Ailish walked through the front door at her place.

"Dad, I’m home. Are you?"

She walked down the hallway, throwing her bag in her room and continuing on to the loungeroom. The answering machine was beeping. She pressed the flashing red button, and the tape began to unwind. A familiar voice came out of the speakers.

Merrick never invited them over for dinner, Ailish thought. Oh well, may as well go.

She wrote a note and stuck it on the fridge in the kitchen.

She went into her room and changed before grabbing the car keys, putting them in her pocket and walking out the front door, pulling it locked behind her. Ailish went to unlock her car, but then decided the walk (and train ride) would do her good, and it was almost peak hour anyway. She walked the kilometre to the train station, then hopped on and took a seat. A quick glance around found a bunch of teenage girls probably a couple of years younger than her, a cute guy in a business suit – whoops, sitting next to an even cuter girl in a business suit who had her hands on his lap. Oh well, nobody ever got arrested for looking. Actually… anyway, there were a few other people as well. A couple of pensioners, a lot more suits and ties, and a few school uniforms still. Sheesh, it was 4:45, didn’t people go home these days?

The train pulled in at the right station and Ailish jumped off. Most of the younger people in suits got off too. Ah, Yuppie-ville. She got out a piece of paper from her pocket. ‘Left. Right. Right again.’ Great directions, Merrick. She followed them anyway, until she got to ‘small shabby house with double lounge on front path and letterbox in shape of rooster’. Ailish opened the front gate, walked past the sofa in the middle of the path, and went up to the front door. Through the window to the left she could see Merrick, lying in front of the TV. She banged on the window and squished her nose up against it. Merrick pulled a face at her, then got up and opened the front door.

"I wasn’t sure if you were gonna turn up," he said hesitantly. Ailish boffed him on the arm.

"Duh, I didn’t finish school till 3:30, then I had to get over here and all that." Her brother’s face showed recognition.

"Ah, school. The memories come flooding back."

"Shut up. So where’s my pizza?"

"It’s coming, give the delivery boy some time. Actually, give me a minute – I’ve gotta call them yet."

Ailish sat down on the couch Merrick had been lying on minutes ago. She looked around. Posters of AC/DC, Metallica and Pantera covered the walls of the small loungeroom.

"Mezz, when are you going to grow out of these dodgy bands?"

"Shut up, I’m on the ph- oh yes, hi, could I order some pizzas?"

Ailish laughed as she recalled her brother’s pet hate – people trying to talk to him while he had a receiver up to his ear. She lay down on the couch and started singing ‘Mary Had A Little Lamb’ as loudly as she could without screaming. She continued to sing it until Merrick got off the phone, came over to the couch and sat on her. After that, she just screamed. Swearing revenge, she started biting him on the arms until he got off her and let her get up.

"Let me give you a tour of the house."

Ailish shrugged. ‘House tours’ gave her an insight into people’s lives, and she loved walking around her friends’ places to try and see how they lived, how their families worked. But Merrick was her brother. She knew him inside out. He looked fairly excited though, so she decided a tour would be okay.

They went through the house and out to the backyard, where Merrick proudly displayed the Hills Hoist – covered in posters, stickers, and a crawling vine. She looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Where do you hang your clothes?"

"Ah, little sister, have you not discovered the joys of a drier?" he replied, dancing down the garden path. She followed him, more reluctantly now.

"Where are we going?"

"To meet my dog, duh!"

"Your dog’s name is Duh?"

"Oh, shut up. His name is – "

"Let me guess. Fifi?"

"No! But close. His name is Fido."

"Fido? How could you do that to the poor thing?"

"Look, he’s a Fido. Once you see him you’ll understand."

The dog came bounding out from behind a bush. It was a Fido, Merrick was right. The dog, a mongrel, was white (well, grey) except for a patch of brown and black over one eye and an ear, and it had a dollop of brown and black on the tip of its tail. It ran up to Ailish, slobbering all over her, then jumped up at Merrick.

"That was your initiation ceremony," Merrick said, laughing. He turned and walked back up to the house, Ailish following. And Fido not far behind.

They walked into the house and back to the loungeroom, flopping down on the couch once again. The dog settled in comfortably between the two.

"You should have seen him when my girlfriend used to come over!" Merrick sighed. Ailish looked to her brother; his face looked pained.

"Bad breakup?" She asked, tentatively. Her brother looked over at her, nothing on his face.

"I don’t really want to talk about it."

"I’ll take that as a yes."

The doorbell rang.

"That’s probably dad, finally." Ailish remarked. She got up and opened the door.

"Two large pizzas?" The pizza man inquired.

"Ah, yes, that’s us," Merrick leapt up and got out his wallet. "I’ll cover it, sis." He counted through his change, coughed, and turned to Ailish. "You don’t have a spare ten bucks, do you?"

She laughed and got out her own wallet, handing over a note. Merrick added all his cash and the pizza guy finally decided they’d paid him enough, as he got the two pizzas out of the hot box and handed them over.

"You remembered to order a seafood one, right?"

"I hate the seafood ones!"

Ailish growled. "You know I love them!"

"Okay, calm down, I got one with half seafood," he replied, giggling.

"Stop giggling, you girl."

"Just take the pizzas." He looked over at the slightly scared pizza guy. "Uh, thanks mate."

The pizza guy nodded and walked back to his car. Ailish dropped the pizza boxes onto the seat next to her.

"I love pizza."

Merrick laughed at her and got a bottle of Coke out of his fridge. Ailish spotted him getting it.

"Merrick, my dear brother, I know you can do better than that." She said, winking at him. He shook his head.

"Okay, okay." He leaned into one of the top cupboards and grabbed his bottle of Jim Beam, picked up the Coke and sat down next to Ailish as she nodded her approval.

"Pizza and booze. I love your home cooking, bro."

Merrick dug into the first pizza, stuffing a whole slice into his mouth.

"My mmfght mmaffm…" He swallowed. "I thought you said dad was coming."

"Well, I left a note on the fridge telling him he had to come. And I didn’t wipe the answering machine message, so maybe he’s just working late. I’ll give him a call on his mobile, shall I?" She got up and went looking for the phone, following the cord and finding it under a pile of magazines. Merrick shrugged.

"I’m antisocial, is that a crime?"

Ailish dialled in the number and waited as it rang. Once… twice… three times… four times… five times… the voicemail clicked on. She left a message, just asking where he was and to call if he wasn’t going to make it. As she hung up, the dog barked at her. She put the phone down and sat next to the food, throwing a slice of Supreme at Fido, who caught it midair and ate it in about three seconds.

"That’s gotta be some sort of record," she laughed.

"Nah, don’t put it past him. I think his fastest time for a piece of steak is 1.7 seconds."

"You feed the dog steak?"

"Only when he’s good."

"Bloody hell, Mezz."

The two sat there in silence until all the pizza was gone bar three slices they’d put aside for their dad. Then they cracked open the liquor and played a few drinking games. Then they played a few more. Then they tried to get the dog drunk. Then they did get the dog drunk. Then all three of them rolled around on the floor, wrestling. Then they all fell asleep.