Power Games

Sitting in the office with my father, it feels really awkward because I don’t know what to say after what happened with Brendan so I try not to say anything and do some coursework. My father sits there trying to ring Brendan who isn’t answering his phone even to my father.

“So, what happened to actually working down the mines Isaac?” my father says to me after a few minutes of awkward silence, I’m feeling pretty awkward right now after he talked to me “I did start down there, but there were a few people not happy with me being here in town which wouldn’t have surprised you would it” my tone getting a bit nasty towards my father about things.

He looks across at me just nodding “I knew that it was never going to be easy for you Isaac, but I knew that you could handle anything and I guess that you can”. My father’s tone is surprisingly nice and caring rather than what I thought it would be.

I look across at him “Were you sure that I could’ve handled this or were you just like Brendan and expecting me to fail so that way you could be awash of me forever”. Honestly, I didn’t want to get like this but I couldn’t control myself.

My father looks across at me “No I never wanted you to fail at this Isaac, it was nothing like that son, I just wanted you to work hard because I knew that you had it in you to deal with all this and I wanted more to prove to yourself that you could do it and I think that you can”. The way my father is talking to me, I don’t know whether it’s him being genuine or just him putting political talk over me but I am falling into it a bit.

“Did you know about what Brendan was doing, the fact that he sent me here of all places especially given the negative history that our family has through Uncle Charlie here in Yellow Peak?” I ask him putting him back on the spot to see how much he knew.

Without giving me a response, he just puts his head down which makes me realise that he did know what Brendan was up to and wanted me to fail. “So, you did fucking know what was happening and the response that I got was expected by both you and Brendan didn’t you,” I say trying hard not to raise my voice controlling myself.

My father doesn’t want to answer me “Come on Dad, I’m not some media interviewer that you can’t just brush off when you don’t like the questions plus I’m family aren’t I?” asking my father with intent trying to get a response.

“Yes alright, we knew that Yellow Peak wasn’t the friendliest of places but I didn’t know until after your brother told me that he had it all set up for you to easily move in,” he says looking at me, the master manipulator at work right now.

“Whatever,” I say as he sits there trying to ring Brendan but there is still no answer on the phone from him as I sit there going back to my work. I stand up as my phone rings and I see Mitch’s name on the ID “Excuse me a minute, I need to take this call” I say to my father as I walk out of the office.

“Hey man, what’s up?” I ask Mitch as he’s ringing me. “I just wanted to see if you wanted me to send that information across to you this afternoon” I ponder Mitch’s question on whether I wanted to use it to show my father. “Send it through, I don’t know whether I need it right now but it’ll be handy to have it,” I say to Mitch who then checks if everything is going ok. “Before you go, can you hack into GPS systems?” I ask just curious if he can to help me track down where Brendan went to.

“I can’t personally, but I know somebody who could probably help me do it if you want?” he asks me as I decline. “Nah it’s fine, just needed something quick if you could get it because my brother took off at a rapid pace after we were talking and left my father here for no apparent reason”.

 Mitch stops for a minute, “I will get on to because that’s really weird and I don’t want him doing anything in town” I hang up the phone and head back into my office, my father on the phone trying to get a hold of Brendan again.

“What did you say to your brother to set him off” my father turns and looks at me somewhat accusatory in his tone. “Going to go straight to me as the reason why Brendan rushed off in a hurry and not because he was the one having the hissy fit,” I say really annoyed that my father’s tone has quickly changed from trying to be nice to me but then into the natural tone of blaming me for everything.

“Alright, let’s get some facts straight alright? One, Brendan started on me the minute he had to sign his Health and Safety forms when he accused me of being a failure and that I couldn’t hack it here which is why I got an admin role” I let out a sigh. “Then he accused me of using someone to go through my coursework and do it for me, then accused Danny of doing it for me”.

My father starts to realise that Brendan is the one who has acted oddly on this visit and not me “Should I continue? I was grabbing a coffee and standing outside and he was out there so I just wanted to know how long Sarah was working for you in a political role and he just blew his lid about the fact that she’s Team Keppel unlike me blah blah blah”. I decide not to add the fact that I did have a go at him about deliberately setting me up to fail here in Yellow Peak.

“Sorry about that Isaac, but you know with your track record of things I just have to assume that you were the cause of the situation” I turn to my father now angry “You have to assume that I caused the situation?” I say raising my voice at him “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, that everything bad that has happened in this family is somehow my fault?

“N.. no, it’s that Isaac but just” my Father stumbling for words now not sure what to say really. “Just what?” I say back standing up now as I walk over to him and ask him to look at my face because he’s avoiding looking at me.

“Dad, I admit that I have fucked up big time over the past and I realise that but I’m not always the cause of trouble alright? If you knew what shit Brendan pulled and then put on me then you would have absolutely no right to continue to have a go at me” I say to Dad who now looks at me. “Come on, Brendan swapped his Law School exam with someone else we all know that and it’s no secret that it happened that way” Dad nods as I continue to talk “Plus come on we all knew that he was in trouble through College”.

Dad’s phone rings “Brendan, where are you? We’re going to be late for the afternoon tea,” he says looking at his watch as it quickly approaches 3 pm and he should be back in Grantham by now. “Ah right well I’ll be outside waiting for you,” he says hanging up the phone.

Standing up and picking up his Jacket, Dad walks over to me and hugs me, I’d prefer that he didn’t but once it does I prefer that it does happen it actually feels good that he wanted to hug me. “Dad, it was good to see you today even if it’s under strange circumstances,” I say looking at him as there is some sense of normality in our relationship for the moment, “I’m glad that you’re working hard out here and I think we’re close to us having a conversation for you to come back home and back into the family”.

I nod, feeling weird about that moment as he goes outside and I walk him out as Brendan pulls up the car out the front as my father says goodbye and they drive off. I know that the visit could’ve been a lot worse than it was but it could’ve been better for me as well.

Waiting the rest of the afternoon for Danny to come to pick me up is weird because I don’t know what to make from the possibility of Dad wanting to have the conversation about coming back home. I sit there waiting as Mitch rings me “Hey can you talk right now it’s really weird” there’s a tone of panic in the sense of his voice.

“Yeah, I’m just waiting for Danny to come and pick me up,” I say as Mitch lets out a groan “The thing is Brendan’s car never left Yellow Peak in that hour he was gone” I sit there now knowing for sure where he went. “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me” almost certain he went to see Tash this afternoon especially given that she called Danny to pick up the kids.

“Let me guess, you’d probably know that it was parked outside Danny’s place during that time before heading straight back to the mine,” he says as I’m not surprised. “Not really, but I’ll talk to you tonight because Danny’s here”.

Danny wanders into the office “You good to go bro?” I nod picking up my bag and following Danny out to his truck. “So what happened this afternoon?” he asks as we start to drive back to my place. “Nothing, just had to spend time with Dad in the office until Brendan came back about an hour after he left”

“So how did that go?” Danny asks curiously about what happened between me and Dad. “It was weird, got the sense that he didn’t want to talk to me at the same time that he had a lot more that he wanted to say about things” Danny nods and looks across at me “How do you feel about seeing him again?”.

I shrug my shoulders “I mean it was good to see him again but it just felt really off because it was like he blamed me still for everything that happens and like Brendan speeding off he blamed me for before I told him everything and he apologised”.

“Your father apologised?” a shocked expression goes over Danny’s face; “Yeah, he said that he shouldn’t have blamed me for everything that happened today and he says that we’re getting closer to having a conversation about me moving back to Grantham”. Danny looks across at me wanting to say something but he’s not confident enough to say it “I don’t know alright, Yellow Peak is an amazing place with amazing people but Grantham is where my family is” I say looking across at him, his face disappointed but understanding.

We get back to my place as I unlock my door and put my bag in before wandering over to Adam’s with Danny who still feels weird at the moment after me saying that I didn’t know whether I wanted to get home. “Hey, boys,” I say as I come in the door after Danny and they smile at me “Uncle Sac,” they say as they hug me too. I look across at Danny after they call me that “You are family and that’s what they call everyone like even though Adam is their teacher, outside of school he’s Uncle Adam”.

My eyes start to well up as Danny calls me family and it means a lot to me that he calls me family because at the same time my family would rather disown me than call me family. I enjoy a cuppa with Adam and Danny before he takes the boys and leaves Adam’s to head home. Adam looks across at me as it’s bothering me that he is going to head home and that Tash will probably be there after what happened with Brendan today.

“What’s bothering you Isaac and don’t say nothing because there is nothing that you can say that is going to prove otherwise” I look across at him and nod. “There is something but I can’t tell you anything yet, don’t worry I will tell you but I don’t want to cause trouble unless I have to and I know that sounds suspicious but promise me I will tell you everything once I’m sure”.

Adam looks at me “Fine, but this is what I meant about keeping secrets and acting suspiciously around here.” I grab Adam’s hands and look at him “You will find out what is happening sooner rather than later and you need to be calm, patient and a good friend about this”.

I leave Adam’s, him reluctant to trust me which I can understand but still need him to trust me because I want to make a plan of action with Mitch to uncover everything and give myself the upper hand in the situation.

Changing my clothes, I put on a really loose tank top and some denim shorts and head to Mitch’s to come up with a plan of action to finally use the information. I knock on the door and Mitch opens it up “Hey man, how is everything bro?” rolling my eyes he laughs as we go inside.

We sit down at the dining table as he gets the information out at the table “I want to set up a plan to give myself the upper hand but we need to minimise the casualty levels and especially Danny because he’s going to be hurt the most once this gets out”. Mitch nods and looks at me “We can set it up, tell me what you want”.