“That seems definitely worthwhile right now.” They laughed nervously, then Maddy said, “But two bedrooms. For now. We’re leaving hers alone, remember.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I’ll vacuum and dust, wipe all the surfaces. There’s bleach under the sink. You do the walls.”
“Gonna do the ceilings too. With a mop.”
Maddy gave her brother a crooked smile. “Fucking look at us, eh?”
They busted their arses for hours, taking turns to crank music from their phones through Maddy’s Bluetooth JBL speaker. The focus seemed to be something they both needed, the physical labour of it taking up the nervous energy they’d been carrying. Maddy thought maybe the tensions and anxieties had been building for weeks, as their mother’s illness quickly deteriorated from ongoing sickness to terminal decline. Then the actual death and rapid-fire shocks since had left them both shaken. Working hard, taking control of something, was like medicine.
It was nearly 9 p.m. when they both collapsed onto the couch, sweaty and dishevelled, and absolutely spent. Zack ordered in pizza with their mother’s credit card, and they stared at the TV until it arrived. Starving, they devoured it in minutes, then watched more TV without talking. There was nothing to say, no need to plan or discuss. They were simply getting on with it. Maddy had some reservations, wondering if it was entirely wise to ignore the thing growing on their mother. She had occasional visions of it blooming to fill the room, bulge against the door until it burst, billowing in great rolls out the open window.
But she shook those thoughts away. It wouldn’t come to that. If it did need more attention, maybe in a week or two, they’d decide then. Not now. They’d done enough for the time being. Their mother had just died, after all. Let them enjoy that for a while first.
She noticed Zack nodding off, chin on his chest, and gave him a prod. “Let’s go to bed. School tomorrow. And I’m working eight till six.”
He nodded and dragged himself off. The house gleamed, it almost looked like they’d redecorated more than cleaned it. The mould stains and scuff marks were gone, the floor was free of lint and grit and all manner of small detritus that had gathered. It smelled fresh, slightly lemon-scented from the cleaner Maddy had used on all the benches and tables tops.
Zack hugged her and went into his room and she went into hers. It felt like a new start.
They got up the next morning and it was like a house transformed. Zack looked with pride at the clean walls and ceilings. They were still old, paint peeled in places, but the blooms of black, spotted mould were gone. The cobwebs and various unidentified marks were gone. Dust and dirt had been vacuumed from the corners and edges. With late summer sunlight coming in through all the windows, the place gleamed. The windows were grimy though.
“We got any Windex?” he asked Maddy as they ate breakfast.
“Under the sink.”
“Cool. After school, I’m going to clean all the windows too. And on the weekend, let’s tidy up the garden. Shall we make a couple of veggie beds?”
Maddy laughed. “Sure, why not!”
He did his best not to think about the closed room. He especially tried not to think about the sensation of a whispering voice that had seemed to drift from that room while he tried to sleep the night before. He’d been bone-tired from all the housework, his mind abuzz with missing his mother, so surely it was just his tired brain freaking out a bit. He was glad she was gone at last but couldn’t help grieving for the mother she could have been. Imagine if she’d been even ten percent the mother Mrs Brady was. Josh had no idea how lucky he had it.
But he still heard her voice.
Help me, Zacky.
And
I need something, Zacky-boy.
Like it was coming through the wall from her room to his. Cajoling, that familiar edge of demand to it as always. Perhaps he should tell Maddy he could hear her. But she’d think he was mad.
Zack left the house and headed down the hill, then left and right onto Tanning Street. Josh was waiting for him at the usual spot and they fell into step together heading up Tanning towards the servo, then right to the high school at the top of the hill.
“What’s new?” Josh said after a few minutes of companionable silence.
“Same old,” Zack said.
“Your mum any better?”
“Nah, she won’t get any better.” Zack paused, licked his lips. “I think me and Maddy’ll be looking after her forever.”
“Well, not forever,” Josh said. “Parents get old and die.”
“I guess. Seems like forever, that’s all.”
A few more minutes of silence passed as they scuffed along, then Josh said, “My dad asked me to ask you something.” He sounded uncomfortable.
“Yeah?”
“Said did you want him or mum to come over? Talk to your mum?”
Zack startled, but quickly gathered himself. “Nah, man. What for? Talk about what?”
Josh made patting motions with both hands. “It’s all good, dude. I told them it was a stupid idea, but they insisted I ask you.”
“But talk about what?”
“I think they wonder if your mum needs any help or anything. Like, grown-up help.”
Zack laughed, tried to make light of it. “We’re not kids any more, mate. Tell ’em it’s all fine, we’ll be good. She’s getting help anyway. Doctors and shit.” His mother had refused to ever see a doctor, but Josh didn’t know that. Or need to know.
“I’ll tell them.”
They walked on, got to school, went through the drudgery of high school bullshit. But Zack spent the whole time concerned about how much interference there might be from Mr and Mrs Brady. He decided they needed a contingency story. He’d talk to Maddy about it later. Those useless cousins in Bega his mum sometimes talked about might need to become a little more involved. Nobody else knew his mum hated them. Zack himself didn’t even know if they were real, but that didn’t matter. The concept was useful. If the Brady’s, or anyone else, came sniffing around, he and Maddy could say their mum had gone to see her cousins for a few days.
At lunch when he was allowed to take his phone out of his locker, he sent a garbled message about it to Maddy. She replied, What? He texted, Talk about it later
An hour after Maddy got the text from Zack she realised what he meant. Her brother was rubbish at expressing himself. But yes, having a ready-made story about their mum away visiting cousins in case people came around was a good idea. It was a little disturbing how easily they were slipping into the new role they’d made for themselves. Except for the white mass blooming in the bedroom. Try as she might, Maddy couldn’t get it out of her mind.
She was tired after work and though Dylan rang and asked her if she still wanted to go see Blind Eye Moon at the Vic, she blew him off. She apologised, and she meant it, but she needed to start distancing herself. And she genuinely wanted to spend time with Zack in the new clean house that was finally theirs. She went home and Zack wasn’t there. She texted and he said he’d gone to Josh’s after school but would come home for dinner. He hadn’t done the windows after all, but would do it on the weekend. She smiled. The great fervour to clean and take over the house had burned out as quickly as it had ignited, but that was okay. They’d done enough for now.
An hour later they made dinner together and talked about the visiting cousins in Bega story. It came together easily, really not much detail required. Then they watched movies on Netflix and drank from a bottle of Kraken rum Maddy had bought from the bottle shop behind Clooney’s on her way home. Zack even did the dishes before he went to bed, and they both crashed out about midnight, both more than a little drunk, both giggling.