A Clean Pair of Hands by Oscar Reynard Page B

flower beds containing magnificent irises and a string of small topiary yews in a dotted line across the coarse-grass area alongside the white-gravelled front approach track. One evening, while the Bodins were staying there with the Miltons, Michel announced that he was expecting a visitor from Paris next morning. He emphasised that he wanted to avoid any inconvenience to his hosts, but one of his collaborators was bringing some documents for him to sign and would return to Paris the same day. George insisted that the visitor should at least stay for lunch, so it was agreed that if there was enough time he would stay a while and maybe take a siesta before leaving.
    Next morning, as the sun was still warming the misty spring landscape, a BMW R1200 motorcycle burbledslowly up the drive and halted just in front of the stone steps to the main door. The rider removed his helmet to greet George and the two men chatted. George spent a few minutes admiring the motorcycle which had just covered three hundred and fifty miles in less than five hours, including fuel stops, and was soon going to make the same journey in reverse after the rider had enjoyed a meal and probably a few glasses of wine. Then the pair went inside to find Michel. He was sitting on the back terrace reading a book, so after greetings George left them together, wondering what the meeting was all about.
    Over lunch, Michel made an announcement to the family. He had sold his business. He had agreed to a consultancy contract for himself to train the buyers for one year, and as soon as the business transferred to the new owners’ existing office, he would be able to let the vacated offices to an Indonesian bank on a long-term contract, thus guaranteeing another income for him. He had now signed all the documents for both transactions and he was a happy man. George poured champagne for all and they enjoyed a noisy and good humoured meal which lasted until around 4pm, when the motorcyclist took a 15 minute siesta before taking off for Paris.
     
    The Miltons remained puzzled as to why Michel should sell such a successful business. “That’s the trick,” explained George to Thérèse, “he’s selling at the top of the market.” That indeed proved to be the case.
    Two years later, the two partners who bought Michel’s business filed for bankruptcy and the company ceased trading. Michel’s non-compete agreement was thus void and the field was re-opened for him to move back into the same kind of business. He was in two minds. He had had enough of Paris and family life. He needed to revertto a more natural existence, living with primitive virtues as he had seen on his travels and read about. This was in line with his idealism and his philosophy. He shared his thoughts and plans on this subject only with Johnny Mendes. Johnny could see no reason why Michel should not make a clean break. In fact, he was planning something similar himself. He invited Michel to join him and his Haitian wife Ayida next time they went to Haiti.
    Michel took a decision and threw the dice, but his plan was not as radical as Johnny had suggested. He needed to clear up a few things before leaving.

Chapter Ten
The Challenges of Work
    Michel Bodin did not make a clean break then. Instead, he decided to launch a new business, at first working from home, with an underlying plan to build it up and sell it as a going concern when he was ready. He took it for granted that Charlotte would manage the administration as before, but as he brought together his thoughts about an exit plan he realised that there were one or two changes he needed to make to his domestic arrangements and those changes might take some time to mature, and so Michel launched himself with his usual enthusiasm into the business of acquiring new customers by personal selling. All building operations were contracted out, so although he would advise the clients throughout the projects, the clients would effectively be their own project