They both knew that she did more of the work in the partnership, but also understood the intangible value of Pearly’s association with it. He was a local son, he was the two-term mayor, he had played rugby for Otago, he was considered honest and his name had been associated with the selling of property for a long time. All things that mattered in a provincial town. ‘Oh yes, I know old Pearly all right,’ people would say in a proprietorial way. ‘Pearly’s an okay joker.’

Pearly sat down before Anne’s desk, and they began to talk about the best way to sell the Miles Street house before it lost the sun. Pearly was serious about the challenges of his business even though they had long ago lost their novelty. The nor’wester raged outside, shaking aerials, stressing the branches of the dogwood trees so that the pale undersides of the leaves were flung up in the gusts. Pearly was reminded of a game against Canterbury Country during which the wind was so strong that when Snoz Gazler kicked an up-and-under, it blew back to their own goal line and the Country winger scampered through for a try. It occurred to Pearly that the older you get, the more the past provides images that partner present experience. It becomes like playing Snap, with memory always having something in hand that matches what the deck turns up. Snoz came from a farm not far from that of Pearly’s family. Mrs Gazler had been the most accomplished gossip in the district and famous also for the magnificence of her pavlovas.

After lunch Pearly went to the council chambers and discussed with the CEO the agenda papers for the Wednesday meeting of council. David Congreve was nearing retirement, and his chief professional concern was to avoid major difficulty in the meantime. Any proposal that might increase his workload or bring public dissent caused his long, pale face to grimace slightly and his head to nod slowly to indicate understanding and disapproval in equal dimension. He kept the ship afloat but was no longer interested in charting a long-term destination. Pearly appreciated his institutional knowledge but was often exasperated by his lack of vision and his adherence to plodding orthodoxy. And Pearly remembered that when he’d been a first-term councillor, Congreve had shown a mandarin’s condescension while instructing him in meeting procedure and the statutes relevant to local government.