Steiner and the Hypnotic Cue

CHAPTER 12 A Brazilian Odyssey

“Brazil,” shouted David Noble. “Brazil wants us. Yes!”

“Brazil—whit?” Scott quizzed.

“Yep—Brazil. Stephen put me in touch with a contact of his over there. He met him during the Masters.”

“I remember that now,” recollected Scott. “Did he no get humped by the boy Murphy over there?”

“Aye, he got the tanning of a lifetime,” David replied. “But he made good friends with the organisers. He was the original ‘Boy Wonder’. One thing’s led to another—contacts within contacts and more contacts. We’ve been offered a two week demo tournament in Rio, to promote the game, and then a place in the Brazilian Masters. It couldn’t be better.”

“Yesss …” I said at last. “How much money will I make?”

“We’ll make plenty,” Dave answered confidently. “There’s forty thousand dollars just for winning the competition.”

“Is that a lot?” I asked naively.

“Loads, and that’s after we clean up in Rio. So are you up for it?”

I was. David Noble was certainly up for it. He had been given an extended break from his teaching job—a sabbatical he called it. He was hoping to make a fortune out of this little caper.

But I think he also wanted an adventure out of this. It was an experience he had never known, the glamour of doing the tours, of being a champ, or at least being near one in a competition.

Scott was less certain about it all. Work had gone easy on him,  but now the pressure was on.  After a stack load of phone calls, an agreement was reached—a six month break from full time work. He could tour  and still work shifts when he was home. Ideal!

His wife gave him a bit of an earful over the phone; so,  he headed home to sort it out.

I don’t know how David explained it to his family. He had barely seen them the last few weeks, spending most of his time in Auchterarder. Now he was off again.

Hendry’s eyes lit up when he heard the news. I think he was getting ready to pack a case, but his wife had other ideas.