Free The Affair by Bunty Avieson Page A

club.
    Felix, who came from a long line of sheep farmers and was welcome in most of the elite clubs of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and London, had been invited eight years ago to become an investor in Lloyd’s, known in such hallowed circles as a ‘Lloyd’s name’. He had, in turn, brought in a few of his special wealthier clients and, four years ago, his best mate James.
    Felix believed he had been doing James and the other clients a favour. Not only did they gain access to one of the most prestigious old-money organisations in the world, he was guaranteeing them some easy money with no risk. After all, it was Lloyd’s. And for the first two years, as they each received healthy cheques, it had seemed a wise decision. Indeed it had felt like money for nothing.
    But now the ground had suddenly been wrenched from under Felix. Lloyd’s, the financial icon, was facing a disaster of biblical proportions, and it was up to the ‘names’ to bail them out. Felix, knowledgeable and canny as he was about money, with years of experience of the unpredictability of world markets, was battling his own sense of shock and outrage. Instead of sendingeach of the Australian ‘names’ their regular hefty cheques, Lloyd’s had sent out letters demanding money. And lots of it.
    He stared across his desk at his friend. James looked crumpled and tired. He was hoping Felix would make sense of it for him. There was no anger in his eyes, no blame or bitterness. He looked – Felix struggled to identify his expression – panic-struck? No, it was an emotion stronger than that. Felix realised with a start that his friend looked frightened. A tic had appeared below his left eye. Felix had seen that before. It only happened when James was under extreme stress.
    Felix ran his fingers through his hair, and, feeling the sharp ends of his buzz cut, remembered he had had it all cut off. To give his hands something to do he shuffled the papers on his desk. He felt his own throat tighten. What had he done? Felix coughed, trying to relax his throat muscles. He wanted to erase the panic from his friend’s face but he wasn’t sure he could.
    ‘No-one could have predicted this. Over the past few years the world has been hit by a string of extraordinary natural disasters the like of which we have never seen before.’
    James looked at him uncomprehendingly. Felix continued.
    ‘The Piper Alpha oil rig explosion in 1988, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in July 1989. There were massive European windstorms that caused millions of dollars of damage in 1987. Crop failures in Florida. Hurricane Hugo. More catastrophes haveoccurred in recent years than have ever been recorded.’
    ‘You sound like a news bulletin,’ said James, his voice sharp. He was floundering. He was in over his head and he knew it. ‘What’s Hurricane Hugo?’
    Felix looked at the papers in his hand. ‘A storm that hit South Carolina in 1989, causing billions of dollars of damage.’
    James looked incredulous. ‘You have got to be joking. A storm? I have to pay for a storm in America?’
    Felix read from his papers. ‘It was a category 5 storm, category 4 when it hit America.’
    James shook his head. Felix continued.
    ‘It killed 82 people. The eye of the storm was 30 miles wide. They found dead deer over twenty feet high in trees.’
    ‘They’re pretty tall deer.’
    Felix smiled thinly at James’s humour.
    ‘The deer were normal size,’ said Felix patiently. His tone made it clear this was not the time for any of his friend’s jokes. ‘They were found twenty feet up the trees.’
    ‘Sorry, bad joke.’ James sighed. ‘Okay, okay. A very bad storm. And I feel sorry for the deer. But I don’t get what that has to do with me.’
    Felix took a deep breath and tried to focus his mind. He needed to simplify this. James obviously had little idea how Lloyd’s worked. Felix wondered how much had sunk in that evening in 1987 when he had taken James to the cocktail party for prospective