“Can’t say I expected that to go any better,” stated Mav, as we sat at the local bus station.

“Yeah, it usually gets like that after a few drinks aye.” I agreed, watching for our bus.

Maverick necked back the last of his last bottle and put it into the rubbish bin beside our seats. “Should’ve grabbed more from the fridge aye.”

“Or maybe not, I’m starving aye, l bet you are too. We need to get food asap.” I continued, clutching at my rumbling stomach.

Maverick ignored me and carried on with his tangent. “Yeah, and what’s that thing he always says to me? You can’t expect me to keep saying sorry Son, it’s like get fucked; you should be on your fuckin’ knees begging for my forgiveness!” He cursed, and scurried over to the ashtray, eventually managing to bend the lid off of it. He then dug through, taking all of the half-smoked cigs, sparking one up on the spot, “Fuck it’s getting cold aye Ghee.” he stated.

“Yeah, you’re telling me,” I replied, my legs trembling.

“It sucks that cigs don’t even warm you up aye bro,” replied Mav, smoking away.

“Yeah, that is a Shame. Not surprising tho.” I stated.

“What we need is some Vodka, Whisky will warm us up, shit, any hot bottle will do.” Stated Mav.

“I can’t do Vodka man.” I replied, breathing into my cupped hands.

“Why’s that? Does it interfere with your meds?” He queried.

“Nah, nah, just had a bad experience.” I responded.

“That’s right; you got alcohol poisoning back when you were like 16 aye.” Maverick answered.

“Yeah, that’s right. Ever since then I can’t touch the stuff.” I confirmed, my knee bouncing.

“Shit yeah, that’s your body rejecting it as poison. What about if I chucked a cruiser in front of ya. Reckon you could neck one of those?” He asked further.

I shook my head twice, “Nah man, not even that.” I continued.

“Shiet, that’s crazy man, a Cruiser is pretty much lolly water–“

“–Can’t do it man, I’ll throw it all back up. It’s been 6 years. I think it’ll be forever, that one.”

“Tragic.” Mav finished, sipping away on his scavenged cigarette.

From within the depths of darkness surrounding the bus stop; a woman wearing a Robe and slippers walked through the bus station, holding a bag of cat treats, a litter of wild cats following after her as she fed them. She glanced at us and gave a brief smile.

“Hey Miss, you wouldn’t happen to have a couple of dollars for the bus would you?” asked Mav, giving as safe a smile as he could while looking like a guy that’d been on a several day bender.

She didn’t say a word but simply nodded and dug around in her change purse, chucking us a few dollars.

“Are you taking your cats for a walk?” I asked her.

She snickered and looked back at them, “They’re some wild cats that live up behind the shop block just up the road. I’ve been slowly trying to domesticate them.” She replied, watching them jump about with great pride.

“Shiiiit, that’s pretty trippy aye.” Stated Mav, as he began to creep towards them.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. They’re Wild, and I think one of them has rabies.” the Woman replied.

Mav was bent towards a couple of them as they gnawed at the trail of cat treats, snatching his hand away as they continued to eat their food. The strange cat woman then began to walk further along and throw more treats down as she went. The cats followed swiftly after her.

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“Thanks for the dosh!” I called out after her.

“No worries!” She replied, falling into the darkness.

“Shitchea man, look at that! Like 10 bucks here in coins. Fuckin aye.” said Mav, picking through and arranging the coins next to me.

“That’ll get both of us home,” I replied.

“Yeah fully, yeah, easily.” replied Mav, slipping the coins into his pocket. “You know that’s how I met my first missus,” he added.

“How?” I asked him.

“I needed money for the bus. She gave it to me, and we ended up chilling the whole day. Was kinda like our first date.” he answered.

“Was that Amanda?” I asked him.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” He replied, gazing blankly ahead, letting out a solid yawn.

“Shit, true? How long were you two together for?” I asked him.

“Fuck…too long…Seven Years?” He replied, snivelling his nose.

“True. Yeah, that’s a while to know someone aye.” I stated, watching out for the bus.

“Yeah, bro. You know after she found out I was cheating on her she went with her mum over to Thailand and burnt all my stuff in this ceremony. I felt bad about that.” He went on.

“She must have really loved you,” I stated.

“Yeah, definitely…” he agreed.

Mav always came off like a brick wall. Hard to get through to. And stubborn. But I felt that every so often, maybe and most probably during comedowns; that he would think and ponder about these sorts of things. Maybe that’s why he never let himself run completely dry, as far as the substance abuse was concerned.

A bus headed towards Central pulled into the station. Mav stood and flung his arm up to wave it down. It pulled to one side and we hopped aboard.

Taking our seats on the bus, home awaited us both.

The chance of me still having a job had greatly diminished at the close of today. Maybe I could weasel my way back into it. But at that same Token, I started to replay my father's words in my head, over and over.

Perhaps he was right. Maybe my boss was just gonna shaft me. And needless to say after a few years of Roofing my back was completely rooted.

I couldn’t see myself doing another 20 years. Whether that be on or off the tools. But what else was there to do? Like Maverick; I had dropped out of high school. That being said If I did a bridging course, perhaps I’d be able to study and forage myself a life path that didn’t involve power tools.

But If I was going to, I needed to act now. I needed to apply today and cross my fingers that they’d give me a chance.

“Have you got a phone at yours?” I asked Mav, as we sat together at the back of the bus.

“Yeah, someone should have a phone. Why’s that?” He asked me, scratching his arm.

“Well, it’s just that I need to sort out some uni stuff,” I replied, gazing off into the nightly highway.

“You’re going to Uni aye? Since when did you become a brain box?” laughed Mav.

“I just thought of that now. I don’t wanna be on the tools forever man, I wanna sort my shit out.” I answered, still gazing and pondering my thoughts.

Mav paused for a while, “Good on ya man. That’s more than I could do. If that’s your life, more power to you. Straight up.” He replied.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to go back to my flat. I haven’t used my phone in ages. Fuck knows if I even have anywhere to go back to. Truth is, I don’t know where I’ll be sleeping tonight.” I started.

“Chill bro. You’ll still get this week's pay. You only took a couple days off. You’re a roofer. You’ll still have a job. But if you wanna come back to mine, feel free.” Maverick offered.

“Yeah man, I might have to. Just to see what the haps is. I won’t be long.” I replied.

“No worries man, as long as I’m your brother, you’ll always have a place to crash,” Mav promised.

We hopped off the bus and waited on the street in central for the next connecting bus, headed for out West. As we waited a few minutes for that bus to arrive, it hit me that I had gone without my meds for a few days. And that in itself offered me a reason as to why my thoughts were becoming so disorganised and manically climbing.

“I haven’t taken my meds for a few days,” I stated.

Mav laughed, “Welcome to our world.”

“It’s not too good man,” I replied, as my attention began to stutter and flicker as flocks of humans walked around us, chattering and moving, throughout central Auckland.

“Just relax bro, life sucks, but it’s not that serious, just relax bro. Fuck it. Watch.” said Maverick as he hopped up from the bus stop bench and began to act in a more manic state than I had ever personally seen inside any psyche ward. He clucked like a bird, yelled spell chants into the sky above and pointed people down as they scurried away.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or be horrified, but my outer expressions showcased both. “Stop Mav, you gotta stop man.” I laughed, as I contemplated dragging him back to the bus stop seat.

“It does not fuckin matter, Hunter, it’s all in ya fuckin head, mate.” He cursed, as he dropped back onto the wooden bench beside me. “I’m way crazier than you’ll ever be. Fuck the meds, bro. You don’t need 'em.” He finished.

“I think I do man. That acid we did way back then, it never quite wore off aye. I need my meds so I can even sleep, bro. I’m probably more cooked than you’ll ever be.” I replied.

“I highly doubt that Hunter, that’s just all that stuff that they tell you, The doctors and all them. But it doesn’t mean anything, bro. Don’t listen to those fuckwits. They just wanna put you on the Mental Health Act so they aren’t out of a job. It’s just a spiritual journey mate.” Maverick replied.

His face reflected in the nightly fluorescent shop lights in a weathering dance of the heavens. It was like he was a godlike figure bestowing his great knowledge upon me, and it almost made sense.

But I didn’t quite buy it, and at that moment our bus pulled up. We both climbed aboard, offering the last of our lucky coins.

And as I thought back to that blessed woman who gave us them, as she led an army of cats to salvation, it became apparent that maybe she was the angel for which Mav would find salvation also, I almost thought about a way we could find her again.

I turned to him and asked, “Do you reckon that lady from the bus stop, do you reckon she would suit you pretty well?” I slurred.

“Nah mate, unless she’s got some stuff or she can give me a place to crash; I don’t give a fuck about her.” He laughed, as the bus doors closed and we headed for Maverick's residence.