Our current most valuable asset at this time was my Eftpos card. In support of some sort of miracle I had not misplaced my wallet.

We still had no idea which scrap yard the car would be in but I could almost remember the logo that was painted on the side of the tow truck and that was the first step. Barely.

On our way through a park we noticed an old friend of ours sitting on a park bench feeding some ducks some bread. A duffle bag rested on the bench behind him.

“How’s it Marlon?” I greeted.

“Not too shabby Percy.” He replied, squinting his eyes up at us.

“Are you rained off today?” Asked Michael, looking at the clouds.

“Nah man, my company went under.” replied Marlon, breaking off a crust of bread and biffing it away.

“Shit man, sorry to hear that. How’d it happen?” I asked him.

“The boss gambled away our pays at sky city. So with the last of the money he flew over to Thailand…” Marlon started, as ducks began to gather.

“He abandoned you all?” asked Michael, a palm crooked under his chin.

“Nah, he ended up buying a bunch of scrap metal, shipped it back over, scrapped it, and still didn’t have enough to pay us all out so the company sank.” Continued Marlon, biting into a piece of bread, and offering some to us.

We both declined.

“Anyway, I’ve been here the last two weeks. Well at least it feels like it’s been two weeks.” Marlon Finished.

“Fuck sakes bro, so you’ve just been homeless in the park the last couple weeks?” I asked him.

Marlon nodded, “Atleast.” and chomped on more bread. “But hey guys, look on the bright side, you both own a company, earn decent cash and a work truck to boot. I envy you.” He said with laughter that eventually turned to tears.

“You shouldn’t envy us Marlon, we’re actually in the shit.” I said.

“Hundred percent man, I wrote the work truck off last night. It’s in a scrapyard and we have no idea which one.” Michael agreed, stepping away from the gathering ducks.

“Damn it man. It’s almost like no matter how good you think you’ve got it the man has always gotta bring ya down.” Marlon replied, shaking his head.

“Anyway man. I was just wondering if you had a phone we could borrow for a sec. I need to have a geez at some towing companies to see if any logos look like the one I saw last night.” I asked Marlon, grabbing some bread from the open bag.

Marlon patted his pockets down to check if he’d lost his phone. Thankfully, he pulled out a cheap button phone from his left pocket and tossed it over to me.

“This thing wouldn’t have data, would it?” I asked, gazing down at Marlon.

“I’m not sure. Someone just left it on that bench.” He replied, chewing on a dry piece of bread.

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“Mind if I use that thing to call Emily?” Michael asked Marlon.

Marlon nodded. And I passed Michael the phone, who then dialled Emily’s number and squinted in anticipation.

“How long have you been out here again, Marlon?” I asked.

“To be honest man, I have no idea.” He replied, “All I’ve got is this sleeping bag and like ten bucks.”

“Why didn’t you just hop on Winz?” I asked him.

“You can’t hop on winz without an address.” He answered.

“But you had an address, right?” I prodded further.

“Yeah, but I gambled away the last of my rent money so I got kicked out.” replied Marlon.

“Tragic…Percy, Emily’s not answering.” Michael announced, tossing Marlon his phone back.

“You’re joking?” I blurted.

“Not one bit. We might be camping out here with you Marlon.” Michael replied, tapping Marlon’s barefoot with his shoe.

“Why's that?” I wondered aloud.

“Emily has winz cover the rent. And we might be out of jobs. All it’ll take is one phone call for her to pull the rug out from beneath us.” Michael replied, coughing into his hand.

“Not if Marlon moves in with us.” I retorted, throwing finger guns at Marlon.

“Are you deaf? Emily has the house in her name. As far as the realtor is concerned she’s the head tenant which leaves us; potentially homeless.” Michael responded, scuffing his shoes.

“I’m sorry Marlon, but…but nah. Take it easy buddy.” Michael finished as he began to walk away.

I began to follow after Michael but looked back at Marlon with sorrow, “Sorry Marl, you might have to stay out here another night but I’ll get through to him.”

“No worries.” replied Marlon as he pulled a glass jar from his backpack with spit collecting in clumps around its bottom. Marlon undid the lid and spat into it.

I pulled a face and carried on my way.

“She’s not answering my calls man.” Michael relayed.

“Don’t sweat it man, she’ll be back.” I assured, patting Michael on his shoulder.

“What if she doesn’t.” He continued, “Can I have a smoke?” he asked.

“Nah, you don’t wanna do that man.”

“Give me a fuckin smoke.” He insisted, stopping in his tracks.

I locked eyes with him for a moment and could see pure dread within him. So I handed him my tobacco pouch and he began to roll. Old habits die hard it seems. He lit it up and inhaled deep.

“It’s not really that deep bro, it’s never that deep.” I said, patting him on his shoulder again.

Michael grabbed my arm and shoved it off of him, “What if this really is it and Lain has to grow up without a father.”

“First of all, I don’t think that’s going to happen. And secondly, even if you and Emily don’t patch things up you’ll still be in his life. Kinda like how Dad was sort of in ours.” I stated, stopping myself from patting him on the shoulder a third time.

“What’s the one thing You, Me, Charlie, Marlon, Chris, Francis and Jay all had in common?” He asked me, spitting on the ground.

“I don’t know, we all started smoking weed at a young age?” I replied.

“No. Well, yes, but the main thing we had in common is that none of us had a solid father figure in the house. Lot of us ended up running a muck when we got older and turned out fucked up.” Michael ranted, taking another puff.

“I wouldn’t say we all turned out fucked up. Plenty of people grow up in single parent households and turn out perfectly fine. It goes without saying but people just tend to associate with those that they align with; and sometimes they tend to have things in common like leniency when it comes to leaving the house at night to smoke weed in the park.” I replied, sitting down at a park bench.

Michael stood where he was and took another drag, “I’m just worried I might have lost more than just my Ute.”

I thought for a moment as I rolled my smoke, “It hasn’t even been a day yet man. You’re just overreacting. It’s almost psychotic.”

Michael bit his tongue, scratched his head, and tossed his dart onto the old concrete path. “I just find it weird that she’s not picking up. She left last night right?”

I chucked my half rolled smoke back inside its pouch and picked up Michael’s cigarette before he could stomp it out. Saving its life with a few hefty drags.

“Yeah, but she’s probably just taking some time to cool off. You were a wreck last night. It’s fair enough she didn’t want Lain to be around that.” I responded, cracking my back as I stood.

“Fuck…nah…that’s the thing man. You’re the one that’s always drinking and smoking weed around the house. I didn’t even wanna drink last night. It was a one time thing, and things got out of hand. These things happen.” Michael lectured.

“Yeah, shit. I’m sorry about that I didn’t know that things would turn so fucked up. That’s my bad.” I agreed, dragging my cig again.

Michael sneered, looked at the cig and snatched it out of my fingertips. He dragged it deeply and handed it back. “If this is salvageable we both need to quit these habits of ours. I don’t want my Son growing up in a Knick Knack family with two sets.”

“Yeah man, alright. I’ll quit smoking weed and drinking all the time. Done and done.” I agreed, while also not fully understanding my own sincerity.

“I’m starving man. How about we get a feed and then use those computers at Noel Leeming to search up tow companies?” Michael gestured.

“Yeah for sure man. You bet.” I agreed, following beside him.