‘My ankle is literally fine, Dad,’ Mel retorted.
‘Well it can’t be thatfine, if you made such a big fuss about it only a couple of nights ago and had everyone up worried and searching for you? Or was that a bit of an attention-seeking stunt?’ Chuck’s tone had turned sneering and mean. Ore felt she should look away. She couldn’t bear to witness the flash of hurt that flew across Mel’s face.
Chuck cleared his throat in the awkward silence that followed. ‘Maybe we can have a chat about how Mel here inspired me to find ways to make Pagonis more sustainable? It was really Mel’s passion for the environment that set all this in motion.’ He waved his hands around vaguely.
‘All what exactly?’ Ore thought it was an innocent enough question, but for a split second Chuck’s face fell.
He regained his composure so immediately, that Ore wondered if she’d just imagined his reaction. ‘Well you know, this, generally speaking. I mean like Pagonis’ green transition to sustainable energy consumption.’
‘Right.’ Ore wrote down his answer, and then underlined it. ‘And, Mel, how much has he told you about this new top-secret battery he’s making? Are you the key to all those industry secrets?’ Ore knew she was pushing it a little bit, but she was mainly watching for Chuck’s reaction he showed none.
‘As if – he doesn’t tell me anything. I basically know as much as you, apparently these new batteries last longer or whatever but I keep saying like, how can it be sustainable if it’s not renewable? Like it still needs electricity to charge and stuff.’ Mel shrugged.
‘She’s smarter than she looks that one.’ Chuck looked like he might try and ruffle Mel’s hair and then seemed to thinkbetter of it. ‘But she makes a good point – eventually we’d hope that with these super-efficient batteries, we could also find a renewable source of electricity to power them. That’s a little way off just yet though.’ Chuck tapped the side of his nose theatrically and leant back in a way that seemed to signal that the interview was over. Ore checked her watch; they’d managed seven minutes.
