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I worked a month on, month off. Best years of my life, they was – leastways those alternate months. Happy as a jackrabbit in a warm spring.’
    Jimmy started to cough uncontrollably, then flipped his hand to the oxygen cylinder that lay beside his chair like a loyal hound, as if beckoning it even closer.
    ‘Here, let me.’
    Jimmy grabbed the mask the second it was within reach and clasped it to his ruddy face. His chest expanded, stuttering along the way, like a rubber balloon being blown up in stages. A few more laboured, gravelly breaths followed, then after a few minutes he removed the mask, but let it rest on his chest, pouring more pure oxygen into the environs of his face. ‘Thanks, sonny,’ he said.
    ‘That’s no problem, Mister Devereux. Shouldn’t I be getting your bank book now?’
    ‘You don’t wanna hear about my Marlene?’
    ‘Of course. I’m sorry. Carry on.’
    Jimmy settled back into his faithful old chair. ‘Well, like I was sayin’, I worked a month on, a month off – at first, leastways. ‘Course, soon Marlene wanted a better house, a better car, there was school fees, eksetra, eksetra. Anyhows, it soon became two months on, one month off, and before I knows it I’m working five months out of every six, travellin’ the country, dismantlin’ old buildings, rippin’ walls an’ stuff down. Lot of cheap insulation in them places, there was. ‘Course you had to wear protection – masks ‘n’ gloves ‘n’ stuff – leastways, we was supposed to.’ He gave a guttural breath, then coughed a few times. The mask was held up to his face for a few seconds. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘Did you say you know where my bank books are?’
    ‘In the metal box under the loose floorboard in the spare bedroom.’
    ‘Oh. I see. I didn’t know you knew that.’
    ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, Jimmy, but there’s going to come a time when you won’t be able to get to the bank yourself.’
    ‘Oh, I think my ticker’ll give up the ghost before I gets to that state. Now where was I?’
    ‘You were ripping buildings apart.’
    ‘Yeah. So I was. Anyhows, I’d had enough, told Marlene I was quittin’, comin’ home for good. She didn’t take it well, said what was we gonna do for money. But I said as how I was gettin’ too old for that sort of work, and how I missed seein’ the kids an’all. I said I’d find something.’
    Another raucous coughing session came and went.
    ‘And did you find something?’
    ‘Well, I had a job all lined up – janitor at Pear Orchard School. I liked the idea of workin’ with kids, seein’ as how I’d missed so much of my own grown’ up. It was then I got that chesty cough. I didn’t think nothin’ of it at the time – doc said antibacs would shift it. He was wrong. They tried all sorts. Nothin’ worked.’
    ‘That must have been awful.’
    ‘You know something? I didn’t give a raccoon’s wet tail either way, because it was about that time Marlene said she’d fallen for another, a man that sold health insurance – now tell me, that ain’t kinda funny. Well, we tried to work things out between us, but we kept arguin’, and in the end she left me and took the girls with her. I guess she was stone in love with this man. I didn’t realize till much later she’d fallen for him two years earlier.’
    Jimmy’s shaking hand grabbed the mask again and placed it over his mouth and nose. His eyes closed, his brow furrowed, and he rocked back and forth slowly, as if in deep concentration, like he was meditating.
    ‘Look, Jimmy. Why don’t you stay here and I’ll go to the bank for you? You can just tell me how much cash to take out and what money you want transferred to where.’
    Jimmy shook his head, took the mask off, and opened his mouth to speak. He let out a feeble gasp and put it back on.
    ‘You really should let me.’
    For a few moments the silence was only broken by the hiss of the oxygen escaping from the cylinder. Then Jimmy reached out