The Office

And then I was running down the street and the office was on fire behind me. I don't know if it was just that I was more sensitive to the smell knowing the building was burning, than if I hadn't known. I could certainly smell it in the air, but nobody around me seemed to be paying it much attention.

And then I was home. Closing the front door.

They were photographic chemicals, the delivery guy said. He made some joke about not lighting a match around them, probably the same joke he'd made at every stop ever since he began making his rounds, and jokes. Ha ha, everybody laughed. He was clearly a funny guy.

I’m guessing her never expected someone to, actually, light a match around them, despite what he said.

It had to be done, I decided there and then on the spot, as I was accepting the delivery. Everybody was full of so much talk against the evil overlords, but nobody was up for any action, despite the talk. If the despots in charge were to be toppled, something had to be done. Clearly.

I only tipped one of the containers over and, yes, I had to throw one lit match – I first considered using my cherished zippo, but realised that would look too much like evidence, then I found that box of matches in a draw – it didn't half make a woof when it caught. I was glad that I had hustled myself out of there when I had.

I liked the symbolism of the HR department going up first. Witches burn, at the stake, wasn’t that always done? 

No? 

It was some hobby of Di's, the photographic materials. She likes taking children's portraits, for her friend’s kids, or something like that. (I would say a hobby of the barren, but she had a beautiful son, I should talk about him?) I was lucky to get a moment to myself in the office, from the mail room, from the counter. And there it was, the few moments I needed, just like that.

All I had to do was unscrew the cap and roll up that old rag, like I’d seen them do the movies. What movie was that? The rag was one of Di’s scarves, I liked that touch. I knew it would come in handy some day for something, when I acquired it. The rest, as they say, is now history.

The people in the street were very slow in noticing the smoke billowing from the building, and I was able to get all the way up Main Street and around the corner. I just naturally check where the CCTV cameras are because, you know, in my fantasies of also had of fixing the restaurant next door to my house that doesn’t adhere to its noise levels, so I knew which route to avoid. Usually, the restaurant ‘fix’ involved a gun, and watching them all drop one by one but, you know, fire makes just as strong a statement. I knew exactly where to walk, I knew just to walk casually, as though it was any afternoon that I was walking home and I was home quickly, cuddled up to my dog Nudge.

I couldn’t tell if I was nervous, or excited? I was like a ginger horse in the wind, as my granny used to say. So, I made a cup of tea, it was the end of the day, after all, and drank it down strong and hot. 

My granny also used to say that nothing can’t be solved with a hot, strong cuppa. She used to stand the spoon up in hers, that is the expression, isn’t it?

The fire sirens seemed to wail loudly from every direction. (I only took the job in the first place because it was close to home)

Fatty Cake Snoop Lady, Lauren, my boss, had headed home early on one of her many excuses to head home early. Translation, she was heading out for a big dinner for one. She and her fat boyfriend, who she met at the Big Girl’s Night, for men who are interested in the larger lady, had split up weeks ago. Apparently, he’d found a bigger girlfriend.

I was surprised that was possible. But, apparently…

Our anorexic bitch boss, Belinda, who had been jogging the stairs manically, in all her decrepit glory, as she does starting around 5pm every night, was greeted with flames when she came back down to our floor. She called Lauren to see if she and I had been accounted for.

So, Belinda didn’t burn, more is the pity, maybe water would be more effective against the likes of her. "I’m melting! I’m melting!" The thought made me laugh.

Lauren called me in her little girl voice and broke the news to me, sometime in the evening, which meant she finished her all-you-can-eat buffet first, before she called.

“Oh Josh, I have some bad news,” Lauren’s voice was a near whisper coming down the phone, not unlike how those young boys would have heard Michael Jackson.

She told me that the head of HR, sorry People & Culture, Di's chiffon pant suit caught alight as she tried to escape and, from all accounts, she went up something like a Katherine Wheel, she was so panicked to get it put out. And all that black hair of hers, not a wig after all. So many people make the mistake of trying to beat the flames out in their panic.

“Oh, really when?” I feigned shock. “Now? That is terrible.”

I wondered if Di had a momentary realisation that I was as unsuitable for the role as she had always claimed, before she, at best, burned, or, at worst, suffocated? I guess we’ll never know? Shiver! I was made for that role. Or, more precisely, that role was made for me. She shouldn’t have plotted to get rid of me, after all I have put up with.

Lauren told me there would have to be an investigation, the police and the fire department would coordinate.

We were all advised to stay home until further notice. 

“It would be on full pay,” said Lauren. “Another office will be sourced quickly.”

“Could nothing be saved?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Do they have any leads?”

“I think it is too early to tell.”

“I see,” I said. I wanted more details than that.

“Apparently, it started in HR,” said Lauren.

“All that hot gossip, no doubt.”

Lauren laughed nervously into the phone.

“Do you think Di suffered?”

“Well, it all looks pretty grim for her,” said Lauren.

That made me smile. I knew I had to be careful not to let Lauren hear the smile in my voice. “Well, that’s…” Oh, I just couldn’t say it. “That’s…” Um, my mouth just wouldn’t work. “Poor.” It was poor that I couldn’t finish the sentence. 

“Yes, poor Di,” said Lauren. “We’re all feeling it.”

“We are.” My voice just naturally went up on the 'are', like a question, but Lauren didn’t notice.

“At least Belinda fared better,” said Lauren. “They don’t think she will be kept in hospital for very long.”

“Two birds…”

“I’m sorry?”

“Two of them,” I said. “Who’d have thought?” Dared to dream. My fingers were twitching, I was trying to keep them still, but I was having trouble.

“It’s awful,” said Lauren.

“Awful,” I repeated.

“I’ll keep you updated,” she said. She hit end.

It had been my role, it was coming to an end and they wanted someone permanent. Lauren had asked me to apply. “You are a shoe in,” she said.

A shoe in, I thought, that sounded good, even if I didn’t exactly know that I wanted the job. Lauren kept checking with me that I had applied.

They had a meeting about the role. My team managers were quite keen for me to get the role, apparently.

But there was Di, head of People & Culture, even if we didn’t exactly have a People & Culture department. She said in that meeting, in front of everyone, all the senior managers.

“Couldn’t we get someone younger,” said the head of People & Culture. “Someone more ‘with it.’” She would have said with her Jackie Kennedy hair do, now died a little too black for her paling skin, her pearls, her cashmere scarf and her silk blouse with her Katherine Hepburn trousers.

Don’t employee him, he is too old. Some one more with it? Seriously?

I mean, apart from all the employment laws she just broke, what was she, a 65 year old woman whose had too much work, with a sphincter that is permanently clenched? With a soft voice she has perfected as a purr? Does anyone buy that voice? With an HR department with only one person under 40? Fat Karen. 

And, I have to say, that I didn’t really, completely, want the job – or vengeance – up until that point.

Of course, I wasn’t in that meeting and I was told 3rd hand. Is OCD Jess prone to exaggeration? Not something I had thought about until that point.

At first, of course, I didn’t want the job after that. Oh fuck you, I’m leaving. 

I thought about Sarah, who I temporarily replaced originally, and how she told me that when she found herself taking tentative steps out into the traffic one night after work one night when the pressure had built to such an extent, she knew she had to say something.

I thought of Jesse, who had been the original ‘with it’ young thing who’d replaced me, and how she had felt so miserable after months in the job that she too had trouble making sense of her life altogether.

That was when Sara called me back to fill in, because she had no idea what she was doing. No idea. That was when she asked me to take the job, which I was disinclined to do because I realised she was a major part of the problem, not knowing what she was doing.

But then moments after I returned, Sara was walked out by the bitch Belinda – because the cruelty is the point of her life – Di’s, I can only assume, ‘with it’ manager who resembles an anorexic only moments off death, er, treatment.

Sara and I were at our desks after lunch one day. Belinda entered the room, saying to Sara, “Can I have a word with you?”

“Sure,” replied Sara.

“Would you like to get a coffee downstairs at the coffee shop.”

“Yes, okay,” said Sara. At that point, she gave me a wide-eyed look, which I recognised as odd, but I was unclear why?

Sometime later, Di came into the office, with a waft of Chanel and without saying a word she picked up Sara’s bag and left the office.

I never saw Sara again.

Sara was replaced by Fatty Cake Snoop Lady, my new obese Chief Financial Officer, who also encouraged me to take the permanent job.

It was Sara who told me what Di had said about me as a parting gift, I think by phone a few days later.

Fatty Cake Snoop Lady, you ask? Well, she was bought in as a (parenthesis) consultant to look at why so many people had been through the Financial Accountant’s position that I filled in for, a month, or maybe 6 weeks before Sara’s departure. Sara and I didn’t trust her, didn’t believe she had been bought in to help, hence the ‘snoop.’ She was obese. Now, when I say obese, she seemingly had a whole other entity hidden under the front of her dress which at times seemed to be moving independently to her, hence the ‘fatty.’ Just about every lunch time, certainly after Sara had been walked out by the anorexic, she would bring me back cake. 

“I picked up this lovely chocolate cake while I was out at lunch, and I got you a piece,” she’d say to me, hence the cake.

She immediately took over Sara’s role, and nothing more was said. Really, very little. “Sara has decided to look for new challengers at a new company,” she said.

“Really,” I said.

So, there you have it, I was in office services as Di said there was an important delivery and she had no one there to accept it, 

“Could you please wait for it, Josh, it should only be moments away. I have an important meeting I have to get to.” 

So, I did. 

It was a delivery of personal items for Di. The driver told me it was photographic chemicals for Di’s hobby, as I was staring down at the box of stuff, my phone rang.  

“Oh Josh, it’s Lauren.”

“Hi, sorry to call you at home…”

“I’m still in the office.”

“Why are you still in the office?” 

“Di wanted me to wait for a late delivery”

“Di did?”

“Yes.”

“Oh yes, she was going on a date tonight…”

“A date?”

“Yes. I guess it’s a last hurrah… you know, at her age.” Lauren’s one weakness, she liked to gossip.

“I see.”

“Did I leave my blah blah at work?”

“I don’t know, but wait, I’ll look.”

And there it was on her desk.

“Yes,” I said, “It is here.”

“Oh good.”

“Do you want me to do anything with it.”

“No, I just wanted to know where it was.”

That was not long before the delivery. No, not ideal. And if I’d known what was going to happen not long after that, I would have said I was at home. Still, it couldn’t be help, what was done, was done.

Don’t light a match around them, said the delivery guy. That was the last thought that went through my mind, as I flicked the match and made for the back lift door. Don’t use in case of fire, I read, as I pushed the button

I chuckled. I put Nina Simone on. It was definitely a Nina Simone moment. In The Dark started to play and I thought of the office again. 

I sat back in my lounge chair. I lit a cigarette. I blew the smoke into the air rather exaggeratedly.

How would I know that Di would come back to get her delivery? I wasn’t to know that.

I didn’t know that Belinda was coming back to the office having been out exercising every last gram off her 40 kilo frame at the gym.

I wasn’t to know that they had met up in the carpark and were probably heading up in the other lift to me, probably as I got out on the ground floor.

It was good that I didn’t know, as I probably would never have lit that match and chucked it at the spilt chemicals. 

And we never would have got the delicious result that we did.

The police said it was suspicious. They also acknowledge that I was the last person in the office.

“Yes, I took delivery and left the office immediately.”

As long as you stick to the exact truth, right up until you can’t, you should be okay, I told myself. Get away with it. That way, your story never changes, you can’t afford to change your story, no you can’t.

“And you left them on the head of People & Culture’s desk?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Was there anybody in the office when you left?”

“No, I don’t think so. The delivery took longer than anticipated, so I think I was the last.”

“So, Belinda Horton wasn’t in the office?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“So, she wasn’t still in the office before the fire started?”

“I don’t think so,” I said. “Although, she could have been in her office and I just didn’t realise.”

“What is your impression of Belinda Horton?”

“Oh, I think she is possibly unhappy in her life, as she seems to take it out on the staff, for no apparent reason.”

“So, is she not liked in the office?”

“I don’t always understand he reasons for doing things.”

“Can you elaborate on that?”

“Well, sometimes the only point I can see to her behaviour is cruelty.”

“That’s very blunt.”

“Oh,” I said. “I assumed you wanted me to be blunt.”

“Could you make any comment on her health.”

“Well, she trains 5 nights a week, and her weight must now be down to 50 kilos.”

“Has that always been the case?”

“Oh, no, this has been true for her for the last 12 months.”

“And would you say her, as you say, cruelty has escalated with her loss of weight?”

“She’s always been hard work, but to answer your question, yes.”

“Do you think her obvious diminished physical capacity has affected her mental state?”

“Well, in my untrained capacity, I’d have to say yes.”

“Well, thanks you Mr Smith.”

“Oh, call me Josh.”

“Thank you, Josh.”

Di’s funeral was a simple affair, from all accounts, I didn’t attend.

Sometime later, Belinda left the company and from all reports entered a facility for the bewildered, as they say in nice circles.

I turned down the full time position and left the company.

Switch

Ethan and Ebony took a side road off the Stuart Highway, for no real reason, other than they could.

They had no real deadline or schedule; they could pretty much do as they liked.

They were mowing down the kilometres on their central Australia trip, and they decided to get off the main highway just to see some of the desert up close and personal.

They hadn’t travelled very far off the main highway when they saw a white car in the distance.

The ute was beside the edge of the dirt road with its bonnet up way out there in the middle of nowhere.

Ethan worked his motor bike down through the gears to see if there was anything he could do to help, as he wasn’t only a lawyer, he was an avid amateur mechanic.

He pulled his Royal Enfield motor bike up with Eboni sitting on the back, and flipped up his helmet visor.

“Anything I can do to help?” Ethan asked. “I’m pretty handy with cars and engines.”

“Yeah, cheers, mate,” said one of the three men standing by the ute. He reached into the back of the ute right at that moment and pulled out a double barrel shot gun, pointing it at Ethan and Eboni. “You can both get off the bike, to start with.”

Eboni inhaled sharply.

The second and third guys pulled out hand guns seemingly from nowhere.

“Okay, mate,” said Ethan. “Sure. We’re getting off.”

Ethan and Eboni got off the motor bike on that dirt road in Central Australia.

“Take the helmets off,” said the second guy standing by the ute.

Ethan and Eboni pulled their helmets off.

The second guy wolf whistled when he saw Eboni.

“What do you want?” asked Eboni.

“Well, lookie here,” said the first guy. “We’ve gone and got ourselves a couple of models. Are you two models?”

“What do you want?” said Ethan.

“What do we want, you ask us what do we want,” said the first guy. “I want peace in the world, I want equality for all, I want a healthy planet, I want a million dollars in the bank and,” he looked closely at the bike, “a Royal Enfield motor bike, you know, probably the same things you want.”

“I want the TattsLotto numbers for next Saturday,” said the second guy.

“I want to touch you,” said the third guy talking for the first time, looking straight at Ethan.

“Get over here,” said the first guy, pointing the shot gun at Ethan, then pointing the end of the gun at his feet. “Hands behind your head.”

“What?” said Ethan.

“Mate, you sound kind of educated to me,” said the first guy. “I don’t think that instruction was too fucken hard to understand, for a smart guy.” He raised the gun up again, pointing it at Ethan. “Now move.”

“Okay, okay,” said Ethan. He walked over to the first guy. 

“Now lie on the ground,” said the guy behind the double barrel shot gun.

Ethan got down on the ground.

“Face down,” said the guy with the shot gun.

“Grab her, Wolf,” said the first guy. Indicating to the second guy to grab Eboni.

“I’m not going to do anything,” said Eboni.

“Sure, Gaz,” said Wolf.

“Yeah, well,” said Gaz, “What is that saying. It’s better to be safe than fucken sorry.”

Wolf grabbed Eboni by the arms.

“Don’t you hurt her,” demanded Ethan. 

Gaz put his foot into the middle of Ethan’s back, and point the shot gun at his head.

“Ethan!” Eboni cried out. 

“You are in no position to demand anything at the moment, buddy,” said Gaz.

“We’re in control now,” said Wolf, as he slipped his hands into the front of Eboni's jeans.

“HEY!” Ethan protested and tried to get up.

"Oh, big guy thinks he has some sort of power," said Gaz.

"He doesn't like his pretty girlfriend making it okay for us to let them go," said Wolf.

"That's okay," said Gaz. "You can take her place pretty boy."

"We cater for all, ah, sorts," said Wolf.

"Juso," said Gaz. He motioned with his head. "You're up."

The third guy, a big, musclebound guy, who had been standing back stepped forward.

"Don't mind if I do, Gaz," said Juso. He reached down and grabbed the back of Ethan's leather motor bike pants. "Fancy." He took hold of the waistband and gave them a huge tug ripping the back out of Ethan's leather pants, exposing Ethan's pristine white underwear."

"Ethan," Eboni cried out.

"Don't worry, little sister, me and Wolf can cater to you, but Juso has always had eyes for the boys."

"The pretty ones too," said Wolf. "Just like your boy here."

Just at that moment, Juso tore the back out of Ethan's undies, exposing his well exercised hairy arse. "Nice," said Juso. "Just how I like 'em." 

“What? Incapacitated,” said Wolf.

Juso licked his finger and inserted into Ethan's anus.

Ethan cried out.

"Ethan," Eboni called out again.

Juso worked his finger in and out of Ethan arsehole. "Squeal like a pig, model guy, squeal like a pig."

“Ethan dropped his face into the dirt and moaned in pain.

"Now you give us what we want, that's me and my mate Wolf here, or I can tell you Juso is real keen to stick something other than his finger into your pretty boyfriend."

"What?" said Eboni.

"What?" said Ethan. Pain was still in his voice.

"You can't be serious," said Eboni.

"Deadly," said Gaz.

"I'll do it, I'll do it," said Ethan exhausted.

"A real gentlemen to the end..."

"With his end," said Wolf. He laughed.

"You got a good one there," said Gaz. "It's not too many blokes who'll take the rape for their gyrls."

"Oh, but," said Wolf.

"You better get oclymatised to hairy beef curtains if you wanna see some action," said Gaz. He pointed to Ethan lying face down on the gravel road."

Wolf rubbed his crotch looking down at Ethan too and shrugged. "I've done worse."

"We've all done fucken worse," said Gaz.  He knelt down and took Ethan by the chin. "He sure is a handsome fuck, you've down real good for yourself, girlie." Gaz ran his hand over Ethan's back down to his bare arse, sliding his own finger into Ethan, next to Juso's. 

"Ah FUCK!" Ethan cried out in pain. 

Gaz looked up at Wolf. "I don't think you'd be disappointed." Gaz worked his finger in and out of Ethan, with Juso working his finger in and out of Ethan at the same time. 

“You guys are fucken fucked,” Eboni screamed out.

Ethan screamed out loudly. "OH MY FUCKEN GOD!"

"He's so pretty, I'd even consider sticking it to him."

"Ah, but." Wolf gazed at Eboni.

"Oh, come on, you've let Juso relieve you on more than one occasion, mate."

"Well, that's what gay mates are for," said Wolf. "If there are no chicks around."

Gaz pulled his finger out of Ethan and pointed at Eboni.

"Tie her up," Gaz said to Wolf.

"Okay," said Wolf.

"Hog tie him," Gaz said to Juso. "We might all park our bikes in his bike holder yet."

"Okay," said Juso. He sounded excited.

"And let’s smoke some pot," said Gaz.

"I've got some meth," said Juso.

"Nah," said Gaz. "We'll all be up him if we take meth."

"Yeah," said Juso. "His pretty arse needs our loads.

Wolf laughed.

"Hey, you guys, I've got money," said Ethan. 

"On you?" asked Gaz.

"No. Er? Take the bike, it's worth a lot," said Ethan.

"What would we do with one bike between 3 of us?"

"It's a nice bike," said Wolf.

"I bet ya he looks real pretty riding it," said Juso.

“Tie them up,” said Gaz. “I’m gonna look through the panniers on the bike before we have a smoke.”

“The what?” said Juso.

“Them bags on the side,” said Wolf.

Gaz walked over to the bike and flipped open the panier flap.

“Hey, lookie ‘ere,” said Gaz. He held up a big bag of pot. “We’ll smoke their pot.”

“Any cash?” said Wolf.

“Um, er,” said Gaz. He rummaged through the bike’s bags. “Hey look here.” He pulled out a wallet. He flipped it open. “Not bad. Hundred dollar notes.” 

“Goodo,” said Wolf.

Juso pointed two handguns at Eboni, as Wolf taped Eboni's wrists and ankles with thick, grey duct tape, the same tape covered her mouth. She was left sitting by the side of the road

Wolf pointed the shotgun at Ethan's head as Juso tied Ethan's ankles to his writs behind his back. Ethan's bare, white arse was exposed to the world, his cock and balls lying in the dirt.

"There's a good job done," said Gaz.

"Pity," said Juso.

"We'll get you something to play with on the next job," said Wolf.

"Promise?" said Juso.

"Promise," Gaz and Wolf said together.

Gaz slid 3 ready rolled joints into his mouth and lit all three. He handed one to Wolf, one to Juso, drawing heavily on the last one which he kept for himself.

"Don't mind if I do," said Wolf.

"Ta," said Juso.

The three guys smoked the joints enthusiastically, as if they hadn't tasted pot in a long time.

Gaz dropped his smoked joint on the ground and ground it into the dirt with his shoe.

Wolf flicked his smoked joint high into the sky with a flick of his fore finger and thumb.

Juso tossed his smoked joint aside with little to no care.

“That’s good shit,” said Wolf. “Trust a fancy pretty boy to have more than home fucken grown.”

“Blown my head,” said Juso. “I wanna lick his arse.”

“No way,” said Gaz. “We’d better get going. We’ve been here long enough.”

“Aren’t we going to…”

“Nah, Juso, we’re no gonna...”

“You have to get a fucken room for that shit,” said Wolf. “Jesus fuck.”

“Come on, we gotta go,” said Gaz.

“Ah, but…” said Wolf.

“But what?”

“What about her?” said Wolf.

“What about her?” said Gaz.

“She sure is pretty,” said Wolf.

“No way,” said Gaz. “Let’s go.”

“But you let Juso…”

“Let Juso what?”

“Let Juso touch him.”

“He’s a guy, it doesn’t matter…”

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter with a bloke, they’re okay, but touching a girl is way different,” said Gaz. “Now get in the car and let’s go.”

“But,” said Wolf.

“You are not touching her, not while I’m ‘ere, no way,” said Gaz. “Now let’s go.”

Gaz walked to the driver’s side of the ute. 

“Fuck it.” said Wolf looking from Eboni to Gaz getting into the driver’s side of the ute. “Come on.” Gaz demanded of Juso. “You are in the middle, faggot.”

Juso walked over to Ethan. He exhaled loudly as he looked over the prone man. “Another fucken time.” Then he ran to the ute and got in, in front of Wolf.

Ethan thew himself sideways to try and catch the number plates of the ute before it drove off, only to see for the first time the ute didn’t have any number plates on it.

“Eb?”

Eboni grunted.

“You okay?”

“Eboni grunted again.”

“Can you come over here.”

Eboni got to her feet. She hopped over towards Ethan. She lost her footing and fell heavily on the dirt. She groaned loudly.

“Eb!” Ethan called out.

Eboni groaned again. She got back up on her feet and hopped the rest of the distance to Ethan.

“Lean down here,” said Ethan.

Eboni grunted in a question.

“Get down here, and I’ll try to get the tape off your mouth with my teeth.”

Eboni grunted in a question a gain.

“It’s all we’ve got Eb,” he said. “Get your face up against mine.”

Eboni got down to her knees carefully. Then she lay down with her face against Ethan’s.

“I’m sorry, Eb…”

She grunted as a question again.

“I’m sorry this happened.”

Eboni grunted dismissively. She pushed her face up against Ethans.

“Yes, like that. Bring the corner of the tape to my lips.”

She did.

“Yes, now hold still.” Ethan grunted. Then he grunted again. He got hold of the corner of the tape and ripped it from Eboni’s mouth.

“Oh, Ethan,” Eboni said. She kissed him. Then she kissed him some more. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, Eb, I’m okay.”

“OMG! I can’t believe that this has happened.”

“Eboni, bring your hands up to my mouth. I’ll try to do the same with the tape around your wrists.”

Eboni rolled around onto her side and brought her hands up to Ethan’s mouth.

“There’s an end piece that is sticking up, put that in my mouth.”

Eboni put the end piece of tape in Ethan’s mouth. Ethan took hold of it with his teeth. Eboni pulled her hands sideways until the tape started to unstick from her wrists.

“Yes, good,” said Ethan. “Keep going.”

Eboni put the end of the tape back in Ethan’s mouth and pulled it from her wrists some more. They continued the process.

“Ethan, I’m exhausted.”

“I know, I am to babe. Keep going, though.”

It took a long time. There was more and more grey tape. Ethan would bite down on it, Eboni would pull more tape from her writs. The longer the tape got, the harder the process become.

“We’re nearly there,” said Eboni.

“Yes, we’re nearly there,” said Ethan.

Eventually, Eboni was able to pull her wrists apart.

Eboni let out a yelp as her wrists became untangled.

“Oh, thank god,” said Ethan.

Eboni quickly pulled the thick grey tape from her ankles.

“Eb, believe it, or not, but I have a Swiss army knife in one of the paniers, get that, it will be quicker.”

Eboni quickly got the knife from the motorbike and got to work on Ethan’s tied legs and arms across his back. She cut the ropes, it wasn’t easy, but she seemed to find a steely resolve to cut those ropes free.

“I hate those guys,” said Eboni.

“Yeah, me to.”

She kept cutting.

“I want them to pay.”

“Yes, me to Eb.”

She kept cutting.

“What they did to you…”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” said Ethan.

She cut and cut and finally the ropes cam apart. Ethan was able to roll around onto his arse and sit up.

Eboni untied his hands.

“I love you,” Ethan said.

The ropes around his wrists came apart.

Eboni burst into tears. Ethan wrapped his arms around her. “It’s okay, it’s over now.” They held each other tight.

Ethan rubbed Eboni’s face. “Come on, we’re okay. We need to get going.”

“I know, you are right,” Eboni said.

Eboni stood up.

Ethan untied the ropes around his ankles and stood up to. His torn leather pants and underwear fell to the ground.

They hugged again. “I love you,” said Ethan.

“I love you too,” said Eboni.

They kissed tenderly.

“We’re okay,” said Ethan.

“Yes,” said Eboni.

Ethan walked over to the motor bike and pulled a pair of jeans from one of the paniers and pulled them on.

“Ah,” he groaned. “I think my arse is a bit sunburnt.” 

Eboni laughed for the first time. “It hasn’t seen the light of day since Mykonos a year ago.”

“I won the shaved butt competition,” said Ethan.

“I was thinking of the beach,” said Eboni.

Ethan grabbed his and Eboni’s helmets. “Here, we’ve got to go.” The two of them got back on the motorbike and road off.

They rode to the Barrow Creek police station, nearby. They pulled up outside the police station and ran inside.

“How can I help you good people,” said the desk sergeant.

“I’d like to report a robbery,” said Ethan.

“More than a robbery,” said Eboni. “A sexual assault, as well.”

“A robbery. A sexual assault?” said the desk sergeant.”

“Were you sexually assaulted, miss,” said the desk sergeant.

“No, he was.”

“He was?” asked the desk sergeant.

“Yeah, I guess.

“They tore his leather pants off…”

“Leather pants?”

“And they digitally raped him.”

“They what?”

“Two of them,” said Eboni.

“Two, you say.”

“Yes, I guess,” said Ethan.

“Yes, then they tied us up…”

“Tied both of you up?

“Yes,” said Ethan.”

“Yes,” said Eboni.

“And they stole our money,” said Ethan.

“And our…” Eboni stopped herself.

“They stole from you?”

“Yes,” said Ethan.

“They tied us up and left us for dead,” said Eboni.

“In the desert,” said Ethan.

“They, um, sexually assaulted him, not you?” asked the desk sergeant.

“Yes,” said Eboni.

“Then they stole your money, tying you up and leaving you in the desert?”

“Yes,” said Eboni and Ethan together.

“Okay, who and where?” asked the desk sergeant.

“There were three of them,” said Ethan.

“They had guns,” said Eboni.

“We were riding on the back roads,” said Ethan.

“Where?” asked the desk sergeant.

“Oh, um, er… out on the back roads, kilometres south,” said Ethan. “I tripped the counter on my motor bike as we rode here.

“His ripped leather pants mark the spot,” said Eboni.

“Ripped leather pants mark the spot?” questioned the desk sergeant.

“And his underwear,” said Eboni.

“His underwear?” said the desk sergeant.

“Yes, designer. Calvin Klien, I think.” said Eboni

“Yes,” said Ethan.

“His designer underwear?” questions the desk sergeant.

“Yes,” said Eboni.

“You’re not from around here, are you,” says the desk sergeant.

“We’re from Melbourne,” Ethan and Eboni said together.

The sergeant took a deep breath. He left the desk for a moment. He returned with an incident report pad. He selected a pen from a pen holder on the counter.

The desk sergeant started to fill out the details asking Ethan and Eboni questions.

“Okay,” said the desk sergeant. “You are on a motor bike, you say?”

“Yes.”

“How did they, um, stop you?” asked the desk sergeant.

“They had a ute…”

“Can you describe the ute?”

“It was white.”

“White?”

“Yes.”

“Make. Model. Number plates?”

“It was a white ute. It had no numberplates.”

“No number plates?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

“They pretended to be broken down on the side of the road,” said Eboni.

“We stopped to see if we could help,” said Ethan. “I’m a bit of an amateur mechanic.”

“Then they pulled guns,” said Eboni.

“Pulled guns?” repeated the desk sergeant.

“Yes, all three of them,” said Ethan. “A shot gun and two hand guns.”

“So, they were armed?”

“Yes,” said Ethan and Eboni together.

“Did they use names to speak to each other?” asked the desk sergeant.

“Yes,” said Ethan.

“Gaz and Wolf and Juso,” said Eboni.

“Gaz and Wolf and Juso,” repeated desk sergeant. He looked from Eboni back to Ethan.

“Yes,” said Etan and Eboni together.

“They stole your money,” said the desk sergeant. “How much?”

“About $500.”

“$500.”

“Yes,” said Ethan.

“After which they tied you upp and left you out in the desert.”

“Yes,” said Ethan.

“And they sexually assaulted you?”

“Yes,” said Ethan.

“Not you?” asked the desk sergeant. He looked at Eboni.

“No,” said Eboni.

“So… when did the sexual assault happen?” asked the desk sergeant.

“Oh, um,” said Ethan.

“First up,” said Eboni. “As soon as they held us at gun point. Before they robbed us.”

“Before they robbed you?” said the desk sergeant.

“They ripped his leather pants and underwear off. From behind,” said Eboni. “And two of them digitally raped him. The younger musclebound one was said to be into men.”

“Who said that?” said the desk sergeant.

“Gaz and Wolf.”

“The other two?” said the desk sergeant.

“Yes,” said Ethan and Eboni together.

“And they never touched you?”

“No. Well. Kind of threateningly, at the beginning but it was nothing,” said Eboni.

“I think Wolf wanted to,” said Ethan. “But Gaz stopped him.”

“Gaz was the leader,” said Eboni.

“Something about girls being off limits…” said Ethan.

“Oh yes,” said Eboni. “Something about it didn’t matter with guys, but it did with girls.”

“Okay,” said the desk sergeant. He rubbed the sweat from his forehead. “Um, ah, well, Jees. Was anything else stolen other than money?”

“Well, to be completely honest,” said Ethan. “And a bag of pot.”

“You had a bag of pot?” asked the desk sergeant.

“Yeah, just for complete transparency,” said Ethan. “You know what I mean.”

“Had you smoked any of the pot today?” asked the desk sergeant.

“Oh, well, what can I say?”

“Have you two consumed any other drugs today?” The desk sergeant’s attitude seemed to change ever so slightly at this point.

“No,” Ethan and Eboni said together.

“Just a joint for the ride,” said Ethan. “You know, to enhance the experience…”

“Ethan?” said Eboni.

“But that was hours ago.”

“They smoked some of the pot,” said Eboni.

“They? The robbers?” asked the desk sergeant.

“After we were tied up,” said Ethan.

“Before they took off in their ute,” said Eboni.

“The robbers stopped to smoke a joint…”

“Three,” said Ethan.

“Three?” questioned the desk sergeant.

“They had a joint each,” said Eboni.”

“The robbers tied you bother up, they stopped to smoke a joint each, before taking off in the white ute, of undisclosed make and model with no rego plates attached to the vehicle.”

“Yes,” said Ethan and Eboni together.

“And this was after sexually assaulting you, but not you, before all of that?” questioned the desk sergeant.

“Yes,” said Ethan and Eboni together.

“I see,” said the desk sergeant.

“Yes,” said Ethan.

“It is a pretty incredible story,” said the desk sergeant.

“Yes, I guess it is,” said Ethan.

“But that is what happened,” said Eboni.

The desk sergeant wrote more information down on the pad in front of him

“Had you two consumed any other drugs?” asked the desk sergeant.

“No,” said Ethan and Eboni together.

“But you admit to smoking cannabis before taking charge of your motorbike?”

“Well,” said Ethan. He laughed. “It was just…”

“It’s a yes, or no question,” the desk Sergeant stated.

“Yes,” said Ethan.

“So, you would say you were impaired?”

“No,” said Ethan.

“Where were you two headed, when this robbery” he made parenthesis in the air, “took place,” asked the desk sergeant.

“Oh, nowhere in particular,” said Ethan.

“No where in particular?”

“No.”

“Oh, really.” The desk sergeant sounded suspicious.

“Possibly Darwin?” said Ethan.

“Maybe Darwin.”

“Yes, maybe.”

“We’re just touring,” said Eboni.

“Nowhere in particular?” the desk sergeant sounded doubtful. “You say.”

The desk sergeant made notes on the paperwork.

“Do you know any perps by those names?” asked Eboni.

“No.”

“And a trace on the white ute?” asked Ethan.

“Jees, do you know how many white utes we have?”

“No,”

The desk sergeant read through what he’d written.

“So, you’ve taken no other drugs?” he asked.

“No,” said Ethan and Eboni.

“No alcohol?”

“No,” said Ethan and Eboni.

“Okay,” said the desk sergeant.

“We’re the victims here,” said Ethan.

“So, you say,” said the desk sergeant.

“No,” said Eboni. “We don’t say, we are.”

The desk sergeant looked at Eboni and raised his eyebrows.

Ethan looked at Eboni. Eboni looked at Ethan.

“Okay,” said the desk sergeant. “We’ll be in contact.”

“Okay,” said Ethan. “Do we need to stay around?”

“No,” said the desk sergeant. “We’ve got your contact numbers.”

“You don’t need anything further from us?” asked Eboni.

“No,” said the desk sergeant.

“You’ll keep us updated?” asked Ethan.

“Updated?” questioned the desk sergeant.

“On the investigation?” said Ethan.

“The investigation?” questioned the desk sergeant. “Oh, yes, the investigation, yes, of course.”

Ray Sinclair

“Gin!”

“Again!”

“You betcha!”

“You are too good for me!”

“Read ‘em and weep. Ha Ha!”

“I don’t know if I will ever…”

“Oh! Oh?”

“Are you alright?”

“Oh? God! What’s happening? 

“What?

“Suddenly, I don’t feel so…”

“You don’t look…”

Thud!

“Beth!”

“Police? Fire? Or Ambulance?” asked the nasally voice on the other end of the phone.

“Ambulance, Ambulance! Quick! Ambulance,” Ray pleaded.

“I’m so sorry, Ray.”

“Thanks, Leo. Such is life. Hey?”

“It was a beautiful service,” said Leo.

“As far as funerals go, hey,” said Ray. "I haven't seen you since then?"

"No, not since the service."

"Oh, Leo."

“So, Ray… er… mate, what, um?”

“What?”

“What? How? I never asked?”

“A stroke. Then a second stroke.”

“Beth didn’t deserve that.”

“No.”

“Still… what was…um?

“What was what?”

“Er… the age difference?” said Leo.

“Forty years,” said Ray. “But, I never felt it. Never.”

“No?”

“No.”

“No one would have ever picked Beth for 75,” said Leo.

“No, no one ever did.”

Leo ushered Ray into his lounge room.

“What are you going to do with the house?”

“I’m not going to do anything with the house.”

“Don’t you have to…”

“The house is mine. Beth left it to me. I don’t have to do anything with it.”

“It’s going to be expensive…”

“Beth left me everything.”

“Everything?”

“The lot.” Ray laughed self consciously, even he heard it.

“What?” quizzed Leo.

“What? What?” said Ray.

“That laugh. What was that?”

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“You don’t know what I mean?”

“No.”

“How long have we been best friends, Ray?

“Since school.”

“Yes, since school.”

“Twenty years?”

“Longer,” said Leo.

“Okay, longer? So?”

“There is something, that laugh gave it away. I know that laugh.”

“You are talking shit, Leo.”

“No, no I’m not.”

Leo lit a cigarette. He offered one to Ray, which Ray took. They smoked in silence.

“Beth, um, had left half her fortune to me and the other half to her children, except I, um…” Ray stubbed his cigarette out in a dish on the side table between the two of them. “I? Ah? Did a new will.” Ray smiled at Leo waiting for Leo’s reaction.

“Did a new will?” Leo creased his forehead in a question.

“Which left, er, me, um, all the money…” 

“And her children? 

“Well…” Ray held Leo’s questioning gaze and found he couldn’t help but smile.

“And?”

“Nothing.”

“You stole from her children?” asked Leo. 

“No,” said Ray. “Of course not. What kind of person do you think I am?”

Leo raised his eyebrows. 

“It wasn’t theirs,” said Ray. “It was, um.” He tilted his head for effect. “Beth’s.”

“So, you did?” said Leo.

“Did I?”

“Yes, that is what I am asking?”

“That is what you are asking?”

“Yes, that is what I am asking.”

“I took what was mine.”

“Ray?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Ray?” Leo’s voice went up pitch.

“Well, you asked.”

“Didn’t she have a lot of money?” asked Leo.

“Yes. Yes, a lot.”

“Enough for everyone?”

“Well, um, define enough.”

“Plenty for you and her two children to live on for all of your respective lives.”

“Well, that’s a definition.”

“That’s what you just asked for.”

“And you delivered.”

“And the answer would be?”

“Well, yes, yes there is.”

“So wouldn’t it have been fair…”

“Fair?”

“It means…”

“I know what it means.”

“Wouldn’t it have been fair?”

“I do think fair is so over used, don’t you?” said Ray. “Cancel culture and everyone being outraged today.”

“It is the only thing that separates us from the animals…”

“Oh, Leo.”

“The only thing that defines us as a civilised society.”

“Civilised, smivilised.”

“Oh Ray?”

“What?”

“Did you do it?”

“Yes, I pinched the kid’s money. So, kill me.”

“Ray, I will never be able to look at you in the same way again...”

“Do you want a Mustang?”

“Well, yes.”

“A black one?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Well, tell me you still love me.”

“I will always love you, Ray.”

“The kids won’t starve.”

“They won’t?”

“No, Beth gave them plenty of money while she was still alive.”

“She did?”

“Yes,” said Ray. “I’m not a complete monster.”

“Not a complete monster,” said Leo.

“Besides, neither of her kids did what I did for her in the last 15 years of her life.”

“You don’t expect her kids to do that, do you?”

“No, I don’t mean go face down in their mother…”

“Euw!”

“It wasn’t euw!”

“Didn’t you do it for the money?”

“No, I never did it for the money,” said Ray. “I liked her, I really liked her.”

“Careful, you are sounding like whoever that actress was.”

“She was different and interesting and smart and amazing and funny and more than once she took my breath away. I miss her so much.”

“You didn’t do it for the money?”

“No, I never did it for the money.”

“Never?”

“No!” said Ray. “It doesn’t mean I want to lose the money now that I have lost her.”

“I think that much is clear,” said Leo. “So, how?”

“How what?”

“How did you get away with it?”

“I made up a new will.”

“Yes, I know you did that, but how did you do it?”

“Well,” said Ray. “I knew what was in her will, and how she wanted her estate to be divided, despite on numerous occasions how she complained about her kids and how she had provided for them only to be thanked by them being too busy to spend any time with her.”

“Wasn’t that because of you?” said Leo.

“Was it because of me?”

“Didn’t they state on more than one occasion that they weren’t okay with their mother taking up with a younger man?”

“Where did you hear that?”

“From you Ray, from you,” said Leo. “So, wasn’t it?”

“I’m younger than them,” said Ray. “And, they just couldn’t put their mother’s happiness above their own.”

“It was all so sudden, so how?” asked Leo.

“She had the 1st stroke and was put into hospital,” said Ray. “She had a 2nd stroke three days later which killed her.”

“A three day window period?”

“So, after the 1st stroke, I decided just to ask her to sign a new will.”

“So, you did?”

“Yes, I put it in front of her in the hospital and asked her to sign.”

“Which she did?”

“Yes,” said Ray. “Then I took it to my lawyer John Walker and he witnessed her signature.”

“In his office, quite separate to Beth?”

“Yes.”

“It kind of plays with the definition of a witness?”

“Oh, John Walker does anything for me, since I found him a,” Ray made parenthesis in the air with his fingers, “girl, who’d let him dress up in a school girl’s outfit for sex.”

“Is this the same guy who was mayor?”

“Yes, he was mayor, what is your point?”

“Isn’t he married?”

“Happily.”

“You don’t see any problem with that?”

“Um, what? No. We used the same pen, don’t worry.”

“I meant,” said Leo. He waved his hand as if to say never mind. “He was in a position of power based on honesty…”

“Yes, I think the fact that he was mayor worked positively towards believability.”

“Then you lodged it?”

“John did all that.”

“And it was accepted?”

“No drama,” said Ray.”

“Did the kids try to fight it.”

“No, not a peep. I guess they are used to me.” Ray shrugged. “By now?”

“They didn’t suspect?”

“Not for a minute,” said Ray. “And the previous will had stood for 10 years. Longer. They missed out on millions.”

“Where did you two meet?” asked Leo. “You and Beth.”

“I’ve told you that.”

“No.”

“On a golf course,” said Ray. It was a glorious day.”

“On a golf course?”

“Beth was my grandma’s golf buddy,” said Ray. “I used to caddy for gran from time to time.”

“You were caddy?”

“For gran.”

“Golf.”

“Yes, a sexy young caddy towards who Beth made several inappropriate suggestions.”

“What did your gran think?”

“Oh, she didn’t hear.”

“And it went from there, from the golf course?”

“No, not exactly,” said Ray. “Sometime later gran had a dinner party and I offered to be waiter?”

“So, a sexy young waiter now?”

“Dressed up in a waist coat and tight black pants," said Ray. "Beth got drunk and told me she was Mrs Robinson.”

“Did you understand the reference?”

“No, not immediately, but in one of those coincidences that happen all the time in life, the film came on TV and I watched it with mum.”

“So, I am assuming it didn’t lead on from the dinner party, if it took until later to get the Mrs Robinson reference?”

“No, by chance we met in a service station in Nicholson Street sometime after the dinner party, when she was filling up her Mini Cooper and I was putting $5 worth in my big old Mercedes.”

“Just by chance?”

“We laughed at the ridiculousness of our fills.”

“Was that serendipity?”

“She asked me if I was interested in mowing her lawns.”

“Is that a euphemism?”

“No, it’s the house in Victoria Road, you know the lawns it has.”

“Oh, yes?”

“And I mowed her lawns,” said Ray. “She made me coffee and cake afterward, and we got chatting. And I found I liked her. She had interesting things to say.”

“Ah, the young lawn boy.”

“Her husband died in a car accident,” said Ray. “Eventually, a long time after, she told me she hadn’t had sex for 10 years, not since her husband.”

“And your relationship developed from there?”

“We had fun, we laughed,” said Ray. “Sure, she treated me to things. But I liked her, I liked spending time with her. We saw plays, we saw movies, we went bush walking with our dogs, we went on a cruise. She had always wanted to go on a cruise, and she could with me.”

"You and Beth, hey?"

"She was lonely. She was happily married. She was devastated when her husband was killed.” 

“He was killed?”

“In a car. Head on. The other driver was drunk, veered onto his side of the road.”

“She said that I reminded her of him. I think that’s what drew her to me.”

“Not your 20 year old loins?” said Leo.

“Her husband’s name was Ray. And her first boyfriend she dated at uni was Ray too. She said she is a Ray kind of girl.”

“You were made for that role.”

“She kept me while I finished my law degree.”

“Have you always fancied older women?” asked Leo.

“I don’t know, maybe,” said Ray. I always remember thinking Joy Behar was a good sort and was shocked to find out she was nearing 80 years old.”

“Joy Behar off the TV.”

“Yes, from that talk show where all the chicks yap on.”

“So, what happened to Beth? When she got sick?

“We were drinking Mojitos and playing Gin Rummy…”

“Gin Rummy?”

“It’s a card game. You have to get a certain combination of cards that gives you Gin Rummy. And when you get them, you call out Gin!”

“I’ve never heard of it,” said Leo. 

“It’s exciting. Beth screamed out gin! Then she keeled over,” said Ray. “I thought she was kidding, messing about, playing a prank, lying on the floor, but she wasn’t.”

“She’d had the stroke?”

“The first one.”

“So how did you forge her will.”

“John Walker…”

“Your lawyer?”

“Yes, he wrote it up for me.”

“So, what did you tell him?”

“The truth?”

“That you were forging Beth’s will…”

“So, I got everything and the kids got nothing.”

“He didn’t have an ethical issue with that…”

“No, I paid him, he was okay with it.”

“With forgery?”

“He didn’t care, besides, it wasn’t a forgery, not really.”

“How can you say that?”

“John wrote the will. Beth signed it. It’s a real will.”

“But Beth didn’t know what she was signing.”

“Erm...she knew it was a financial document.”

“How did she know that?”

“I told her.”

“What, sign this financial document.”

“Yes, that’s what I asked her.”

“What were her children like?”

“Fiona and Robert.”

“Just the two?”

“They were spoilt, she spoilt them.”

“With a sense of entitlement, no doubt?”

“Oh, um, kind of,” said Ray. “They are just into themselves, and their lives, making money, working the corporate ladder and buying bigger houses and bigger beach houses, the latest cars, sending their kids to private schools.”

“That seems pretty normal.”

“Robert is a big time lawyer with a stay at home wife, Prue, who is so vacuous I feel like I lose IQ points when I have a full conversation with her,” said Ray. “And Fiona is the mayor, or do they call them CEOs now? Of River Council, where her main achievement seems to have been to triple her salary all the while managing to stay in office despite mounting, damning criticism.”

“River Council has been riddled with allegations of corruption.”

“Because she is only there for her own benefit, not unlike the rest of her life. Or the rest of the councillors, for that matter.”

“Just what we need from our public servants.”

“I don’t think that they are, actually, capable of thinking about anyone else.”

“Which cost them?

“Which cost them big time, in this last election.”

“So, what do they think happened to Beth’s money.”

“They think Beth left it all to me.”

“So, you just made the reality fit the perception of reality.”

“Yes, I guess I did.”

“And they were none the wiser?”

“They didn’t approve of me,” said Ray. “But, were happy for me to look after Beth so they didn’t have to.”

“What are you going to do now?” asked Leo.

“I don’t know,” said Ray. “I don’t know.”

“Find another Beth?”

“Ha ha. As if.”

“You shouldn’t lose hope.”

“Live happily ever after,” said Ray. “That’s all that’s left.”

“What else is there to do?” said Leo.

“What else, indeed,” said Ray.

“At least you have Beth’s money to keep you warm,” said Leo.

“You know, it was never about the money. It was always about nothing changing. I just wanted life to go on as unchanged as much as I could make it.”

“Without Beth?”

“I can’t change that,” said Ray. “But I could change the rest.”

“Or stop it changing?” said Leo.

“I’d give up all of it to have Beth back,” said Ray. “Like that.” He clicked his fingers.

“I know you would, Ray.”

A Fit Lad With A Basket Of Fruit

The photo was of Will naked holding a fruit basket in front of him with his cock and balls in the basket like they were fruit.

The caption read, “I love it when my fit lad brings me a basket of fruit.”

And there was Will, smiling, seemingly appearing to be offering up his genitals to the photographer.

Will’s dad was surprised and really taken a back when he opened the image from the email he’d just received titled A Fit Lad With A Basket Full Of Fruit. Will’s dad didn’t know what to make of it, seeing his youngest boy as naked as the day he was born, well, not quite the same naked as that.

“Hey Will, can you come here for a minute?” Will’s dad called out to his son.

Will entered the room. “What is it?”

“Oh, um, I just got this photo of you…”

“You what,” said Will. “What do you mean?” Will says as he walks around the desk.

“From someone named…”

“Oh Jesus,” said Will. “Otto,” he said.

“Yes, Otto,” said Will’s dad. “Who is Otto? Why does he have this photo of you? And why has he sent it to me?”

“I um…”

“You are his fit… lad?”

“Well, dad…”

“You are offering your…”

“I was his… um?”

“You were his?”

“Yes, dad. Otto and I were… um… boyfriends.”

“Boyfriends?”

“We split up because I hadn’t told you and mum.”

“That you were boyfriends?”

“Yes?”

“For how long.”

“Oh, um, a year.”

“A year?”

“Otto wanted me to tell you and I hadn’t and he was pissed off about it…”

“You didn’t tell us.”

“No,” said Will. “And I guess this is his way of getting back at me.”

“For not telling us… um… er…”

“Yes.”

Will and his dad gazed at each other silently and with stillness.

“That’s okay,” said Will’s dad. “I still love you. Whatever makes you happy, Will.”

He took Will in his arms and hugged him.

“It’s a modern world, Will. It’s not such a big deal now.”

Will didn’t quite understand his father, and his father must have seen the look on Will’s face. “I mean. You’ll be okay in the world now. The world is okay with it.”

“Gay dad,” said Will. “Gay, you can say it.”

“Yeah, Will, Gay. I get it. You like boys.”

“Men,” said Will. “Men.”

“Yeah. Sure. I meant…” His dad smiled at Will. “I’m on your side.”

“Yeah. Sorry. Thanks, dad.”

“It’s okay,” said Will’s dad.

They gazed at each other, Will and his dad. Will wanted to say more, but his head was spinning.

“So… okay?” said Will.

“Yeah,” said Will’s dad. “As long… ah… as I don’t hear that you are going,” he made gestures in the air with his fingers, “‘girl’ for the lads in the area.’”

“What?” said Will.

“I know what the lads are like.” Will’s dad laughed, rather self-consciously Will thought. “They don’t care.”

“Don’t care?”

“You know, a hole is a hole.”

“Dad!”

“Well, you’re not, are you?”

“Not what?”

“You know… letting the lads… have their way.”

“But I want them to,” Will made gestures in the air, “‘have their way’ that’s how we… get together.”

“But not all the lads,” said his dad. “You know, doing it to you.”

“Dad!” exclaimed Will. “What sort of opinion do you have of me.”

“I just know what lads are like when they go sniffing around for it.” His dad pulled a face. “They don’t care… except for themselves. I’m sure… ah…”

“Gay?”

“Gay lads are the same.”

“Dad?”

“You’ve got to look after yourself,” said Will’s dad. “I’ve got to look after you, you’re my son.”

“Do you ask the same of Sam or Jon?”

“Well, no,” said Will’s dad. “But your brothers are hardly going to be over powered by women.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Oh Will, they are fit strong boys.”

Will questioned his dad with a look.

“All three of you are, but you are dealing with other men, and men can be physically brutal. Look at what they do to women. Why wouldn’t I worry about them hurting you.”

“I’m not a woman, dad.”

“Oh Will, I know that. Can’t I worry about you without you getting all bent out of shape. Guys are tough.”

“I’m tough.”

“They hurt each other.”

“I’m not some weedy kid.”

“Oh Will, you’ll always be my little boy.”

“Dad.”

“Come here.” He held out his arms. Will naturally fell into his dad’s embrace, just like he always had.

“I’m on your side, buddy. Don’t fight it.” Will’s dad rubbed his hand through the hair on the back of his son’s head. “I’m cool with whatever makes you happy, Will.”

“Thanks dad.” Will started to sob.

“There, there, now we all know, it will be much easier,” said Will’s dad. “I am assuming Sam and Jon already know.”

“Yeah, they do.”

“What did they say?”

“Nothing. No big deal.”

“Oh,” said Will’s dad.

“Jon wants to hook me up with his mate Jack’s gay brother Luke.”

“Luke Kennedy’s gay?”

“Yep. Luke’s gay.”

“Oh.”

“Jon thinks we’d make a nice couple.”

“Jon does?”

“Yeah, dad.”

“You and Luke?”

“Yep.”

“Er… do you like Luke?”

Will shrugged. “Maybe?”

“Luke?”

“Maybe, he’d be good for…” Will couldn’t help but smile at the thought he was sharing the fact that he fancied Luke Kennedy with his father.

“Oh, I see,” said his dad. “You… just… want to sleep with Luke.”

“Ah… um… well, not so much sleeping.”

“Yeah, sure,” said Will’s dad. “So…um?”

“So… um?”

“Do you ring him up? Do you make a date? I’m guessing you probably don’t take him flowers?”

“Maybe,” said Will.

“Do you wait for him to be drunk at a family BBQ?”

“Dad.”

“Well, I don’t know how these things work. How does Luke know you are… um…?”

“Interested?”

“Up for it?”

“I guess I have to tell him.”

“So, Luke Kennedy hey?”

“Maybe.”

“With girls and boys there is some basic thought that they could be interested,” said Will’s dad. “But, I guess, with you, and let’s say Luke, you have to really start from scratch.”

“Something like that,” said Will. “But kids of the same age usually know who’s gay and who isn’t more so that their parent’s generation.”

“What has Sam said?”

“Not much,” said Will. “But when does Sam ever say much?”

“I thought he might say more to you and Jon, even if he doesn’t say much to the rest of the world.”

“He said, so you like hairy bums, do you, or something like that.”

“That’s all he said?”

“Yeah, well, pretty much.”

“So do you?” asked Will’s dad.”

“Maybe,” said Will. “I… mean… depends who…” Will smiled, he couldn’t help it, “Yes, fuck it, yes I do.”

“Okay,” said his dad. “There’s something.”

Sam walks into the room.

“So, are you guys still having the fag talk?”

“Sam!” scolded their dad.

“Oh, you know, the gay talk?”

“Yes,” said Will.

“About time,” said Sam. “I don’t know what the big deal is?”

“That’s because you’re not gay,” said Will.

“Not gay, are gay, what’s the difference,” said Sam. “Just come out with it, why has it taken so long?”

“Why? How long have you guys known?”

“Oh, um?” stuttered Will.

“Years,” said Sam. “When did I catch you sucking off Jimmy Little?”

“Jimmy Little?” questioned their dad.

“Shut up,” said Will.

“Both with their pants around their ankles,” said Sam. “Jimmy’s dick in Will’s mouth.”

“Seriously?” said Will. “Piss off!”

“Both as hard as you like,” said Sam.

“Fuck you, Sam,” said Will.

Jon comes to the door. “Don’t forget the cow eyes for Liam Rogers.”

“Oh, come on,” said Will.

“Remember Will following Liam about,” said Jon.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that,” said Sam

“Seriously, I hate you two,” said Will.

Sam laughed. “Jesus, you get all bent out of shape over nothing,” he said. “We’ve known for a few years.”

“So, is that how long you have taken to tell me and your mum?”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Will. “Longer, I guess, I’ve known for longer than these big mouths have known,” said Will. He was indicating Sam.

“How long have you known?” asked Will’s dad.

“Since, I was a kid? I’ve always known, I guess.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” asked Will’s dad.

“Why didn’t I tell you?” said Will. “I’ve got to tell myself first.”

“Yes, I guess,” said Will’s dad. “Well, you better go tell your mum.”

Will’s mum was in the kitchen making lunch.

“Mum?” said Will from the door.

“Yes, honey.” Will’s mum looked up momentarily from the salad she was preparing. 

Will stood in the doorway.

Will’s mum stopped what she was doing as she gazed at her youngest son. “Will?”

“Um?” said Will. His voice clagged in the back of his throat.

“What is it, darling,” said Will’s mum in a soft, soothing mum tone, holding a knife in one hand and an avocado in the other.

“I’ve got something to tell you?” said Will.

Will’s mum put down the knife and the avocado, she picked up a towel and wiped her hands.

“I’m…” said Will.

Silence.

“Your?” said Will’s mum.

Silence.

“I’m gay,” said Will.

“Oh, Will,” said Will’s mum.

“I think I have always been gay,” said Will.

“Yes, Will,” said Will’s mum.

“It’s something I want you to know,” said Will.

“Yes, Will,” said Will’s mum.

They walked towards each other. Will’s mum took her youngest son in her arms and hugged him.

“Do you want to say anything else?” said Will.

“Oh, Will, I don’t know how to put this, as I’m sure this is hard for you,” said Will’s mum. “But, just now, I thought you were going to tell me something was wrong, really wrong with you, and I don’t want to lesson what you are going through, but, to tell you the truth, I am relieved there isn’t something wrong with you. Darling.”

“Oh mum.” Will pulled his head back and looked at his mum with tears in his eyes. “Thanks mum.”

Will’s mum ran her hand through the front of her 18 year old son’s hair. “Darling, gay, straight, trans, oh, no, not trans. Oh, yes trans, if you were trans…”

“Mum!” said Will.

“Darling, gay or straight, you are still my boy, and I love you just the same.”

“Mum.” Will hugged his mum.

“And I’ll love your boyfriends, is there a boyfriend?”

“No,” said Will.

“I’ll love them just the same as I would love a girlfriend.”

“There was a boyfriend…”

“Oh.”

“He dumped me because I hadn’t told you and dad.”

“Have you told your father?”

“My ex sent him a naked photo of me, that’s how dad found out.”

“Is that revenge porn that I have been reading about?”

“I guess. He may have sent it to you too.”

“Oh, well nothing I haven’t seen before.”

“Mum.”

His mum smiled at her son. She shrugged.

“So, any emails from Otto.”

“Got it.”

“Just don’t open it.”

“Do Sam and Jon know?”

“Yes, those two clowns know.”

“Those two clowns?”

“Oh, they are telling dad stories.”

“That’s what bother’s do, darling.”

“Gay stories about me.”

“How long have they known?”

“They’ve known for a while.”

“Sam and Jon?”

“Yes,” said Will. “They never thought anything of it until this morning when they got to tell dad stories about me.”

“Oh well, darling, you’d miss them if they weren’t around.”

“No, not really.”

“What stories did they tell.”

“Oh, that doesn’t matter now,” said Will. “I’m sure dad will tell you.”

“Will he.” Will’s mum laughs self consciously.

Sam entered the room. “You guys done?”

“Sam?” questioned Will’s mum.

“You done with the gay talk,” said Jon, entering the room. “What’s for lunch.”

“Can you two give us a minute.”

“It’s okay,” said Will.

“It’s okay,” said Sam.

“It makes no difference,” said Jon.

Will’s dad entered the kitchen. “Darling, I have a great new shot to show you of your baby boy.”

“Dad!” said Will.

“It’s okay,” said Will’s mum. “I probably don’t need to see Will naked.”

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” said Will’s dad.

“When are we going to stop all the gay talk about Will?” said Jon.

“Yeh, come on, we’re starving,” said Sam.