lesson 1

 
 
 
I don’t mind the young French bloke staying at the farm right now  
 
don’t really like the French in general  
the cheese eating cunts  
but he’s not a bad one  
 
has got a good mind  
getting the hang of how to work the land
loves his new farmer's beard  
can see him getting into his muscles being worked every day  
and he’s not bad with the dogs;
gives them the love and the hard words they need  
 
then last week he decides to buy a van  
reckons he needs a camper like every other backpacker in Australia  
gonna finish up on the farm and drive around the country  
smoking dope and fucking English girls  
 
trouble is he doesn’t know shit about vehicles  
told me he was going up the coast  
to look at one of the thousands of clapped out heaps of shit  
that get traded on this coast  
as freely as surf boards and those English girls  
 
should have gone with him  
decided not too  
 
let him buy it  
help him fix whatever he comes home with  
 
well he did just that  
bought a white heap of shit off some other French blokes  
heard it coming up the driveway  
swore at the wall  
could hear it running on no more than 3 cylinders  
could smell the steam  
 
smoke is bad  
but steam is worse  
 
pulls in grinning  
shows us all the camping gear  
can feel his excitement  
lost in his dream  
 
I say “lift up the front seat mate  
let’s have a look at the engine”  

engine oil on the outlet manifold ready to burn
oil in the water
definite cracked head  
battery fucked  
clutch at the end of its life  
gearbox whine
diff whine
 
this old girl aint going ‘round again  
 
let him live the joy for the night  
 
next evening took him out to the shed  
showed him straight what he’s got  
what he’d have to do to sort it
watched his face  
 
he took it well  
wore the truth honestly  
left the shed with his shoulders down  
angry at himself  
 
so yeah  
I’ll help him as long as he’s got the money for parts  
and he doesn’t fuck my tools  
 
last thing he says to me  
“but the French guys I bought it off, they were good guys”  
 
“don’t matter where they were from mate  
what they had was a plane to catch  
and a shit-heap to sell  
 
where you came in  
was as the solution to their problem”  
 
he didn’t have nothing for that  
probably the first time he’s been rolled so hard  
 
after he left I sat on my stool by my workbench  
remembered being his age  
bought an old Valiant hotrod for four weeks pay  
that never ran again  
remembered the taste of feeling fucked over
and ended up sitting in the dark  
smiling  
 
give the young bloke another twenty years
and he just might be useful