Les Grands Chantiers (Wattys 2022)

10. Advice

Johnny opened on the first knock. He had grown a beard, which Brendan thought looked quite good on him. He looked thinner, happier. He thought about the days in that room that smelt of old carpet, cramming, doing test after weird test that Beidzner had spliced out of photocopies of a hundred old textbooks, practicing spells until they had them off by heart, faultless. It felt like so long ago.

"Long time no see, brother." They hugged. He felt different from before, but then it had been a long time since they had seen each other. Two years to be exact. He had been seeing his brother Gabriel. Johnny happened to be visiting too. 

Johnny led him inside. The inside of the house was a lot better than what the exterior would lead you to believe. There was a kitchen with stainless steel appliances and a spacious lounge room with a glass coffee table. Brendan was pleasantly surprised. 

"How's it going?" 

"Swimmingly, as you can tell," Johnny gestured towards outside. "Not the best of neighbourhoods, but it's close to the school and the rent is pretty hard to beat." 

"How's Gabe doing?"

"Good. Been out and living at home for six months now. He's got a job now. Only casual shifts at the moment, but they'll increase his shifts when they see fit." 

"Good to hear." 

"Still living at home?" Brendan followed Johnny into the kitchen. The things were new, shining, a recent renovation. He thought of the old jaded kitchen at home. His parents had been talking about redoing it forever, but it seemed to be forever put off. So he had to deal with the leaky taps and the drawers that didn't shut perfectly. 

"Yeah." Brendan couldn't see himself moving out any time soon. The surroundings he found himself in only exacerbated his feeling. He would not mind moving to his own place, but there was no incentive. Until he got a better job. 

"You want a coffee?" 

"If you've got tea, that would be nice." 

"I've only got teabags. Haven't been able to get the good stuff in a while." "

That'll do." Johnny put on the kettle. "How's uni going?" 

"I graduated. Now I have a Diploma in Architectural Design or whatever. Not much luck looking for a job yet, though. Applied for a couple, got no response. So I'm still at the internship." 

"Just ask her to give you a full time job." 

"She's not going to do that."

"Well, I could pull some strings." Johnny turned around. "Get you a job as a teaching assistant. Or a cleaner. Whatever floats your boat. You'd be surprised at the amount of vacancies." 

"Save that thought," Brendan replied. "I might need it if things fall through." 

Johnny nodded, satisfied that he could be of help. He had always been like that. Willing to help. He handed Brendan his cup of tea. They fell silent for a moment. They sipped at their drinks. Somewhere outside somebody was shouting. In the distance, the muted sound of the factories. 

"What's going on? There's something other than just a job, right?"

"You're right." Brendan described what had gone down. He tried to make Adrian's identity as vague as possible. "I think they started work on it again," he concluded. "That's the only possible explanation. They found another one. They must have." 

Suddenly, Johnny's attention was rapt. "I knew it. People were talking about it. Things have gone quiet with Beidzner recently. He's taken leave, he never takes leave. They must have something going on, things have been a bit quiet over there. So that's what's down. Makes sense. So who's this guy? Adrian. Tell me more about him."