IF SUPER MARIO WAS A ROADMAN..
Mario, felt around the inside of his tracksuit pocket, gripped the wool and pulled it out in an exaggerated action.
His brother looked up from his playstation console and and rolled his eyes.
“Lu, I’m being serious, bruv!”
He said snatching the remote control from underneath the pile of newspaper it has nestled itself in. He then aggressively positioned it towards the TV and jammed his thumb on the red button abruptly ending the blurring pattern of miniature figures dancing around the screen.
That got his brother, attention..
“RIO! What the heck man! Man, I was online, you just shegged my player ratings, you dickhead”
He shot upright and his face twisted in annoyance at his brother, who returned his stare with equal aggression. The staring competition lasted no longer than a few seconds, before Luigi relaxed his demeanor and sunk back into the sofa defeated.
Having known his brother so long, Mario knew this was him waving the white flag as a distraction, using it as a stalling tactic before he seized the next opportunity to continue his game of FIFA. Mario decided to capitalise on his position.
“Bruv, I’m serious! We are starving out here…”
Mario said passinately, trying to emphasis the desperation in his voice.
“Really, you could have fooled me”
Luigi quickly shot back.
At the same extending his arm outwards and pulling on the skin underneath his wrist, exaggerating the almost non existent layer of fat between his bones and his skin.
“If anyone is starving in this crib, it’s most definitely me! You’re well fed boi!”
He laughed sinisterly to himself.
Mario used to being the butt of his younger brother’s immaturity, let out a little rehearsed chuckle. He made a mental note to renew, his gym membership once he got paid. Wait, till you see me this summer, he thought to himself. He had put on a few pounds in the last year or so, evidenced by the now constant bloat of his stomach, but he was positive he was still faster than his brother, he was definitely stronger!
To be honest, the only thing Luigi had on him was that he had always been able to jump slightly higher, and that was only really because his limbs were longer. Mario stopped himself from getting immersed in thoughts of sibling rivalry, at least he had his brother’s attention now.
“Bro, we are behind on almost every single bill that could possibly be associated with this flat… we can’t afford to buy flipping dog food for Yoshi”
Almost, as if in agreement they heard a bark from the kitchen, which was almost comical, but Mario willed himself not to laugh. He needed to emphasis the seriousness of this conversation to his brother, who was slouching further into the sofa, an indication that he was entertaining the idea of an afternoon nap. He words slurred in his response
“What about this plumbing ting? I thought you said you boy, what’s his name again the short one with the flat face man, always has that mad trim…”
“You mean Todd!”
“Yeah, Todd, the one we used to call Toad! What’s he saying? Couldn’t he get us the certificate tings”
his tone was deepened as he sunk further into the sofa.
“He said, he’s got a job for us. He needs both of us! It’s good pee, but it’s abit of a madness!”
Mario made sure to emphasis on the “madness”, an exclamation point which his brother must have totally missed, because with no further thought, he simply replied.
“Yeah, Yeah man, I’m down”
Those were his parting words, as he maneuvered the beak of his luminous green hat over eye lids, swung his long legs over the entirety of the sofa and huddled himself together.
Mario sighed.
At least, he had got what he needed, regardless of whether his brother agreed to what he was signing up to or not, he had approved. Todd, had emphasised that he needed someone he could trust and knew something about plumbing. Fortunately, that was one of the skills that was prioritised in their family, while other kids learnt how to play football or cook, they were taught to be “plumbers”. They had never become fully qualified, but they knew their way around pipes. That was something Todd, or Toad according to everyone that had shared a Year 9 French class with him, where a substitute teacher had mistaken called him Toad via the register, knew nothing about.
Mario took his phone off the coffee table in the living room and headed to the kitchen area. He had barely stepped foot into the kitchen when he heard the TV spring back to life, music of the FIFA game filled the living room. He shook his head at his brother’s simple nature.
He unlocked the screen of his IPHONE to a reveal 4 highlighted green speech bubbles,, he tapped them with his thumb. The name“DAISY” was highlighted at the top, he read the last line with the words
“sure, give me a cal when you cn, but busy nt sure if i can make Thursday”
His kissed his teeth, pressed the centre of his phone to return to the home screen, he scrolled until he came to the name “Todd”. He pressed down hopefully, it only took two rings before he was greeted by a cautious high pitched voice
“Hello, whose this?” it asked suspiciously
“It’s me, Mario”.
To be continued..
