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61 Reckless Albert Gumbo PENGA WALKS IN TO FINE FARE’S OFFICE. It is a large office with one side of the wall dominated by a large window that gives Fine Fare a bird’s eye view of the yard from the first floor. His eyesight is legendary and he’s been known to spot a driver unwrapping a chocolate packet in his cab five trucks away. When this happens, Fine Fare simply grabs his walkie-talkie and bellows into it: ‘005, no eating in the damn cab!’ Despite his nickname, Fine Fare abhors the idea that anyone should eat in his trucks and will suspend drivers whose cabs are found with food crumbs in them during impromptu health and hygiene inspections. The opposite wall is covered with a vast map of Southern Africa. It is dotted with green pins depicting the whereabouts of Everywhere Anytime Trucking (EAT) vehicles. There is a red pin stuck on the N1 highway to Zimbabwe just before Polokwane. That means a truck has broken down. Fine Fare looks up, wafer with cheese atop in hand, and motions to Penga to sit down as he finishes a mouthful of several wafers with a sip of the goat’s milk that always sits in a glass on his desk. He chews with his mouth open and Penga cannot help but notice the cement mixer at work. Fine Fare has earned his nickname from the staff not only because of his huge appetite and snacking habits but also because he likes to believe that he only eats the finest foods. He likes to remind his staff that he will only eat the best of what he likes. When he orders fish and chips for instance, the messenger knows that he can only buy the chips from Chippies of Chisipite, and the fish from Fish Angler of Avondale. The poor man rides twenty kilometers just to bring lunch to Fine Fare’s office in Graniteside and the menu changes every day. ‘What’s a little motor cycle fuel for a quality life, neh?’ Fine Fare always asks when his book-keeping wife complains about expenses. ‘Just keep the debt collection on track,’ he likes to add. ‘You’re doing a good job with that idiot at Fresh Harvest. Stay on top of him.’ His wife always responds with a smile and sets off on her twice weekly debt collection rounds, always heading for Fresh Harvest first. The assistant book-keeper smiles knowingly. She hates Fine Fare for the way he treats his wife and is only too happy to protect the secret that they both share. The owner of Fresh Harvest gives her a monthly pack of fruit, vegetables and imported fruit juice to ignore the fact that Fine Fare’s wife does a lot more than debt collection on the leather settee in his private office. What’s a little dark secret for a huge pack of healthy food for her little boy, Donnell? Fine Fare wipes his mouth daintily with a blue serviette. He has five colours of serviettes and his secretary is under strict instructions to bring out the one that most closely matches whatever shirt he is wearing . After another sip of milk he asks: ‘Is your visa still valid?’ ‘Yes boss,’ Penga replies. ‘Good. 007 is down just outside Polokwane. It is Vila again,’ he adds, mentioning the name of the driver who has the highest rate of breakdowns per 100,000 km. Penga sighs, ‘He’s certainly not in the running for driver of the year.’ He wonders why the worst performing driver has been allowed to drive the refrigerated truck. ‘Leave right away. Take the Fortuner. We do not want to run the risk of the product going bad or that idiot at Fresh Harvest will not pay in full.’ *** Before departing, Penga asks the Personnel Officer to have someone put his allocation of sugar into the Toyota Fortuner so that he can leave it at home when he collects his travel bag. Their company transports sugar for the sugar company, thus an associated perk is that the marketing team always get product when it is in short supply. Fine Fare prides himself on the fact that he looks after the welfare of his staff, often allocating them flour, sugar and cooking oil – products that are scarce in the country but available to him – because his company is the transport service provider for many a manufacturer. The staff pay the retail...

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