Chapter 31: That community feeling

Saturday 22-Sept 2007

Around midday, he was in the bathroom watching Tom and Jerry putting tiles in the shower. They knew what they were doing. The power was off while for a few minutes while one of the girls worked on the main power board with her dad, so he grabbed the chance to eat a hot dog. He heard a chainsaw. A chainsaw? This he had to see. He wandered outside and discovered that the chainsaw was in the hands of another person he'd never have expected to see. Andrew Johnson from St Joseph's turned to him with a big smile on his face. "Hey Chris, how are you?"

"Andrew? What are you doing here?"

"Well, I've been training with Lisa, and she's been keeping me well informed of events, and when we heard about this, we just couldn't not be here." He introduced Chris to his mates. Chris could see that he was going to have to revise his opinion of St Joseph's. Andrew and his two mates were geared up with climbing spikes, harnesses, rope, and a mix of chainsaws, both small and big. They clearly knew what they were doing. Not what he'd expected from the nancy boys at St Joseph's.

He laughed at himself. His parents had thought it was the other parents who were going to be surprised. "Enjoy the journey," they'd said!

He found Lisa, and together they watched Andrew nip up a tree and start trimming the dangerous branches on it, while his mates pulled on a rope to guide the branches down. "Lisa, what's going on?"

"After we met at the dance, he called me back the next week, said it was off with Thui, and so he could train with me without upsetting a girlfriend. So we've been training together ever since. That night at the dance, he figured out what the deal was with Shahia from what you said — he got it pretty much nailed too. Anyway, he kept his mouth shut, like he said he would, but when you blew it open last week, he held his own class meeting and told them all. Here, look!"

She showed pulled out a card from her bundle of stuff, and showed him. It was a big A4-size card with a note and signature from at least two hundred people, all in very tiny writing. "Staff and students at St Joseph's, all messages of support for Shahia — isn't that cool?"

"What did Shahia say?"

"Oh, we haven't given it to her yet — we'll do that once the work is done."

Chris shook his head; that was awesome. What more could happen today? But yes, today really was something to be enjoyed.

Andrew abseiled straight down from the branch he was on. Show off! But then he noticed one of the video girls capturing it. If they knew how to mix a good movie, this day was going to become legendary.

Lisa turned and saw Samuel coming out of the garage. He was coated in fine white dust. She ran over to him, and standing in front of him, gave a girlish squeal. "Oh, it's a ghost. Sam's been reincarnated!" Even Sam had to stop work, he was laughing so hard. As Chris went back inside to work, he noticed Bec and Alyssa taking Maria for a walk in her stroller so she could have her nap away from all the noise. He smiled. They deserved a break — they'd been working hard too.

Later in the afternoon, they knew that they were going to finish the bathroom in time. Chris noticed a stream of people asking if they could help, but there was no space for anyone else, just five of them — Quoc and his dad were helping with the building bits, putting new floorboards down, while Tom and Jerry were putting the finishing touches on. He popped out to see what was going on.

Jay and Hassan were finished, he found, and he went and leaned on their new post while they proudly looked on. He smiled at them and went to find Lisa. When he found her, Lisa gave him a look of mock despair. "It's all done! But no one wants to leave, so we're just making work up. We've been flooding the local recycling station, and we've got a crew working up and down the street tidying up the verge as a way to thank the neighbours for being good sports! But I've still got people looking for work. I just don't know what to do?"

"Hey, how many?"

"Last count was eighty-five people all up. About eighty still here, maybe seventy for the game."

Chris whistled, shaking his head. Those numbers were truly amazing.

"Any hint of rain?"

"No. Lovely out there."

"Right well, get them started on setting up for watching the game." He checked his watch. "It starts in less than an hour."

Lisa looked at him as if he was a dunce. "We've already done that!"

He shook his head. She really did have a problem; what was that joke he'd heard earlier from Georgi, the polish guy working in the garden? "What's wrong with Poland is fatal but not serious." Somehow, that seemed applicable — and he didn't even know who Georgi was — maybe a neighbour?. When he got back inside the bathroom, David was laying the flooring. He looked up, "Give me fifteen minutes, and the bathroom is done."

"Duh? Done? What happened?"

"Oh, lots of people, it just gets done."

He helped him for a little while, and then he went back out to find Lisa. "All right, Lisa, let's get everyone together around the TV."

He went to find Shahia. He found her sitting on her bed. She looked up at him, tired, but he'd seen her much more tired than this. "You know I doubted."

He nodded. "So did I."

She shook her head. "Never again. Chris, this is ... awe-inspiring. What am I going to say to them?"

"Do you want me to try?"

She stood up, with finality in her voice. "No. My job." She came to him and wrapped him up in a big hug. "Stay close to me."

Chris watched as they gathered around the television on the lawn outside. He was glad it was nice weather; you couldn't possibly fit more than twenty people inside Shahia's lounge, and then only if they were all pretty good friends indeed. Several people who had said they had to leave were still hanging around, and showing no signs of leaving. Tom and Jerry, for instance. Chris understood. The feeling was indescribable, this tight feeling of community, and he could see that it had infused everyone. The smiles and laughter, this was even better than at the end of winning a match. Wow.

The lawn was covered in a mass of white t-shirts and singlets with the bold yellow and red logo. Almost everyone, even many adults, were wearing Squad-11 tops. The girls were all wearing the tight singlet form, and he could tell that the guys were appreciating that a lot. He suspected that the Squad-11 tops were going to become quite a treasured possession. His was, if it ever recovered from the slime under the house. Even though it was filthy, he'd refused to even consider changing back to his other t-shirt.

Then he remembered his parent's words, and he checked out the other parents. Sure enough, what he saw there was something he'd remember for a long time. They were all clearly blown away with a mix of pride and amazement. What a feeling! He realised it matched the expression on his face exactly.

Mr Cartwright stood out the front holding an esky. "Attention all members of Squad-11. Here I have beer. You are all welcome to have one. I know many of you aren't, err, of the right age, but after today ... you earned it by your actions. Don't take one if your parents would be upset, okay?"