Bernie was round at my place one day. ‘You seemed really pissed off with Mouth, big fella,’ he said.
‘Well I never voted him into the club.’
I know you’re supposed to love all your brothers in the club, but when you think about it, that’s impossible. There’s blokes that are good for the club, but you also get plastic gangsters that slip through and get their colours. They just want to prance around with a ton of gold round their neck and a gold ring on every finger. I reckon if you pulled their boots off they’d have them on their toes, too.
Bernie asked Donna if he could talk to me in private so she went out the back.
‘What is it?’ I asked.
‘Well, I’ve been hearing some rumours about how Jock came off his bike.’
‘Yeah?’
‘I heard Snoddy and a couple of other members ran him off the road in some sort of ute.’
‘Yeah, I’ve heard the rumour too. But don’t you think if Snoddy had’ve done it he’d have got a semi, not a ute, and instead of sideswiping Jock he’d have run right over the top of him and turned him into porridge? I reckon it’s just another rumour started by the Comos.’
‘Yeah, you’re probably right.’
I called Donna back inside and she said, ‘Can I say something to both of you?’
‘Yeah.’
‘You know, it’s not just me but all the old ladies in the club, we really worry about you guys. Like when you got run off the road, Ceese. When you came home I just saw the bike, and it reminded me of when John Boy got hit. I don’t want to lose you that way.’
‘Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. It’d take a Mack truck to get rid of me.’
‘Why do you reckon Jock really started this war?’ Bernie asked.
I tossed it up but decided, Nah, I can’t tell him the real reason. Instead I said it was probably because Jock, Foghorn and Snowy were always used to being big fish in a small pond, and as the club had gotten bigger they felt like they were losing their importance. Which had certainly contributed to the tension within the Comos. But to me, that was just a creation of their own insecurities. As far as I was concerned, Jock was the president and that was the way it was always going to be. Unfortunately, with Foghorn and Snowy in his ear he’d got it into his head that I was after his job. Nothing could have been further from the truth. It had taken him four hours just to talk me into being sergeant.
Donna said to Bernie, ‘There were some really good times in the Comos.’
‘Yeah I heard that,’ Bernie said.
‘The times I loved best were the runs,’ she said. ‘And Christmas. You know, Caesar used to buy every member and their old ladies a present every year. And he was the only one who did it. And then this year, after they fed all those homeless kids, he did exactly the same thing for the Bandidos. He gave ’em all a special present. That’s how much the club and his brothers mean to Caesar.’
‘Come on, woman,’ I said. ‘You’re putting it on a bit thick.’
‘You’re always putting the club first,’ she said. ‘Like the way you’re always last one out of the pub, making sure the members and their old ladies are out and okay. And whenever there’s been a fight it’s always you, Bull, Shadow, Wack, Snake and Chop right up the front. Youse do it because you don’t want to see any of the brothers in the club get hurt. I’m getting a bit sick of you having to do everything for them.’
‘Calm down,’ I said.
She sat there and gave me a big smile. She knew she could wrap me round her little finger.
Donna went out to the kitchen while me and Bernie yakked on about our bikes and about Jock. Bernie and I had gotten pretty close after he came over from the Loners so I suppose he didn’t feel funny asking the next question: ‘Is it true what they say about you having a graveyard up in the Snowy Mountains?’
‘What makes you ask that?’
‘I’ve heard rumours since way back when I was a Loner, and since I’ve come over to the club, that when you were working for a bloke up the Cross you used to get rid of people by taking them down the Snowy.’
‘Well that’s for me to know and everyone else to find out.’
Bernie just laughed. ‘I’ll remember never to go skiing with ya.’ Then he changed the subject. ‘Did you hear about Kid and Davo last week?’
‘What about ’em?’
‘The three of us were up the Cross and we picked up this sheila, a real cute little blonde. She had a flat in Victoria Street so the three of us went back there. Talk about kinky, mate. She had us tie her up and Kid was right up her and at the same time she was giving Davo a head job. I was just standing back watching.’
‘You mean waiting yer turn?’
‘You’re not wrong. She was a real goer. Best fuck I’ve had in a long time. We’re arranging nine or ten of us to go up to her place next week. You wanna come?’
‘Nah, I’m not interested. I’m happy with the one I’ve got.’
‘Oh well, your misfortune.’
With that we walked out the front and Bernie showed me the new set of pipes he’d put on his bike. He started her up.
‘Yeah, she sounds good,’ I said.
‘Anyway, I’ve gotta head off. I’ve got some tennis lessons to give.’
‘It’s hard to imagine a bloke who gives tennis lessons riding with an outlaw club,’ I said.
‘I don’t tell anyone. I always rock up to the tennis courts in my car.’
‘Well now, wouldn’t the brothers like to hear this.’
‘What?’
‘You’re ashamed to rock up at your place of work with your colours.’
‘Come on, Ceese, you know what it’s like over the north shore. If I was to rock up and they knew I belonged to the Bandits I’d never have any clients.’
‘Well what’d you do when you were a Loner?’
‘Same thing. Turn up in the car. No one over in the tennis club knows I’m in a bike club.’
‘Well then I’d get a new job, ’cos if it was me I’d never work anywhere where I couldn’t show me colours.’
SOON AFTER Bernie’s visit, I got a call from my brother Shadow. He wanted me to come out to his place so I got on the bike and cruised over. Gloves was there in his training gear.
‘I got you to come out so you could watch me and Gloves spar,’ Shadow said. ‘We’ve been doing it for weeks now on the quiet. You’re the first one we’ve told.’
Since his brother Knuckles had been wiped out in the accident, Gloves had taken it upon himself to live up to the family’s boxing potential; he was being trained by Kid for his big comeback fight. The war hadn’t worried Gloves. He just took it in his stride and kept on training.
Shadow had the back of his place done up with heavy bags, a speed ball and weights. It was a great place for him to work out. So I watched Shadow and Gloves get into it, and even though Gloves was the professional, Shadow gave as good as he got. They sparred eight three-minute rounds, then had a break and got onto some more sparring.
‘Shadow should take up boxing,’ Gloves said to me afterwards. ‘He’s as good as any bloke I’ve fought.’ Gloves had fought a lot of good boxers, too: the French champion, and a lot of amateur fighters before he turned professional. He’d won all his professional bouts.
Gloves’s big comeback fight was scheduled for Friday night, 31 August 1984 – the day of my little fella Daniel’s fourth birthday.
Everyone in the club was excited about going to watch it at the Marrickville RSL club. At the next club meeting, we all confirmed that we’d be there. Snoddy was the only one who couldn’t make it. He was going pig shooting at Griffith, where he was going to be sussing out some blokes who were setting up a Bandidos chapter down there. But he said he’d be back by the Saturday night.
I asked all the fellas if they were still coming to Daniel’s party on the Sunday. I’d brought it up at the meeting two weeks earlier. We figured that since Gloves’s fight was on the Friday, we’d leave the Saturday to recover and have the party on the Sunday – Father’s Day. Donna had arranged with the old ladies to get all the food together.
The brothers all said they’d be there. Then Mouth and Bongo Snake mentioned a swap meet out at a pub in Milperra called the Viking Tavern. They said it’d be a good spot for us to go for a ride while the sheilas were getting the party ready.
‘Me and Snoddy had already thought about going for a ride out to the Caringbah Inn,’ I said.
Lance stood up. ‘I reckon the Viking Tavern would be the go.’
‘That’s because it’s close to your place,’ I said. ‘And you just wanna buy some parts.’
‘What’s wrong with that?’ he asked.
‘Nothin’. I just reckon the Caringbah Inn would be a better ride. More people’d see us and they’ve got some good bands on of a Sunday.’
Mouth and Bongo Snake carried on something fierce about this swap meet and how it was going to be the best thing round.
‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘but if we’re meeting at Lance’s, that’s a ride of about three K. So where’s the ride?’
‘Oh, but, you know, it’ll be great.’
‘What bands are on?’ I asked.
‘Oh, there’ll be bands there.’
‘Who?’
They couldn’t name any, but they just pushed and pushed to go to this thing. Later, I’d look back and wonder about them and why they wanted to go so badly. But anyway, the club took a vote and the majority wanted to go to the Viking Tavern. So that was the plan.