Chapter 27: Mel Meets Elliott Freemantle

Chapter 27: Mel Meets Elliott Freemantle

As soon as Mel met Elliott Freemantle, the lawyer, he disliked him. Ten minutes later, he knew that he hated the man.

It seemed that Freemantle was being as unpleasant as possible. He replied rudely to everything that Mel said. Mel soon realized that the lawyer was trying to make him lose his temper. He continued to speak calmly and politely to him, but he was finding it increasingly difficult.

Freemantle claimed that he did not care that people’s lives were being ruined by the noise from the airport.

‘We do care,’ Mel told him. ‘We know that there’s a problem, and we’re doing our best to solve it.’

‘Then your best is not good enough. And what have you done? You’ve just made a lot of empty promises, that’s all.’

‘That’s not true. We only use runway two five - which is the runway nearest to Meadowood - when we have to. The airport loses money by doing this. Perhaps you don’t know this, but we’ve had many meetings with representatives of Meadowood before.’

‘Perhaps you didn’t tell them the truth at all those other meetings. This meeting is going to be very different!’

Mel decided not to answer. He saw that the reporters were writing busily, and knew that this was what Freemantle wanted. He felt sorry for Cindy, who had no interest at all in this matter.

‘You tell us that the runway nearest to Meadowood is not used,’ Elliot continued, ‘but it was certainly in use tonight.’

‘There’s been a storm,’ Mel said. ‘I suppose that you’ve all noticed it? We had to use two five because three zero is blocked.’

‘We understand the reason, Mr Bakersfeld,’ an older man said, ‘but that doesn’t help us. We still suffer from the noise. My name is Floyd Zanetta, and-’

‘Excuse me,’ Elliott Freemantle interrupted. ‘There’s another point that I should like to make. We ought to tell you that we intend to take this airport to court, and we intend to win our case. Your airport, Mr Bakersfeld, is going to be closed down.’

Of course Elliott knew that this would never happen. He was speaking well tonight, though. He wished that he could be heard by a larger group of people.

‘You are free to try anything you like,’ Mel said, ‘but I don’t believe that any court would close down this airport.’

‘Oh? I didn’t know that you were a lawyer! ’

‘I’m not, as I’m sure you know.’

‘Well, I am a lawyer, you see,’ Elliott Freemantle said, ‘and I can tell you that there have been many cases like this. The airports have lost them.’

He named several cases. Mel felt rather amused. He knew all about them, and understood that the situations had been very different from this one. There were many other cases which the airports had won, but of course Elliott did not mention them.

Mel decided that the lawyer had said enough, and that it was time for him to speak. ‘Since we are all here, there are some things I would like to say to you on the subject of airports and noise generally’ he said.

‘That won’t be necessary’

‘Really, Mr Freemantle? I’ve listened to everything you’ve had to say. Don’t you think you ought to listen to me now? I’m sure the press will be interested in this.’

‘I think we ought-’ Zanetta started to say.

‘Let Mr Freemantle answer me,’ Mel said sharply.

‘There’s no need to shout or to be rude,’ Elliott said, smiling.

‘Oh? Then why have you been doing both those things yourself?’

‘Are you losing your temper, Mr Bakersfeld?’

‘No,’ Mel said. ‘I know that you would like me to, but I’m not going to. I’m going to tell you all the facts about this situation.’

He told them how difficult it was to reduce the noise that a huge plane makes when it takes off and lands. Planes were getting bigger and noisier all the time, too. There was no easy answer to the Meadowood problem. In the end, the people would probably have to move from there. The airport would pay them for the loss of their homes.

‘Yes! You will pay them!’ Elliott Freemantle said, rising to his feet,’ and sooner than you think. We’ll see you in court.’ He went out, and the others followed him quietly.

‘I’m sorry about that,’ Mel told Cindy.

‘You should have married the airport, not me.’

One of the reporters, a young man called Tomlinson, came back into the office.

‘Mr Bakersfeld, could I see you for a moment?’

‘What is it?’ Mel asked. He felt terribly tired.

‘I thought you’d like to see this.’

It was one of the papers that Elliott Freemantle had given to the people at the meeting to sign, in order to name him as their lawyer. Mel looked at Tomlinson.

‘How many people signed this?’

‘I’m not sure. Several hundred, I think.’

Now Mel understood what Freemantle was trying to do.

‘Will you mention this in your story?’

‘Yes, but I don’t know whether or not my paper will print it.’

‘Thanks for telling me about it.’ He wished that he had known about the money earlier.

‘I’d like to talk to you about the airport, if you have time,’ the reporter said.

‘Certainly,’ Mel replied, ‘but not just now. At the moment there are lots of problems all demanding my attention. I hope we’ll have a chance to talk later tonight.’