MUCK A SITE STORY

Two men. One site. Work you don’t put on the timesheet. The clay’s still wet from two days of rain when Kev’s rigger sinks and won't come up. Dean wades in to haul him out. He doesn’t let go. Dean and Kev are brickies — string vests, high-vis knotted at the waist, tattoos and hard hats and hands that know a wall. They race courses before break. They dump a barrow in a trench and call it horseplay. When the wind gets up, Dean says there’s no point in a blowout and takes Kev to the cabin instead. Then the sun comes back. Kev puts the rings in. Dean can’t keep his eyes on the line. What starts in the muck doesn’t stay there — behind the blocks, under the mixer, in a gym shower after knock-off. There’s a knack to laying brick. Dean shows him. The wall goes up true. The kettle never quite gets poured. Monday’s coming. The site will still be there. So will they.