“My son is building me a multi-storey house, I can see it, it is growing steadily, the foundations have been laid,” Dimi tells his friends.
“Dad, I’m building you a house, you’ll have it before old age, just wait and see, can’t you see it? The ground floor is being built, the frame is being erected.”
“Ah yes I can.”
“My son is building me a house.”
“Are you moving into it, is that why you are selling your house?”
“Ah no, it will take some time, we are moving into something smaller till it’s finished.”
“What does your son do for a living?”
“He’s in the import, export trade, he’s doing well. See how well-dressed he is, Italian silk suits and leather shoes, nothing but the best. He travels overseas often, takes his family overseas to Disney, LA, Greece. He’s doing well.”
Dimi is older now, tanned leather skin, his belly extends beyond his waistline, diabetes has settled in, his eyes have cataracts, he’s lost most of his teeth, but he still works outside in all weathers, taking down and putting up fences. He’s learnt to erect Colourbond fences now, employs someone who can lay bricks for the more complex jobs, spends his weekends and nights giving quotes, works all hours and all days except when it rains. He can’t see out of one eye, the other compensates. Sometimes it lets him down and affects his driving as he navigates the complicated maze of Sydney streets that he has come to know so well. Every morning he gets up at five, winter or summer it is the same, puts on his working shorts and t-shirt (always with a pocket), struggles to put on his socks and shoes as he leans over his bulging belly, he has to sit down to put on his shoes. He places his dried and scaley foot on a stool to put on his socks and then pushes his foot into his work boots that have moulded to the shape of his foot. Then a cup of tea with three teaspoons of sugar, no less, a couple of slices of toast and honey and, if his wife Maria is in a good mood, he has a packed lunch, but mostly he makes his own, salami and tomato sandwiches. The routine is the same each day, and has been for his entire working life.
