Chapter 22: The Third (Wo)Man

Jump into the Fire

Saturday, July 1^st – Sunday, July 2^nd, 2000

“Will, it’s Michelle here,” the voice on the phone said. She sounded upset, and there was lots of noise in the background. “I’m sorry for calling you so early on a Saturday, but I’ve got a big problem here, and I need your help, please.”

“What’s the matter? Are you okay?” I replied, worried about her.

“I’m fine,” she replied – but she didn’t sound fine. “It’s the apartment building, there’s been a fire, a big one ... my apartment is okay, at least for the moment, the fire brigade is still here, putting hot spots out ... but there’s water and smoke damage. Half of the building ... it looks bad; I don’t know if it can be rebuilt.”

She stopped talking and was crying loudly.

“What’s the matter?” Lori asked. “Who is it?”

“It’s Michelle, there’s been a fire in her building,” I said.

“I don’t know what to do, where I will stay,” Michelle said.

“We’ll be over as soon as we can get there,” I said. “We will get dressed and be there in thirty minutes. Is there anything you need? Clothes? Anything?”

“I had the time to get dressed, and I’ll be able to go back inside in a few minutes. I’m sorry, Will, I had no one else to call...”

“Hang in there, Michelle, we will be there as soon as we can get there.”

After hanging up, I told a still half-asleep Lori and Megan what little I knew.

“Holy shit!” Lori exclaimed. “That’s terrible for her, we have to do something.”

We had a quick shower, pulled on some clothes, and headed across to Waverton, where Michelle’s apartment was located.

“Damn, that’s shitty for her,” Megan said. “She’s had a run of bad luck, hasn’t she? I guess, well, it depends on how badly damaged the building is, but she may not be able to stay there for a while if major repairs are needed. Do you think we could offer her the guest bedroom, have her live with us until she can get things sorted out?”

“That was what I was thinking,” I said. “I guess you’re okay with that, Megan, how about you, Lori?”

“That’s the least we can do to help her,” Lori said. “I know you and her have had a ... fling? Is that the right word? A fling, in the past, but that doesn’t worry me. Shit, we can’t let her have nowhere to live, not when we have the room. Besides, I like her, she smart, fun, and even if you and her...”

“Have another ‘fling’?” I prompted.

“Yeah, even if you do, I don’t care, we can talk about it at the appropriate time,” Lori concluded. “What’s your thoughts, Megan?”

“I agree with you completely,” Megan said. “We’ve got the room, having her sharing the place with us would be fine, I’m with you on that, Lori. If she and Will ended up doing stuff, well, we were prepared to accept Monica and Will doing stuff, so why should it be any different with Michelle?”

“Well, I’m not going to mention anything about that, not now, not while she’s in shock, and getting over what’s happened to her apartment,” I said. “But she’s always been there for me when I needed help, how could I not help her when she needs my help? What sort of a person would I be, to do that? She’s been one of my best friends for many, many years, helped me in so many ways, I would be a total arsehole now if I didn’t do whatever I could to help her.”

I pulled up in the parking area of her apartment building, there were still a few fire engines there, smoke was still coming from the back of the block, where the roof had caved in. It looked like the building was a total loss, not that I was any sort of expert in these things. I saw Michelle sitting on the grass bank, and we headed over to her.

“Oh Will, thank God you are here,” she said, wrapping her arms around me, and bursting into tears.

I held her tight against me, and stroked her hair, trying to comfort her.

“We’re here for you now, Michelle,” I said softly. “Are you okay? Not injured? What can you tell us about what happened?”

She assured us that she wasn’t injured, just shaken up. Apparently, in the middle of the night alarms started to go off; one of the apartments at the far side of the building had burst into flames; the brigade experts hadn’t worked out what the cause was, but they suspect a gas leak might be the culprit. The fire spread quickly to some of the other units on that side of the building before the fire brigade arrived, they concentrated on stopping the flames from spreading to some of the other apartments. A few people were injured, ambulances took them to Royal North Shore Hospital, but she hadn’t heard how badly they had been injured.

She said she had enough time to get dressed, grab her handbag with her mobile phone, purse, keys, and other important items, and get down away from the flames. At least, as far as she understood, the flames had not reached her unit, but there was lots of smoke and water damage. While we were talking, one of the fire fighters came over to talk to her and tell her that once they had the last of the hot spots put out, and the building – at least her side – was safe for her to enter, she would be able to go back into her apartment and make arrangements for getting her furniture and possessions out of the building.

“There isn’t an official determination yet, but I can’t see much hope for the building being saved,” he said. “There’s been major structural damage to the core of the building, and there’s a risk of the remaining walls and floors on that side of the centre core collapsing. The chief will be over to speak with you as soon as he’s happy things are out.”

We thanked him for his time, and he went off to talk to some of the other occupants.

“What am I going to do, Will?” Michelle asked.

“Well, assuming you can’t stay living in your apartment, at least not in the short term, you are more than welcome to move into my place in Balmain,” I said. “The three of us talked about that on the way over, there is a spare room that can be yours, and we would love to have you living with us for as long as you need to.”

“Oh, I can’t impose on you like that, Will,” she said. “Not when you’ve all just moved in together, you don’t want me there getting in the way.”

“You wouldn’t be ‘getting in the way’, Michelle,” Megan said. “We would love to have you sharing the place with us.”

“You wouldn’t be in the way,” Lori echoed. “Having one more person in the house, that’s not going to be a problem.”

“Let me call Mary Beth, she can coordinate some of the others in the group to help get your things out of the apartment, and we can move your stuff to my place, at least temporarily,” I said. “Unless you have any other ideas?”

“I ... I guess I don’t have any other options,” she said. “You are too kind, Will, Megan, Lori ... I don’t know what to say ... I wasn’t expecting you to offer me a room in your house, that wasn’t why I called you, there was just no one else that I could call.”

“That’s what friends are for,” I said. “Let me call Mary Beth.”

I called Mary Beth, and when she answered, I apologized for calling so early on a Saturday morning; then told her the news. She was shocked and said she and Chris would be there as soon as they could get there. About fifteen minutes later, they arrived, and we gave them a quick update.

“So, how much stuff will we have to move out, Michelle?” she asked, and Michelle listed what she had. “Can we get all of that in your trailer, Will?”

“We should, maybe even do it in a single trip. I’ll head back and get the trailer; it won’t take me long.”

“There should still be all those big plastic storage bins that Lori and I used when we moved, Will,” Megan said. “I think they are in the back of the garage, bring them back, and we can use those to pack the smaller stuff up.”

“We’ve also got all of those cardboard moving boxes for the UUNet relocation,” Mary Beth said. “They are in the back of the storage room on the fifth floor at work, we can go back and collect them. Chris, you go with Will, help him with the trailer, the rest of us will get the boxes. I’ll call the others from the group; we will need as many helpers as possible.”

Chris came with me as I drove back to my place, he would be able to help manoeuvre the trailer onto the back of my car.

“Good decision to call Mary Beth,” he said. “She’s in her element organizing everyone, she will get everyone else in the band there, telling people what to pack, what to carry, all of that.”

“I felt she would be the best person to get things under control,” I said.

By the time we were back at Waverton with the trailer, Mary Beth had the others starting to pack Michelle’s possessions into the moving boxes. Mary Beth had called the insurance agent that we used for the company and our personal insurance; Nick was part of the Bitola group, and he had arrived to see what the situation was, and to give Michelle some advice. It appeared that the only thing that was not recoverable was her car, which was parked in her garage – and currently that was under part of the collapsed side of the building.

“Once we have the report from the fire brigade and the assessment of the building,’ he said, “we will determine what should be paid. Now, I’m not a building expert, but the complete apartment building looks like a total loss to me; if that’s the case, then we will pay the agreed value, as per the policy. That will take at least a week or two, more likely by the end of June.”

“Is there a problem with me moving all of my furniture and possessions out?” she asked.

“No, that’s what I recommend, if they aren’t damaged, then keeping things safe is important; that way you won’t have to make a claim on loss or damage of your personal possessions. All we will have to cover is the car and the building. I’m glad you weren’t injured, I know it’s always said, but it’s true; possessions and things like that can be replaced, but no amount of insurance money can replace a life. Call me if you need any assistance with anything, Michelle, if you are having problems with accommodation, or anything like that, call me; but I think you have that under control.”

Michelle, and Mary Beth thanked Nick for coming, and his advice, and we then unloaded the boxes and packing material I had brought from my place.

“The others will be here soon, that will give more muscle to carry stuff down and load it on your trailer, Will,” Mary Beth said.

I quickly surveyed everything that we would have to load into the trailer, and decided that the larger items – the bed, dresser, and living room furniture would be the first items to load. Paul, Phil, Bruce, Stewie, Chris, and I made short work of that, meanwhile there were boxes filled with Michelle’s clothes that we carried down to the trailer, while the women started to pack boxes with items from the kitchen.

We had most of the heavy stuff loaded – including the fridge – when we decided to take a breather; we had timed things well, as a Salvation Army support group had arrived, offering tea, coffee, biscuits, and sandwiches to everyone. One of their social workers asked Michelle if she would need assistance with accommodation or emergency help, but she told them that she had friends who would help her. The social worker then went to see if any others among the displaced residents needed their assistance.

“You have to hand it to the Salvos,” Phil said. “Whenever there’s a disaster, they are always the first there to offer practical help.”

With our mid-morning break over, we finished loading thing into the trailer, and headed in convoy back to my place at Balmain. We discussed where we might put the furniture, I suggested the bed could go on one corner of the studio, and screen that off (temporarily, at least) with some of the sound-deadening blankets that were to go up on the walls.

“That way, we don’t lose the overnight accommodation for visitors,” I said.

The fridge would go up in the studio, so at least we would have a place to store cold drinks, and Michelle’s dining table, chairs and lounge suite would also go there. Michelle said she would want her bedroom dressing table in her room, possible putting the current dresser in the closet, so she would have more storage space for her clothes. We got to work, carrying, and moving furniture, shifting things around. Some of the others helped Michelle move her clothes into the bedroom closet, at least temporarily; they all smelt of smoke, so that she would run them through the washing machine over the next few days.

While we were working on moving stuff into the house, Lori headed up to our favourite pizza place at Lilyfield and returned with three family sized pizzas. We took a break for lunch, at least there were plenty of cold drinks in the fridge. We spread the pizzas out on the kitchen counter and sat in either the sunroom or the breakfast banquette to eat. I made another mental reminder that I needed some outdoor seating; this would be the perfect time to eat out in the courtyard. With lunch over, we all got back to work, I moved some boxes into the office, I would let Michelle sort out her papers and documents later.

Lori and Megan worked on integrating Michelle’s kitchen supplies and foodstuffs into our kitchen and pantry. Some of the things, like pots and pans, plates, glasses, we really had no need for; we would leave the decision up to Michelle what stuff she might want to donate, and what to keep. We had already gone through that ‘culling’ process, combining what things of mine, Megan’s, and Lori’s we needed to keep, we could do the same with Michelle’s – assuming she would be staying with us permanently. I guess the first thing to work out, once the fate of her apartment had been decided, was what she wanted to do in the long term. I was assuming that she would be living here with us, but she might want to get another place of her own once the insurance money came through. While my personal preference would be for Michelle to live here with us – even if it was just sharing the house (and not sharing her bed with me) – I wasn’t going to push her into something that she may not want. I would let her know that she was welcome to stay here for as long as she wanted, but the choice would be hers.

By late afternoon we had finished getting all of Michelle’s possessions situated in the house, we had rearranged things in the studio so there was a table, chairs, and the sofas, along with a private sleeping area.

“Why do you need a guest sleeping area?” Michelle asked. “There are the two other bedrooms on my floor, they could be for guests...”

“Officially, they are Megan’s and Lori’s bedrooms,” I said. “The story – at least for public consumption – is that they are sharing the house with me, they have their own rooms – just as you have your own room. Now, certain ‘trusted’ people – like you – know the true story, but we don’t need to attract unwanted comments, by blatantly showing that the three of us share the one room. We don’t make a point of telling people what the sleeping arrangements are, it’s really nobody else’s business.”

“That makes sense, there are lots of people around who wouldn’t approve of your arrangements,” she said. “It makes no difference to me, I know how things were years ago, back in Erskineville, when we all shared those three adjacent terraces, but I’ll be discrete and not say a word. I mean, people might raise their eyebrows at me staying here, even though I have my own room. Not that there would be room for four of us in the one bed!”

“Well, back at Banksia Lodge, there were times when we had four of us in that bed,” I said. “But that’s not likely to become an issue, you have you own room, for as long as you want to stay here.”

“I can’t thank you enough, Will, for what you’ve done for me today,” she said. “I ... when I woke up, with the fire, all I could think about was grabbing some critical stuff and getting out of the building. When I saw how bad the fire was, I had no idea of what I should do, what my future would be, I was afraid everything I had would be destroyed, I would have no place to live. You were the only person I could think of who would know what to do. I’m ... I’m going to be forever in your debt; I can’t stay with you, living off your generosity for longer than it takes to get my feet back on the ground. Maybe a month or two, whatever. I have no idea how I could ever repay you.”

She hugged me and started to cry.

“I had nowhere to go, no family I could call,” she added through her tears.

“We’ve always been there for each other,” I said, stroking the back of her hair. “No matter what has happened, we’ve been there to help each other through the bad times, that’s just what we do for each other, Michelle.”

“I haven’t done much that has been helpful for you recently,” she said. “A year ago, I invited you over for dinner, and we both got so drunk, because we were nervous. Then just before Christmas, I gave you extra drinks, to lower your inhibitions, so we could have sex; that almost cost you your relationship with Angie. That wasn’t what a friend would do, was it? I have been selfish, just thinking of myself – and you have been so good to me, I don’t deserve you.”

She started crying again, loud sobs that wracked her body. I was at a loss, not knowing what to say; fortunately, just than Mary Beth came into the room, and put her arms around Michelle, to comfort her.

“Michelle, everything will work out fine,” Mary Beth said. “We’ve got all your things here; insurance will cover your car and the apartment. You weren’t injured, and you are here with friends, and we will take care of you. That’s what friends do, we take care of each other, we’ll make sure you will be fine. You don’t have to worry about anything, take however much time off work that you need, we will make sure everything is right, that you have everything you need.”

Mary Beth put an arm around Michelle’s shoulders and gave me a nod. I stopped hugging Michelle, and Mary Beth led her into the living room, where I assumed she would speak quietly with her, I’m sure the whole experience had been very upsetting for Michelle. By now we had unloaded everything, moved all the furniture items, and helped her get most of her possessions sorted out and in a temporary location. Most of the others were leaving to go home, I thanked them for their assistance, and they went to tell Michelle that they were leaving. Allison and Jenny, plus Mary Beth and Chris were staying for dinner, and Mary Beth and Chris would stay overnight, since they would be assisting with the PA equipment at church tomorrow morning, to make sure everything was set correctly.

Since there would be eight of us for dinner, Lori suggested that she and her sister make their famous ‘Earle Family Goulash’, everyone agreed that sounded like a great idea. Mary Beth put some of us to work, I was chopping up an onion, while Chris did the same with some celery and a green capsicum. Lori put the large skillet on the stove, and sautéed the onions, celery, and capsicums.

“What chefs call ‘the holy trinity’,” she said. “You have to have these in any decent meal!”

Once she was satisfied with the ‘trinity’, she added the meat, making sure it was browning evenly. Meanwhile, Mary Beth was boiling a large pot of water, and the pasta shells went in, once it was on the boil. Thirty minutes later, dinner was ready, the dining table had been set, and we sat down to a very tasty meal. Before we started to eat, Michelle tapped on the table, telling us she had something to say.

“I want to tell all of you how much I appreciated everything you’ve done for me today,” she said, looking down at her plate. “When I called Will – far too early for a Saturday morning – I certainly didn’t expect him to take me in. I just couldn’t think of anything else to do. All of you... - you’ve given up a day of your weekend to help me move out of my old apartment, got me settled in here, I really don’t know how I can ever repay you. I don’t know what the future holds for me, but knowing I have such fantastic friends ... I feel I don’t have anything to worry about; thank you so much.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to her; it certainly wasn’t the time for some light-hearted, smart-arse comment. At least Mary Beth knew what to say.

“Well, of course we would drop everything and help you, Michelle,” she said. “You are a dear friend, we love you, so why wouldn’t we do whatever we could to help you when you need it?”

“Well, as I said, I am incredibly grateful, you have all done more than I could have ever imagined. At least everything is here, and I can spend tomorrow sorting my clothes and papers out.”

“Are you going to come to Will’s church with the rest of us?” Jenny asked her. “We can see Will, Megan, Alli, and Fiona singing.”

“I don’t know, I’m not really much of a churchy type of person,” Michelle replied. “Besides, I’m not really in the right frame of mind to go.”

“I’m not – or I didn’t think – I was a ‘churchy’ type either,” she replied. “But I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed it, and the guy who is the preacher – the minister – is a really nice, down-to-earth kind of guy.”

“Well, since I guess everyone else is going, I might as well,” Michelle said. “What am I expected to wear? All of my good dresses need washing, they smell of smoke. When do we leave?”

“You don’t need to wear anything fancy,” Megan said. “Jeans, a top, maybe a woollen jumper or cardigan if it’s cool. We will be leaving here, walking to the church, about 8:30, since we need to make sure the PA system is set up properly.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure I’m ready by 8:30,” she said. “Someone will have to show me how to behave, when to sit, when to stand, and all of the procedural stuff, I have no idea how it all works!”

“Fiona’s husband, Jeff, knows all of the rituals, we can sit with him, and he will show us what to do,” Jenny said. “Everything is there in the prayer book; you just have to follow along.”

The goulash was particularly good, I suspect it was the pasta sauce we had used; it wasn’t the normal brand that we usually got, Megan had found one at a little Italian deli over near Leichardt. Of course, if any shops would have excellent Italian foodstuffs, they would be around Norton Street, in Sydney’s ‘Little Italy’. The red wine that we had also made the meal nicer, we were dipping into Lori and Megan’s ‘stash of booze’, as they referred to the bottles of wine that they had brought across when they moved in. But the meal, with everyone here, was precisely what I was looking for when I was planning on moving in. The fun and fellowship with a bunch of friends, that was what I had lost in my life when Lisa had died, and I sold Banksia Lodge. Not that I regretted selling, the ‘reboot’ had certainly helped me cope with the situation; but now I had my own place again, sharing it with Lori and Megan – and Michelle, for however long she wanted to stay – made me feel much happier.

“That pasta sauce you got, Megan, is really good,” Mary Beth said. “Where did you get it?”

“There’s a little Italian deli on Norton Street, Giovanni’s, they have all sorts of Italian stuff, olive oil, sauces, sausages, cheeses, you name it. I want to get some of their spicy Italian sausage, and next time we make this, I’ll cut the sausage up into small pieces, and add that to the meat,” Megan replied.

“That would be really good,” Mary Beth said.

“That’s one thing about this part of town, sure we may not have the huge supermarkets, a Big W, or a Coles New World, but there are all sorts of little places – we’ve got a ‘Country Pride’ butcher shop just around the corner in Darling Street. Do you remember the one they had near where we lived in Erskineville? They moved to Balmain a few years ago, and I’ve got a couple of kilos of their sausages – several different varieties – that I’ll do on the barbeque for lunch tomorrow,” I said.

“I can see living here, I’m going to be eating very well!” Michelle said. “I’ll have to watch just how much I eat, this food is so good, if I’m not careful, I’ll become massive!”

“You haven’t had to endure my food yet,” I said. “You might change your mind after that!”

“That’s not true, Will, your cooking is just as good as the rest of us,” Lori said. “His roasts are particularly good, Michelle, the rosemary leg of lamb ... that’s to die for!”

“I know, I remember from living at Lane Cove in his house there from time to time,” she said. “He would take his turn cooking, and I do remember those roast dinners.”

When we had finished eating, we all worked in the kitchen to clean things up and load the dishwasher. Allison and Jenny thanked us for dinner, saying they would be here around 8:00 tomorrow morning, so we could walk up to Church. Michelle thanked them for all their help, and they headed off to their place for the night. I said that I would be having an early night, since it had been a long, tiring day; everyone else felt the same as I did.

Mary Beth and Chris decided to sleep in ‘Lori’s’ room, Michelle had her bedroom at the front of that floor, while Lori, Megan and I headed up to the top floor. We decided to have a shower together before we got into bed, and once again, I wished that I had specified a slightly larger size for the shower. While the three of us could just fit into the shower together, it was a bit of a squeeze. We did manage to get clean, washing each other’s bodies, then we dried ourselves, and got into bed.

“I don’t know how you two feel, but I’m absolutely exhausted,” I said. “I doubt I could get it up tonight.”

“I don’t mind, my back is aching,” Lori said.

“Same here, there’s always tomorrow morning,” Megan said. “We need to sleep tonight.”

I slept soundly, waking up sometime after 6:00, feeling refreshed. Both Lori and Megan were also awake, and refreshed from a night’s sleep, and wanted some wake-up lovemaking. With a bit of encouragement, I was able to ‘rise to the occasion’, as it were, leaving us all sweaty and satisfied. After a shower to freshen up – it wouldn’t do for us to go to church smelling of sex – we got dressed, and headed down to the kitchen, to see what was being prepared for breakfast.

Mary Beth and Chris were starting on breakfast, some bacon done in the oven, home fries, and scrambled eggs – pretty much the standard breakfast that we all enjoyed. I started to make some coffee, while Lori started making toast. Megan set the table in the dining room, that was the only place where we could easily seat all six of us. I wasn’t sure if there was a way around that, there was no space in the sunroom area for another table, I could get an extra chair for the banquette, but that would only seat five people. If Michelle was going to be staying here for more than a few weeks, the four of us would fully occupy the banquette. The priority for purchases would be an outdoor table and chairs to go out on the courtyard, once the weather warmed up in a few months that would become a pleasant place to sit in the afternoons and evenings.

It wasn’t long before Michelle emerged to join us, she was looking refreshed after the night’s sleep, she saw what was being prepared, and grabbed a mug to get some coffee.

“This looks like a huge breakfast,” she said. “Are you all trying to make me fat?”

“Good morning, Michelle,” I said. “Did you sleep well?”

“I slept like a log,” she said. “That room is so lovely, the view from the balcony, looking towards the city, is so lovely. And there are no trains going past every few minutes to disturb my sleep!”

“Breakfast is ready, everyone,” Chris said. “Come and git it ‘fore I slop it to the hawgs!”

“What’s this ‘slop it to the hogs’?” Michelle asked. “Are there pigs here?”

“Just an expression we use at home, when a meal is ready, to tell the other people they had better come and get it, before it gets cold.

“It all looks good,” Michelle said. “Particularly those little potato chunks, what are they, home fries?”

We served ourselves breakfast, just as we had finished Allison and Jenny arrived, time to clean things up in the kitchen, and get ourselves ready for church. We walked up to St. John’s, arriving there about 8:45, and while Megan, Allison, and I put our choir robes on, Lori, Mary Beth, and Chris started to test the PA system. It didn’t take long before they were happy with the microphone levels, and Mary Beth showed Father Peter how to fit his wireless microphone, putting the transmitter in his trouser pocket, clipping the microphone up close to his mouth, and pointing out how to turn it on and off. He spoke some words, so they could make sure it sounded good, Mary Beth adjusted the position of the lapel mic slightly, and then she was happy that it was all working.

“During the sermon, do you want to use the pulpit microphone, or your lapel one?” she asked. “If you want to use the pulpit mic, there’s the press on, press off switch on the base, right here.” She demonstrated how to turn it on and off. “Keeping each microphone off when it’s not being use will prolong the battery life, but we have plenty of spare batteries just in case.”

Everything seemed fine with the PA system, all the microphones were working properly, the sound levels were right, and there was no trace of any feedback or ringing in the sound. Megan went through the hymns and order of service with all of us in the choir, we all were happy with things. Fiona, Jeff, and Dennis arrived, and Jeff sat with Michelle and Jenny, while the rest of us waited until the service started.