Friday afternoon: best time of the week. Dex smiled to himself as he reached for another beam – part of a pile he'd be using for a supporting wall on Monday. Two more to go, then he’d clock off. The site was looking a lot better than it had earlier in the month, he was pleased to see – windows measured and marked, pillars in place, roof supports holding firm.
The others were standing around near the kitchen – Dex could hear them guffaw and cheer.
“Dexy! Still working?” the foreman Murphy exclaimed, then, breaking into a brief chant: “Dexy, Dexy, Dexy!”
Dex laughed. “Alright, Murph?”
“Coming out for pints tonight?”
“Nah. Got a cosplay thing to finish.” He smiled as the older man rolled his eyes and gestured, as he often did, to the Eye of Sauron tattooed on his hand. Little did Murphy know it, but there was a lot more where that came from. Further up, underneath Dex’s sleeves, his arms were inked up in tattoos of characters from Pokémon, Super Mario, Yu-Gi-Oh, Dragonball – and emblazoned across his leg is his particular favourite: a detailed image of the Tyrannosaurus from Jurassic Park.
“Another comic con?” Murphy chortled.
“Yep,” Dex replied cheerfully. He cut down the last remaining frame and watched as the sawdust blew away in the breeze caused by the rapidly slowing blades.