Two worlds meet.

Well my worst week at work ever finally ended but not without leaving me with at least one memorable moment...


One of my VCE students plays bass in a band and he knows I am in bands as well so he likes talking about music with me. On Tuesday morning he tells me he's playing a gig at Ruby's. Ruby's being the place where I accidentally befriended that lovable amphetamine addict Michael. As it is just across the hill from my place I promise to be there setting up the sitcom scenario of the century- respected educator bumps into insane drug addict buddy, student and family, all in the same place [insert canned laughter here].


So I get there early and find Nathan at the back of the room, "Hi Nathan, hi Nathan's Mum, hi Nathan's friend, hi Nathan's friend's Mum, hi... oh no, it can't be, I mean it couldn't have been, but it was; not only was Michael there, he was sitting with my student's family! My mind racing at a million miles an hour: Did they know him? If they did, taking into account how he was, wasn't that worse? If they didn't, what had he already said? Before anything useful came to mind he was up, hugging me and complaining that I never call. He looked a little nutty and two guys hugging was probably a bit too homo-erotic for the 16 year old boys looking on but at this point nothing too damaging had transpired.


That was until I asked Michael the stupidest question ever:

ME:"So Michael what have you been up to?"

MICHAEL: "Adrian man, I have been up for seven days speeding. It's so beautiful, so many good drugs, oh you have to meet my friend Julian, he has such clean speed and, oh, do you have your car here?"

ME: "Yeah" thinking he wants a lift home, hopeful that there is an end in sight; but instead...

MICHAEL: "Oh excellent, can you drive my mate and me to Boronia, we need to pick up a quarter"

I come in quickly with a forceful "No"

and Michael looking hurt replies "But we will give you your cut"

ME: "No I don't want it, I don't use it, I..." but the damage has already been done, the reality is glaringly obvious.


I am looking at Nathan's family looking at Michael looking at me and decide it is time to go to the toilet and think. This is a delicate situation which needs to be handled with care but unfotunately I am at the mercy of chaos: I cannot justify it to Nathan without drawing attention to the situation [I could also look like I am trying to cover up the mess]. Drug addicted mental patients are notoriously unpredictable and so there is no reasoning with Michael either [plus I had been rude and gotten in the way of his drugs and his general sense of good vibes, so he was probably pissed off]. Seeing the hopelessness of it all I head back to Nathan's family finding my problem has migrated and proceed to grind my teeth and look nervously around the room trying to feel on top of the situation but the eye of the storm lasts only a few seconds.


The first band get up fronted by... [you guessed it]... Michael, and he started singing about... [what else but]... DRUGS and not just any drugs; a ten minute freestyle ramble about the joys of snorting cocaine every day until the men with the butterfly nets and white coveralls have to be called in to take you away.


So Nathan's looking at me, I am looking at my shoes and Nathan's mum is filming everything on her video camera.


When it's over and I'm leaving, a broken defeated man, Nathan shakes my hand and says "You know this is a side of teacher's lives we never really get to see, we wouldn't even know it's there!" There's is a big smile of his face and I am sure both he and I both know he has something big to hold over me:


my double life