malone appoints her daughter as special envoy to work with New Zealand's special envoy, the internationally famous mountaineer and naturalist, Nathan Prime. In time Nathan (38) and Sandy (32) will entwine in a different sort of relationship that will have the unexpected result of appealing greatly to the more internally-minded and anti-war Under-40s generations of Australian and New Zealanders."

Naked and under the stars, aglow in the warm swirling water of the spa, Jess massaged both of Scott's feet resting on her upper thighs as he congratulated her on a storyline that he expressed confidence would have huge appeal to readers.

"Thank you darling for that welcomed support. You mentioned you could contribute to the storyline."

"Ah, yes. There is need for sinister elements -- the Australians sending in special agents to ferret out information not yet publicly announced. Meanwhile New Zealand has an Australian-born and reared but now a naturalized New Zealand agent commencing an affair with Dame Helene and finding out that the respective carbon credits of the two nations could stymie a successful merger agreement. As well, the final hurdle will be the Australians demanding that New Zealand abolish the Treaty of Waitangi that preserved customary rights of its native Maori people and rescind all fishing quotas. After statehood New Zealand's fish and oil reserves will be administered directly from Canberra and water draw-off will be licensed from Canberra and a huge tanker port would be build in near pristine Milford Sound to ship fresh water to Australia."

"Oh God, I can see it now. Older New Zealanders saying no, no way, and then Australia will launch a military invasion," Jess said, looking horrified.

"Not necessarily."

"How can you say that? Kiwi's don't like giving an inch to the Aussies."

"Some are like that. Others of us see ourselves as being more or less the same and statehood will bring benefits -- greater national security being one of them, what with Australia and America being close pals politically."

"I'll concede that but what other incentives could Australia offer?"

"For starters, agreeing to a conversion rate at 1.05c Australian for the weaker New Zealand dollar."

"Wow, that would win over lots of people. But it would cost millions."

"I'd suggest it costs billions to buy another country. Also things like our manufacturers who survive could go on to set up in Australia or stay here and have free market access. Australia could silence many of the moaning over-sixties by allowing them to settle or spend part of the year anywhere in Australia and, if settling there, not losing any current differential in their current pension or associated benefits for the aged and to automatically gain all extra benefits that Australian pensioners have."

"That would take out a lot of objectors."

"It surely would."

"It would take a big book."

"Yeah, perhaps up to a thousand pages and written well enough could perhaps become a TV series screened on both sides of the Tasman Sea."

Scott thought that was enough for one session. He'd tell Jess about his literary aspiration on another occasion. He asked her to tell him more about herself as he was interested to know and besides, it was a guide to learn about the clutter in her head.

"I was so silly not to call in a guy to service this spa pool," she said. "To think of all the time I could have enjoyed the gentle massaging and unleashing my mind to the heavens."

Interested in that promising start, Scott asked Jess to talk about what was in her mind, anything she wished and not to bother about him, describing himself as a good listener.

CHAPTER 5

After Jess headed off to be picked up at the main road to accompany her mother to Kerikeri for two nights, Scott searched the university database and went to the city early to scan-read theses, one completed seven years ago on the theme of the underside to political union with Australia and the first step with full economic union would sweeten the deal. The other was submitted three years ago and titled, 'The Seven Appealing Steps for NZ Merging with Australia and Thirty-eight Unpalatable Reasons to Justify Rejecting Such a Deal'. If they looked promising he'd ask the head of philosophy research to supply him with a copy of each for Jess to read at her leisure. At the very least they could start putting her mind into perspective for the huge task ahead of her. Lucky for her she only needed her fiction to be loosely factually based.