The tent in the backyard, Peter snoring, Davo scratching his arse, Val coming out and saying, You better get up now. Clem’s got school.

But we were in the jungle, swinging from tree to tree. Davo: Gentlemen, our food supplies are gone.

Val: Come on, you lot.

I’m just stepping out. I may be some time.

And Peter, Mr Burke, there seems little point in fooling ourselves. That was the last of the water. My eyes are done, I cannot see, I have not brought my specs with me, I have not brought my specs with me.

Come on, Clem, yer mum’s waitin’.

And together: My eyes are dim I cannot see …

Davo looked in. ‘Nice work.’

‘God bless Gary,’ Peter said.

‘And Ernie,’ Dave added.

Sometimes in life talking is the most important thing. Val believed it was all Ern was good for. Hence the soapbox speeches, the career in the union movement. Like Marx, Lenin, and the rest, you didn’t have to be smart, just persuasive.

Like Ern, at the Windsor. With Alan. He’d latched onto him right away.

What line yer in, Alan?

Steel fabrication. Cabinets, switchboards, whitegoods.

Steel, eh? And he’d thought about it. That stuff don’t come cheap.

No.

Unless, of course, it does.

How d’you mean?

Ern had looked around, made sure it was safe. I got this neighbour, friend, who’s come across a whole heap of steel.

Have, eh?

And now he has to get rid of it.

Why’s that?

Nothing illegal, it’s just in the way.

The next day, he’d approached Gary. They were both men of the world. So there was no point mincing words. The cops been around, eh?

What’s it your business?

Must be hard to offload so much stuff?

No reply.

The easier way’s to back in a truck, load it up … one night, when the street’s quiet.

Gary had been about to go in when Ern had said, I can get a good price, long as there’s … ten per cent for me.

Gary had waited, unsure. Ern had explained Alan’s offer: two grand the lot. Then, a few nights later, the truck had arrived, the steel was brought out, loaded, an envelope offered, money counted, two hundred slipped into Ernie’s hand, and all was good. Gary was an innocent man, again, and he’d learned his lesson, so no more foreignies. The company had taken a hit, admittedly, but it was doing well and wasn’t about to miss a few rolls of steel, and after all (Gary explained later), considering the hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime he’d put in …

The next morning when Peter pushed his brother out to the yard he found the envelope under the screen door. He picked it up and read the front. I reckon this should cover the bathroom.