The Boys by Andrew Frost

Author:Andrew Frost
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Currency Press
Published: 2011-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

In the lounge room, the boys continue to drink. The atmosphere is tense and soon the conversation degenerates into a mindless argument—Brett claiming that Glenn’s poorly paid job is exploitation, and since Jackie was the one who got him the job, she’s exploiting him too. It’s a cynical argument that Glenn does his best to reject—Jackie is the best thing that ever happened to him, he says. Stevie laughs derisively. Glenn says that, instead of following Brett’s example of going to jail, he and Jackie have plans—there is a choice to work hard and do good. ′No-one has a choice’, counters Brett. Stevie offers his opinion—the world outside is like Invasion of the Body Snatchers—and like the aliens-in-human-form in the science fiction movie, all those in the outside world have to be destroyed—′Kill ’em with pitch forks’. ′No mate’, says Brett. ′You fucking do what they’re trying to do—but you fucking do it to them…’

A knock at the front door reveals the police. Reports of a woman screaming had been made by neighbours. Brett, cocky and confident that the police can’t enter the house without permission or a warrant, mocks the officers. The police sense that Sandra is worried, but she remains silent, and they leave.

In the lounge room Sandra asks where Michelle is. They don’t know. At the end of her tether, Sandra demands that the boys do something, anything, to escape their drunken lethargy.′Get out of the house!’, she screams. The boys are unmoved. Sandra asks Brett once again about Michelle, and when he denies knowing anything, she calls him a liar. Sandra tells her sons that they bring their misery on themselves—it’s no wonder the police come around. Stevie reacts with a resentment that has no doubt been building for years—they are three brothers by two fathers—and who is Abo the father of? Stevie’s claim is that one of the brothers has been fathered by Abo—an insult that Brett and Glenn react angrily to, and which denigrates Sandra for her relationship with a black man. The racist slur is rejected by Sandra who leaves the room in tears.

A phone call summons Glenn outside and into Jackie’s car. She has returned—her lips trembling, her eyes wet, on the verge of tears—to offer one last chance to save their relationship; leave the brothers, don’t see the family—it’s them or me, says Jackie. Glenn cannot make the choice—so Jackie makes it for him. She throws her wedding ring at Glenn and leaves him to stagger back inside. In his bedroom, Brett finds Nola packing her belongings. She says she’s just doing some laundry, but it is an obvious lie. Brett asks—why did she call the police on him? Nola, terrified, denies it, then under pressure—admits it. Brett tells her it’s okay:′Everyone makes mistakes sometimes’. Brett kisses Nola gently on the forehead.

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