Omar Musa - Here Come the Dogs

‘Farkin hell. You gotta a find a better way to earn a living, brother,’ Aleks says over his shoulder, grinning.

‘Seriously, I’ve never worked around so many arseholes,’ the man replies, giving him his prison whites.

Aleks is still chuckling when he enters the visitation room. Instead of his wife and parents, whom he expected, he sees his cousin Nicko. He burns with a sense of loyalty for his cousin, who has done a lot for the community and trodden the straight path. They smile at each other. Nicko, who has dark bags under his eyes, passes his hands over his eyes, nose, lips then down the back of his neck.

‘What’s wrong, Nicko?’

‘Work. Don’t worry about it.’ He scratches at a birthmark on his arm.

‘Nah, nah. What about it?’

Nicko sighs and stares at the ceiling. ‘These people I work with, cuz. public service pricks. They look down on me so much, I swear. They’re the cream of the dregs, Atse .’

‘I bet. That’s how the kengurs do it —’ Aleks is about to go on a rant, but Nicko cuts him off.

‘Ah, don’t worry about it. How you going in here?’

Aleks, worried Nicko is going to go back to the community and gossip, says nonchalantly, ‘The food’s good. How are my ladies?’

Nicko seems to relax and his eyes brighten. ‘Good. Mila came around for a birthday party at mine the other day —’

‘Oh, of course! Happy birthday to little Suzana.’

‘Thanks, cuz. Little princesses — they grow up so quickly, ay? Giving us a run for our money already.’

‘I know.’

‘And Sonya. You see her?’ Aleks looks at him squarely.

Nicko scratches his birthmark again. ‘Yep. She dropped Mila off. Just looked a bit tired, that’s all. She couldn’t come today cos she had a job interview. I thought she got the message through to you. Sorry you have to see my ugly mug instead.’

Aleks grins. ‘No way. Your ugly mug makes me feel better about mine.’ Then, thinking of Sonya, he says, ‘Harder to get a job than it used to be, ay?’

‘Yeah. Government’s cutting jobs in the public service, too. Atse. If you need any help, just let me know, all right?’

‘Of course. Of course,’ Aleks mutters. ‘You seen Jimmy around?’

‘Yeh. Running around with that dog of his, talking to it like it was a human.’

‘Sounds about right.’ They laugh easily.

‘Rare as rocking-horse shit, your mate. That’s dog’s lucky to have Jimmy. I heard most ex-racers get drained for their blood so vets can use it in transfusions. Poor doggies.’

‘Yeah,’ says Aleks. ‘What about Solomon?’

‘Dunno. Seems to have gone missing in action.’

Basketball playlist

Gang Starr — ‘Full Clip’

Nas — ‘Nas is Like’

Kanye West feat. Lupe Fiasco — ‘Touch the Sky’

Cam’ron — ‘Hey Ma’

Jurassic 5 — ‘What’s Golden?’

J. Cole — ‘Workout’

Verbaleyes and Mute — ‘Lingua Franca’

Jay-Z — ‘Roc Boys’

The Tongue — ‘The Show’

Talib Kweli — ‘Get By’

Home Brew Crew — ‘Basketball Court’

Method Man and Redman — ‘The Rockwilder’

The Roots — ‘Get Busy’

Outkast — ‘So Fresh, So Clean’

Mos Def — ‘Mathematics’

L-Fresh the Lion — ‘One’

Muhammad’s dad

A convivial Indian-Fijian shop owner

with snowy hair.

He seems to like what he sees on the court,

until his eyes alight on Toby.

‘That one. A bad influence, I think. His parents.’ He twirls a finger

around his temple then mimes drinking.

‘Yeah, I heard. Just needs a push in the right direction, Mr Khan.

Basketball’s good for him.’

He nods,

sizing me up,

then crushes two fifty-dollar notes

into my hand.

‘Get the kids some stuff they need.’

Shopping night

At the sport’s store,

an attendant keeps following me and Jimmy around,

looking at us heaps suss.

‘You all right?’ I call out.

She looks embarrassed and leaves.

I measure a few sizes of a Steph Curry jersey against myself

then decide on one.

‘That’s way too fucken small for you,’ says Jimmy.

‘It’s not for me, numbnuts. It’s for a kid.’

Sounds strange saying it.

‘Huh? What kid?’

‘A kid I’m teaching to play ball.’

Jimmy looks taken aback,

then grins.

‘You didn’t tell me about this. Watch out, bra. You might get put on

one of them lists.’

‘Shut up.’

‘Expensive present. Buy me one.’

I ignore him and go in search of sports cones.

I also get cheap basketballs

and water bottles.

Jimmy stares.

‘All right, it’s actually a few kids.’

I pay for the jersey with my own money,

the other stuff with Mr Khan’s.

I sniff the jersey on the way out

and almost wish I bought it for myself.

Fresh gear always makes you play better.

It’s like Reebok Pumps –

pure placebo.

Drinks

An outdoor bar with a Mexican theme.

Some boys I used to play ball with

are talking about Aussies in the NBA.

They’re all clean cut,

working in the public service now.

‘Mate, we’ve got a fucken awesome national team. Bogut, Dellavedova,

Baynes. Patty Mills is crushing it, too.’

‘Yair, heard of this new guy Dante Exum? He declared for the NBA

draft and everything. Jarryd Hooper’s going well at college, too.’

I feel a pang at the mention of Jarryd’s name.

Then I notice Jimmy,

very still, by himself,

on the margin of conversation.

I know what’s on his mind –

‘These people don’t even know I’m here.

I have nothing in common with

these rich, successful, white cunts.’

Then he’ll think about his dad.

Every small failure in Jimmy’s life

is magnified by his paranoid brain;

a massive ugly picture

of failure and loss.

To Jimmy,

it’s always been him against the world.

Beige

At first,

Jimmy told the kids in high school

he was half-Samoan.

But one day at the interchange,

I told them the truth –

that he didn’t know what he was.

After that,

everybody began to call him ‘Beige’.

Beige Beige Beige

Jimmy was jealous of the fair-skinned Koori kids,

so proud of their culture.

Seems fucked up now,

but I loved to torture him –

ignore him at the bus interchange,

see how far I could push it,

how the smallest jibe would affect him

like a lash to the back.

Hiding my own shame

at not being Samoan enough.

And Jimmy would take it

and take it

and take it,

until he found hip hop.

and that other stuff.

I wish I could rewind it all.

Sonya

He’s still got a good heart, though.

He’s worried that Sonya might not be going so well,

with her health,

with her cash.

‘Reckon we should help somehow?’

‘Yeah, maybe. Not sure how. It’s a bit awkward, don’t ya reckon? Aleks

would hate that.’

‘Yer.’

As Jimmy keeps talking,

my mind drifts to the court

and my team:

Amosa’s All-Stars!

Toby’s first present

Toby can’t seem to believe it.

He holds the jersey to his nose

and closes his eyes as he breathes in the scent,

just like I did.

Then he tears his T-shirt off

and puts the jersey on.

He shines on the court,

still a little clumsy,