half-grin. âNo such luck, mate.â He produced a pocket knife with a well-worn blade, and placed it on the bar in front of us and indicated the surface of the bar. âGo ahead, fellas, do us the honour. Carve your initials.â
I have been the recipient of a few honours in my life, not all of them deserved, but I count this one above most and, I confess, at the time I was hard put not to shed a tear. Jimmy would later confess that he felt much the same way. The publican then instructed us to leave the sum of one pound in our respective wills for the purpose of shouting drinks for the house when the time came, as he put it, âto hammer in the nailâ.
âOne pound! Thatâs two bucks, not much of a shout,â I said, amused. Heâd paused, unnecessarily wiping the surface of the mutilated bar, âYeah well, thatâs what it was way back in 1920 when we hammered in the first nail and weâve never bothered to change it; the house shouts the rest.â
Iâm now sitting directly in front of my carved initials lamenting the fact that I made a proper botch of them when I feel a hand the size of a soup bowl on my shoulder. Jimmy has arrived. âHiya, Brother Fish, how âya been, buddy,â he announces in his cement-mixer growl. âSorry Iâm late, mate. Couldnât get a taxi from the airport, bunch of nuns commandeered the lot.â He grins. âExtra! Extra! Giant black man slams nun to sidewalk and hijacks taxi!â
âFootpath, not sidewalk,â I correct him, grinning.
âNah, footpath donât sound dangerous,â Jimmy laughs.
I have often wondered why other nationalities so easily pick up an American accent while Yanks, no matter how long they remain away from their birthplace, never lose theirs.
The barman, hearing Jimmy shout, appears a moment later from somewhere out back and pours him a draught beer, checks the level of my own, which Iâve barely touched, places an ashtray in front of Jimmy and returns from where he came.
âCheers, Brother Fish,â Jimmy says.
âHereâs to being mates, mate.â I sigh. âThe thirty-third time, the saddest of them all.â
Thatâs about it. The formalities are over. It is the being here together on this day, the 9th of August, that matters, and we donât need any further ceremony or fanfare. Besides, there isnât anything to say that isnât already known between us. We remain silent for a while, easy in each otherâs company. I guess, like me, he is thinking back, gauging the distance travelled and the ups and downs that measure the sum of the lives weâve led together.
Heâs been flying all night on the Qantas red-eye special from Hong Kong and heâs failed to remove his coat â thatâs not like him. Jimmy, like me and most kids who grow up poor, is careful with his clobber, and accustomed to stepping off a plane after an all-night flight and walking straight into a board meeting. He produces a soft pack and a lighter, takes out a cigarette and places the rest on the bar. He lights up and takes a short, sharp drag, then places the fag into the lip of the glass ashtray and blows the smoke out through his nostrils. He turns to me and says, âItâs been a long journey, Brother Fish.â
âNo longer than usual. Iâm the one canât sleep on planes â you always look like youâve just stepped out of Johnny Changâs tailor shop in Kowloon.â
âNah, not da trip â da journey.â He picks up his glass. âOur Countess,â he says, his voice low and gentle. âHell, man. I done love her so much.â Jimmy, his beer halfway raised to his mouth, is crying, softly, without a sound â just tears running down his âhigh-yellaâ face.
CHAPTER TWO
K Force
Army training is much the same whatever war you are about to fight, and Puckapunyal is where it usually happens if you
Melissa Foster
David Guenther
Tara Brown
Anna Ramsay
Amber Dermont
Paul Theroux
Ethan Mordden
John Temple
Katherine Wilson
Ginjer Buchanan