‘Smoked a pack of cigarettes before midday

Coughed up a lung around one

Can’t see a think through my eyes that sting

I can’t remember having so much fun.’

- Frenzal Rhomb, ‘Never Had So Much Fun’

Ailish woke up with a very painful headache. Something was licking her ear.

"The dog."

She rolled over and came face to face with Fido, whose breath stank – a combination of normal doggy odour and alcohol. Merrick walked out of the bathroom, naked.

"Oh, shit, tell me when you’re going to wake up next time!" He yelped, running to his bedroom. Ailish stood up slowly and – well, slowly. She staggered into the kitchen and splashed her face with tap water.

"Mezz, what time is it?" She yelled out.

"About 10am," came the reply.

"And remind me what day it is again?"

"I dunno, there’s a calendar on the wall!"

She went over to the wall and shielded her eyes from the naked woman smiling seductively at the top of the calender, turning her glance to the numbers at the bottom.

"Me-ezz, how does this help?" She whined. "I can’t remember the date!"

"It’s the – oh, fuck, me neither."

Ailish walked over and turned on the TV. Rage was on.

"Okay, I’ve narrowed it down to either Saturday or Sunday!" She yelled out. "And I went to school yesterday, so it’s Saturday! WOOHOO! I worked it out!" She danced around the loungeroom with the dog barking at her heels.

"Uh, Merrick, dad hasn’t called, has he?" She questioned.

"Nah, not this morning."

"Oh well, he probably didn’t bother checking the phone last night. I’ll give him a ring now; he should be home unless he’s trekked down to the markets. Ah, maybe I should leave it."

"Call him anyway. He’ll probably check the machine when he gets home if he’s gone to the markets."

Ailish nodded in agreement and dialled in her home number. It rang six times, then clicked. She listened to her voice rabbling on about the weather and decided it was time to change the stupid message she’d put on the answering machine. She left a short message, saying she’d be back by eleven anyway. As she hung up, Merrick walked out of his room scratching his head.

"I’m gonna walk home now." She concluded. He nodded.

"You want some company? I gotta walk the dog anyway."

Ailish shrugged. "Sure."

They walked out the front door and past the couch – Ailish began to ask about the couch but decided against it – and out the front gate.

"So how’s school?"

"Don’t worry about asking me those sort of questions, I have a dad to do that."

Merrick laughed. "Right. Sorry. But I was interested."

"Well, what is school usually like, Merrick?"

"I dunno – too much work, evil teachers, hot chicks in short skirts – "

"I’ll agree to the first two, but can we not go into detail about that last one?"

"Oh, is that girl Laura still in your grade? Man, she was hot."

"MERRick, she’s one of my worst enemies. And I don’t want to be thinking of her in that light, thanks."

"Okay then, change subject."

"I dunno. Can’t we just walk?"

They got to the station and Fido barked as a train flew past, headed for the city.

"I spose I’ll be off then." Merrick smiled and yanked Fido closer, worried he might decided trains were better to bark at when you were in front of them. Ailish leaned over and gave Merrick a hug.

"I’ll come and see you again in a couple of weeks. You can lob in at home any time you want, too. Bring Fido, as long as he doesn’t pee on the furniture. Dad’d go rank."

Merrick laughed and nodded. "Okay, I’ll probably come see you and dad sometime in the next week. It’ll give me something to do."

"Go back to Uni!"

"Stay in school!"

"See ya, Mezz."

"Bye, sis."

Ailish watched as her brother walked back up the ramp, Fido on his heels. The train pulled in and Ailish got on, sitting down next to the door. She hummed along to the radio until the train stopped and she had to get off. She walked down the street to her house, walked up the front steps and turned the doorknob. Locked.

"He must still be out," she smiled, shaking her head. Her dad was a compulsive weekend marketer. She unlocked the door and walked down the hallway, into her room. She got changed, brushed her hair, went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Then she walked out into the kitchen and opened the fridge. She got out a banana, but as she was shutting the fridge she spotted the note she’d written the day before. She raised her eyebrows before taking it off the fridge, scrumpling it up and throwing it in the bin. She walked over to the phone and picked it up, dialling in Ewan’s number. He answered.

"Hey, I’m bored. Come over."

Ewan laughed. "But you’re always bored."

"Shut up. Bring over a video or something, I feel like having a nothing day – " She paused. The answering machine was beeping still. Maybe there’s another message from this morning, she thought. Maybe it’s the one I left just before.

"You there?" Ewan asked.

"Ah, yeah. Hang on." She pressed the flashing button.

The button kept flashing. She pressed it again.

"Miss Fiennes, this is Senior Constable Ron Hartley. If you could please give me a call on…" Ailish blanked out. Why a policeman? Ewan had heard the message.

"Ai, what’s that about? They said ‘concerning your dad’. What’s that about?"

"No. He was probably pulled over for drunk driving or something, he probably just went out last night after work or something, he’ll be fine."

"I’m coming over." Ewan sounded worried.

"Good, make sure you bring a video. We’ll have a video day, ‘cos nothing’s wrong. I’ll probably just have to bail dad out."

"I’ll be there in five minutes. Don’t go anywhere."

"Okay." She hung up. She replayed the message.

She dialled in the number. The same voice answered.

"Ah, yes, this is Ailish Fiennes, you called me before. Said it was about my dad. He’s okay, isn’t he? Nothing’s wrong, right?"

"Miss Fiennes, would you mind if I stopped in to speak to you?"

"Ah, no. No problem."

"I’ll be there in five minutes. Sit tight."

The constable hung up. Ailish put the phone back in its cradle. She walked over to the front door and opened it, sitting down on the front steps. She hummed a song that was stuck in her head. It was some light, airy thing that had been on the train. She didn’t want to think because if she did, she’d blow everything way out of proportion. Then she’d be really worried. But she wasn’t. She just hummed.

Ewan pulled up on his motorbike, jumping off the bike and taking off his helmet as he jogged over to her.

"Well?"

She looked up at her friend. "Well what?"

"What’s going on?"

She shrugged. "I dunno, the constable guy’s coming here. Soon."

As she finished her sentence, a police car pulled up slowly outside the house. A tall, well-built man got out of the car, removing his hat. He walked towards the two youths.

"Ailish Fiennes?"

"Yeah, that’s me."

"And this is?" He motioned towards Ewan.

"He’s a friend. It’s okay."

"Good. Could we go inside?"

"Sure." She stood up and Ewan grabbed her hand, following closely behind her. She went into the loungeroom and motioned to the couch. "Have a seat."

The officer nodded. "Thanks."

"So can you tell me why you’re here now?"

"Ah, as I said on the message, it’s concerning your father. Now, yesterday there was a road accident – "

"He’s okay, right? You’re going to tell me he’s in hospital, but he’ll be fine. Right?"

"Your father’s car collided head-on with an eight-tonne truck coming back along the highway. It was overtaking and couldn’t get back into its own lane."

"So the car’s totalled."

"Your father… Ailish, your father died on impact. I’m sorry."

"Oh." She sat still, waiting for the painful moment to pass. "Thankyou for the news."

The constable stood up.

"I’m so sorry. Your father wasn’t in the wrong. You can sue. Get alimony. Lots of alimony. I know it won’t make up for it, but – "

Ailish put her hand up to silence the man. Ewan walked the policeman to the door.

"I’ll call her brother and get him over here, too."

The man nodded. "It’s an awful thing that’s happened, but I see it every week. She’s going to need a lot of support, though."

"That’s what I’m here for."

"You’re a good kid. You’ll have to try and get her to come down to the station eventually, so I can go over some things with her, give her her father’s items from the accident, advise her of what to do next."

"Sure."

The man turned and walked away.

"Life’s cruel," he muttered under his breath.

Ewan walked back into the house. Ailish was sitting where he’d left her.

"Hey, Ai. You okay?"

"Ewan, I’ve just been told my dad is dead. He doesn’t breathe any more. He was here just yesterday, how can somebody be gone that quickly? It’s not right, that’s not how it’s supposed to work."

She stopped speaking. A sort of squeaky noise escaped her throat, and she burst into tears so violent that her whole body shook with each sob. She leapt to her feet and threw a cushion across the room, knocking over a vase that was on the kitchen table. It smashed to the ground, shattering across the floor. The two daisies that had been in it floated to the ground.

Ailish crumpled onto the floor, sobbing. Ewan knelt down and put his arms around her, rocking her back and forth. Tears ran down his face and onto hers. Ailish collapsed into her friend’s arms, gripping his shoulders so tightly her knuckles were white.

"He’s really gone. He’s not allowed to be, but he is. Isn’t he."

"Yeah, he is."