Chapter 34
Tiddas chat 3
6 November 2023
Brynn:
So, got some news.
Dotty:
About time, it’s been almost a week since you’ve messaged! I’m dying here.
Bridie:
You got the internship?
Dotty:
You discovered how nice budju is? (In the original sense of the word lol)
Bridie:
WTF?!!!!
Brynn:
**sent an image**
Brynn:
This is Sienna. She’s my girlfriend. And yes, I’ve been kind of budju-matised for the last couple days
Bridie:
OMG, I want to hear everything. She’s so pretty!
Dotty:
Fuck yes! Welcome to double intersections my Blak Bi sister 3
Robert is reluctant to meet with Michael, but when I tell him how much of his treatment Michael thinks the insurance will cover, he agrees.
I’ve spent almost every night since the concert at Sienna’s, so the morning of our meeting, I walk from her apartment to the coffee shop a few blocks away. Michael folds me into a big hug and kisses me on the cheek.
‘Corey told me about you and Sienna,’ he says. ‘I think it was her way of warning me not to make a move on you today.’
I blush. ‘Yeah, she’s pretty special,’ I say. ‘But even still, Corey’s a gossip.’
Michael chuckles. ‘If I hadn’t heard it from her it’d have come from someone else at Cat’s. No secrets with that crowd.’
‘Even when you’ve moved away, apparently,’ I joke. ‘Nah, it’s all good. We’re super happy.’ Happy is an understatement: we’ve spent the few days since Halloween mostly in bed in Sienna’s tiny apartment, ordering in, watching movies and getting to know each other in a more intimate way than I’ve ever known anyone else.
Robert comes along, somehow looking sicker than he did last time. He shakes Michael’s hand and we find a somewhat private table inside.
The atmosphere at the table is sombre until coffees arrive and we settle and relax a little. There’s not much for me to do now other than watch and be here for moral support.
‘Okay,’ Michael begins, interlocking his fingers over Robert’s Dogue’s contract that sits between us on the table. ‘The long and the short of it is that Doug needs to give you insurance,’ Michael says.
Robert and I share a look and I notice the weariness in my friend’s eyes.
‘I’m not going to be able to keep working much longer,’ Robert murmurs softly. ‘I mean, I’d be able to go back after treatment—hopefully, but right now it’s getting too hard for me to be on my feet all day. The job’s too physical. Even with Hilde giving me her small dog room shifts.’
‘That’s fine,’ Michael says. ‘Doug owes it to you, regardless of whether you’re working right now or not. If you’re happy for me to represent you, then I’ll draw up the papers today and have them delivered as soon as I can.’
Robert pauses and flicks me another look. ‘I can’t pay you,’ he says, shame crossing his face. I reach out and touch his shoulder.
‘It’s okay.’ Michael smiles. ‘My firm lets me do a few cases a month pro bono—free. I’m going to take yours on and I’m also going to see if I can do something about Doug’s hiring and firing practices. I can’t do much for Brynn or any of the others who have lost their jobs, but I can stop it from happening in the future.’
I’m about to tell him he’s the best when my phone starts ringing. An unknown number. I’m tempted to send it to voicemail, but I’ve applied for so many jobs lately. I give the guys a wave and pick up my phone, heading outside to the street to answer.
‘Hi, this is Laura Ferguson from The Paris Review for Brynn Wallace . ’
I stop walking so abruptly that a man on the street runs straight into me, just like I did in those first days in the city.
It’s as though I’m floating above my body as I wave an apology and step out of the foot traffic. ‘This is Brynn.’
‘Oh, hi Brynn. I’m calling about your application for the spring/summer internship? We’d like to get you in for an interview before Thanksgiving if that’s possible?’
My heart skips a few beats. ‘Sure, I mean ... of course.’
‘Great, well, how’s Thursday at two?’
I pause for a moment, trying to stop myself from shouting that I’m wide open, that I’ve got nothing else to do but work at the Review . ‘Perfect.’
‘Great.’ She gives me the address of their offices in Chelsea, and I pretend I haven’t already walked past the nondescript brown brick building a couple of hundred times before.
‘There are some tasks to complete for the interview, and I’ll send you all the details in an email when we get off the phone,’ she says. ‘There’s a writing exercise to prepare, and we’ll also have you sit an editing test and general knowledge quiz.’
I’d expected this. My uni lecturers had prepared me for it and I’d already sat a few tests for the other jobs I’d interviewed for.
My heart is racing as Laura confirms the details again, promises there will be an email waiting for me in less than an hour, and we hang up.
‘ The Paris REVIEW !’ I yell and several people turn around. Whoever said New Yorkers were unfazed by anything that was wrong. I burst back into the coffee shop and tell the guys my good news. Both of them whoop and cheer and hug me, and then Michael orders cake to celebrate.
As soon as we’re done, I hop in a cab—money be damned—and go straight to the vet surgery to tell Sienna the good news. As she holds me and twirls me in the waiting room, surrounded by dogs and humans, I’m sure I can feel the Ancestors smiling at me. This is all going to work out. It has to.