“So much more convenient having the house on the roadside of the property.”
The assembled crew of itinerant, gypsy bricklayers included two brothers, Deano and Frankie Pitman who had traveled down from the wild Northern Territories to escape the wet season. The two brothers were hard working, hard living, hard drinking , hard brawling and direct descendants of Sir Isaac……of Pitman Shorthand fame.
Our days started early as we breakfasted in the dining hall of the pub presided over by the nice Irish lady who owned the establishment. Our days ended late at the bar again presided over by the nice Irish lady who owned the establishment. Both the beginning and end of those days were very often punctuated by the incessant arguing of the two brothers which on numerous occasions would come to actual blows requiring intervention by the nice Irish lady.
One morning it reached a crescendo when Deano used an antique oak dining chair as a tool to split brother Frankies chin wide open sending him sprawling and blood splattering all over the bagel I was biting.
“What happened to him ?” … asked the ranch owner in reference to the large patch of duct tape Frankie sported on his chin. When I explained they were brawling over Frankies claim he was a better bricklayer the rancher again treated me to some typical Australian Outback logic….
“I’d have hit the bastard with a chair.” ….
We witnessed only one more brawl between the brothers before the job ended and they packed their station wagon to disappear into the dust bound for God knows where ….it had something to do with how painful it is to remove duct tape from an unshaven face……
