MORNING SERIAL
“BRAN,” I wheedled, uncertain what the dictionary said “to wheedle” meant, but effortlessly capable of it. “Look, whatever mess you’re in with Mal, let him bounce, not you. Haf may…”
The name of her daughter altered the rules of engagement. She broke them off, let’s say.
“Haf? What’s she been telling you? Leave her to her own devices, Billy. Leave her be.”
It was my turn to let steel pendulums swing and splice.
“Leave her be? You let her go. Not me. You didn’t even tell me about her. When she was born.
That she might be mine. Or, yet, how to find her. Why not, Bran? Why not?”
Bran leaned forward. Her voice was a whiplash.
“You want to know. You want to know. OK. You can know. I front, work for, I am!, ECA – EuroCymruAssociates – and we, I, lead on institutional bids for Euro initiatives – cash and projects, schemes and funding outcomes. Consultancy. Expertise. Advice. OK?
Because the money has to be channelled. From Brussels.
They don’t just give it away. Well not quite. There’s an audit, business plans, bids, and, crucially, match funding.
So, that means finessing the time of an organisation’s staff – at premium rates – and its established assets, everything from buildings to porters to electricity and IT and onto the notepaper and biros – to ratchet up what can be turned into those particular lines in business plans that say “in kind”.
Then, if we can, matched in cash from other sources. From government. From business. Keeping up?
A trust, one with a worked-out agenda in economic regeneration and social wellbeing like Tir Werin, and connected to movers and shakers, is not just ideally placed. It is the place, the virtual place.”
She paused. None of this was exactly news. Check out my legal know-how, I wanted to crow.
But this was leading somewhere else so I stayed quiet,but attentive.
And continued to ache as her sweetness disappeared and she poured the old Bran vinegar into the wound..
> The Crossing by Dai Smith is published by Parthian in the Modern Wales series www.parthianbooks.com