The Ongoing Reformation of Micah Johnson by Sean Kennedy Page A

off.
    “What’s on your mind?”
    “Nothing,” Alex shrugged. “Just wanted to spend some time with you before you go.”
    “I won’t even be gone a week.”
    “I know.”
    “You’re really going to miss me that much?”
    “Stop loving yourself sick.”
    Micah laughed. “I do that a lot, don’t I?”
    Alex inspected a set of St. Kilda cards with some distaste. “You’re not that bad.”
    “No, I guess you’re not, either.”
    “Just, I was thinking—”
    “Stop. That can be dangerous.”
    “Only for you,” Alex said. “But hey, I’m trying to be nice to you!”
    Micah dumped the pile of underpants he had just pulled out of the chest of drawers into his bag and sat beside him. “I’m intrigued.”
    “It’s just, this is the beginning.”
    “Of what?” But Micah already knew—hadn’t he just been thinking it a few seconds before?
    “The beginning of you not living here anymore.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “You’re going to get selected, and who knows where you’ll end up? You could be in Queensland—”
    “Ugh! I’d rather be dead!” Micah cried.
    “—or Perth—”
    He didn’t even want to think about that . “A fate worse than death. Are you actually wishing for horrible things to happen to me? What next? The Adelaide Crows? Port Adelaide? ”
    “See, you never think about things. You might not end up in a Melbourne team, and then you’ll have to go away. We’ll have no say in it.”
    Micah was touched that his little brother, who he had treated rather shabbily recently, appeared to think Micah leaving home was a bad thing. “Look, Alex, what you fail to realise is just how good a footy player I am. Everyone’s going to want me. No Melbourne team is going to let me slip through their fingers and go to a different state. It would be sacrilegious!” He hoped his rampant egotism would assuage Alex’s fears.
    “They let Chris Judd go to West Coast.” Alex was never one to let a historical fact escape him.
    “Yeah, but they eventually got him back again.”
    “ Eventually ,” Alex pointed out. “And only because he wanted out.”
    “Look, you’re not getting rid of me that easy.”
    “Okay. But you can’t go to Collingwood either.”
    Micah gave Alex his best mock glare. “I have my standards! I’d rather even go to Perth!”
    He was rewarded with Alex giggling, which was about the only time his old-soul brother actually sounded like the kid he still was. It was time for the ultimate in brother bonding: the noogie. Alex screamed when Micah snaked an arm around his neck and ground his knuckles into the top of his head, but his screams gave way to laughter.
    Holding his brother in torturous rapture, Micah looked up to see his dad watching them from the hallway. Rick was laughing, shaking his head. He looked happy to see his kids being brats with each other.
    Maybe the Johnsons could pull it together after all.
     
     
    “ARE YOU sure you’ve got everything?” Joanne asked as they pulled into one of the few available car spaces still left. The buses were leaving from Princes Park, and the grounds were swarming with teenagers and their families.
    “Yes, Mum,” Micah said for what felt like the hundredth time. “You know, it really wasn’t necessary for everyone to come see me off.”
    “Don’t think we’re doing this because we’re going to miss you,” his dad said, turning off the engine and throwing open his door.
    Joanne nodded. “It’s just to make sure you get on the bus.”
    Micah grinned. “I feel the love.”
    Alex had been pretty quiet all the way to the departure point, but Micah knew better than to push him. They had had their little heart-to-heart last night—it was enough. Alex would have felt like he was being babied if Micah tried to rouse him out of his mood, and as Alex was already far more mature than Micah, it was best not to condescend to him.
    Besides, he had enough to worry about as he got out of the car and saw what was