Cloud Riders(122)

Cassie was bored looking around and hoped this would be over quickly. She loved to learn but couldn’t for the life of her work out why anyone would be interested in gawking at money. ‘Man,’ she sighed, tapping her foot, impatient to get it underway.

She felt a pat on her shoulder as the guide, seeing her lack of interest, was motioning for her to follow while he continued to talk.

‘In the earlier days, money was originally printed on a cotton-based paper that burnt easily when disposed of.’ She heard him direct it at her.

Feeling guilty, Cassie made eye contact, grinned and followed the group as the funny little guide with glasses far too big for his head, continued.

‘That all changed in the 1960s when Australia was hit by a major forger of the ten dollar note.’ The guide nodded at her, looking pleased he had her attention. ‘They then came up with the polymer note, now used Australia-wide, which is harder to print but deters criminals from copying them. The other advantage to the notes is that humidity and microbe activity doesn’t deteriorate the polymer. It is twice the cost, however last four times longer.’

Okay now he had her attention. This is kind of interesting. ‘Then if it is a plastic, how is it destroyed when it ages?’ Cassie asked.

‘Polymer does have its drawbacks, I admit. The black smoke when burnt causes air pollution. The mint gets around this by shredding the old damaged notes into tiny pieces and sending them off to a plastic recycling plant.’

The guide clicked his tongue that made a funny sound at the back of his throat. Cassie turned to hide her grin. The guide hadn’t noticed his weird habit and thinking he had lost her attention again, raised his voice. This had Cassie going again and her infectious mood filtered through the group, making them all nudge each other as they too noticed the louder he got the more he made the weird sound.

‘The disadvantage of the banknotes—click click—was that they found solvents and ultraviolet light—click click —deteriorates them but the advantage of it not being easy to forge well outweighs—click click—the few negative issues.’

Kayden held himself, shaking the man’s hand and staying chatting for a minute while the rest of his team ditched him and split, chuckling and hitting each other as they made there way back to the cars.

Back at the motel, Kayden punished them for being a bad influence on his woman and told them all to get lost for a while. ‘We’ll catch up with you at the airport the next morning.’ He let them know in no uncertain terms they would be on their own until then.

Cassie cuddled into Kayden. ‘Yes it was all their fault, honey.’

He smiled lovingly. He was no push over and knew exactly who started it but it was a great excuse to get some time alone with his new wife. ‘Sure, sweetheart!’ He hugged her back, loving that she put up no protest and wanted to be with just him as well.





United Amusement—Day Four


They arrived at MargaretRiver just before lunch the next day in plenty of time for Cassie to organise a special someone to meet them at the local pub.

‘Let’s stretch our legs and walk,’ Jason suggested. Cassie grinned, knowing if he knew what she had planned he’d have practically run there. However, the walk to the township was not as far as she thought and the lodge being nestled among towering Karri trees made the walk along the pathway, pleasurable.

Seated and noticing that Jason was busy going over the lunchtime menu, Cassie excused herself when she saw Sonia McMasters arrive. She looked more grownup and stylish in the lilac fitted sundress she wore, than when Cassie first saw her on the beach. The thin straps of the dress over her tanned shoulders highlighted a small butterfly tattoo on the side of her neck. This was accentuated by her light-coloured hair that she had simply swept up into a braided pigtail. Her makeup was sparing, maybe just a bit of lip-gloss and eye makeup; her olive skin needed very little.

She spotted Cassie and pulled her sunglasses up on her head and with her three-inch heels she looked taller than Cassie remembered. Her outfit did her figure justice and combined with her overall appearance and stunning smile, she looked very eye-catching.

Cassie could now see how Jason had seen her. He had looked past the bikini and sea-drenched hair to the woman she now saw. Men have such an unusual way of being able to see us women—so different from the way we view each other. Cassie gave her a welcoming hug and they stood chatting as if they’d known each other for years. Cassie felt that it was refreshing to have a female-to-female conversation for a change. Oh sure, Ella had begun to thaw where Cassie was concerned, but Ella was not a girly-girl. Sonia on the other hand was the opposite and didn’t stop for a breath and had Cassie giggling at her fun sense of humour. Walking to the table, Cassie noticed that Jason was so busy taking to Ethan about the pub grub he never noticed she had disappeared for a while. He had a little surprised expression as she introduced Sonia around the table and when Cassie got to Jason, she smiled and joked, ‘I’m not sure if you’d remember Jason.’ Jason grinned as he walked around to Sonia, took her hand, and after greeting her with a kiss on the cheek, he guided her over to sit with him, not once letting her hand go. It was kind of cute and yet so Jason, to be comfortable with a woman he barely knew. She giggled sweetly and Jason smiled so brightly that even Cassie’s heart melted at the look he gave her.