Five Cent Piece

Commentary by Kyle Cowan

The speedometer needle surges, settling on a steady 140km/h. The speed limit is not being ignored, it is being intentionally broken. The desperate urge to reach the destination making the occupants wish the vehicle could go faster.

Five Cent Piece recently had the opportunity to travel with a police official en route to Ladysmith, where a suspected kidnapper and his victim were last seen, begging diesel from residents.

The hollow pit in the reporter’s stomach had nothing to do with hunger or fear. Determination and hope twisted his insides into a tight knot as he braced himself for the next bump. “Please let us find this child!,” he thought.

Finding yourself in a situation where nothing makes sense is often disorientating. You fight the urge your emotions give you to run, and leave it for someone else to tackle. But no, you stay on

course. You push the wheel, turn over the stones and ask the difficult questions.

Reading between the lines is a skill few of us have mastered. Being able to say something succinctly that any reader can pick up on it, is an even rarer skill. For those straightforward ones among us, you will have no idea what was just implied, because you just don’t bother with the frills.

Accepting failure and disappointment with good grace is another skill hard to learn. Returning to Newcastle, the silence was as thick as mud on a cold morning. Had we failed? Or had the adversary been just a little more cunning than us?

After a small taste of police work in general, Five Cent Piece is more than happy to stick to his day job, driving the sub-editor crazy, teasing the other journalists and giving the editor grey hairs. But wait. Sarcasm, is of course, optional.