Part One
This is one of those stories that started with the love scene and evolved out of that. I have no idea what happens next but I am thinking this might turn out to be longer than I planned but let's just see where we wind up.
The tram lumbering along Gertrude Street came to a sudden stop as a drunken man in his forties lurched out in front of it waving his hands and shouting something in fluent Drunkenese. The tram driver rang the bell frantically to no avail as the man continued gesticulating, he pirouetted slowly to the applause of two teenagers whilst a more civic-minded man stepped onto the road, holding out his hand to stop traffic as he yelled at the man to get off the road.
"But for the grace of God," Stella murmured as she glanced at her phone, it had beeped six times in the last fifteen minutes but only one of the notifications had brought a smile to her face.
Evie: I'm almost there, are we still meeting in the Builders Arms?
Stella: We sure are, I'm in a window seat, wearing a black suit.
Evie's reply was a simple thumbs up so she didn't know what Evie was wearing but she had the picture on her phone that showed a twenty-something woman with dark brown hair and brown skin. She looked as if she came from Asian stock, she had the right colouring but features were distinctly Caucasian.
Stella's eyes shifted as three people exited the tram, two were men but the third was a woman in a light grey skirt suit and pink blouse. She held her hair back against the wind gusting down the street bringing the dust and grime from other parts of the city. A Coke can rolled past her feet and she stepped around it as she looked up and down the street, finally spotting the creamy exterior of the pub where Stella was sitting. She glanced at the front of the tram as a second man crossed the street to help the good Samaritan trying to get the drunk off the road. A few moments later she crossed the street to the pavement and swinging right, walked towards the pub. Stella studied her as she came past the window, she wasn't looking at the windows as she headed for the door.
The woman entered a few moments later and stopped in the doorway as she looked around but had to step out of the way as three women came in after her. Two of the women were gay, judging by the fact they were hand in hand, the third woman was probably a friend or maybe their nominated driver. The woman in the grey suit suddenly noticed Stella and for a split second Stella thought she was going to turn around and walk out, she looked like she was walking on eggshells but then she stepped forward and closed the distance between them.
Stella closed her laptop and rose to greet her.
"I'm Stella," she held out her hand, "and you must be," she waited.
"Evie," Evie's hand slipped into hers and Stella felt the softness of her skin against hers but then she noticed the diamond ring on her ring finger, "I'm sorry I'm late, I was held up at work."
"That's cool," she let go of her hand, "I'm on the lolly water," she nodded at the Coke, "but if you want a beer or something stronger?"
"Lemon squash," she sat down, "I rarely drink, usually at weddings and twenty firsts."
"Lemon squash it is," Stella drained the last of her Coke, "be right back."
Stella had time to think as she waited for the barmaid to get to her. Evie had put the curious status on her online profile as well as single, but right now she felt almost at a loss. Stella didn't consider herself technophobic, but despite an active social media profile, Stella had always viewed online dating sites and apps as just the modern version of Ring a Root. In days gone past she'd seen girls names and numbers scrawled on pub toilet walls under the title Ring a Root, not that you rang those numbers. They were almost always put up there by people wanting to get their revenge on an ex girlfriend.
"What'll it be?"
"Huh, oh a lemon squash and a, make that two lemon squashes."
"Two lemon squashes coming up," the barmaid's eyes narrowed.
"Thanks," Stella propped on the bar.
From this position she could observe the front door and her table at the same time. Evie had her back to her, she was leaning over her phone and tapping it. As if sensing Stella's attention, she glanced over her shoulder and offered her a slight smile before returning to her phone. Stella went over her rehearsed lines and slowly discarded them all. Her sponsor had once told her that mental projection was common to everyone but only alcoholics turned it into a religion.
Live for today, live and let live,
Stella let the words filter through her.
"There you go," the barmaid put the glasses down.
As Stella paid for the drinks, the drunk who'd been pulled from the front of the tram lurched through the front door as if he'd been pushed. The barmaid signalled to a large Maori at the other end of the bar, the Maori however was already moving, relatively quickly considering his bulk. He reached the man just as Stella handed over her money, and grabbing the man's shirt collar, spun him around. He then grabbed his waistband and lifting him as easily as a rag doll, half carried and half walked him out into the street whilst the man's arms flailed helplessly.
Evie had noticed the eviction and Stella read the doubt in her eyes as she placed the drinks on the table.
"It's nothing he can't handle, this is actually a decent pub, unless you're already pissed when you walk in."
"My housemate said this used to be a real dive."
"Before my time," Stella sat down, "mind you, this whole area had a reputation."
"So they say," Evie sipped her drink.
"So, you work at the Swedish consulate," Stella studied her for a moment, "are you Swedish?"
"No," she replied, "I work at the Swedish consulate but it's a non consular position, I'm the front desk girl."
"Now that's a country I've always wanted to visit," Stella smiled, "along with a few hundred other countries. I'm afraid the only countries I've been to are Bali and America, and both times I rarely left the bars. What about you?"
"Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Britain and next year I'm going to Amsterdam."
"That's not a country," Stella chuckled, "sorry, bad joke."
"I know," Evie smirked, "but some people argue it should be, it's certainly different."
"Why Amsterdam? Just out of curiosity."
"I hear so much about it, the red light district, the dope cafés, and the bicycles. Copenhagen is pretty much bike crazy but they say Amsterdam is even more so," she took another sip.
Stella opened her mouth to say something but then changed her mind and shut her mouth, she had another mouthful of lemon squash and glanced out the window at the overcast sky. The weather bureau had been forecasting rain all day but apart from a brief lunchtime shower there had been nothing since.
"You're not what I thought," Evie finally spoke up.
"What do you mean?" Stella looked over the rim of her glass.
"You're different," she replied, "when you said you were gay I kind of expected the usual thing, someone who's a little, what's the word?"
"Butch?"
"I wasn't going to use that word," Evie blushed.
"It's a word," Stella replied, "we use it ourselves to describe each other, butch, lipstick lesbo, sometimes we are just taking the piss but other times we're insulting each other. I don't go in for the political correctness, I mean it's fine in theory and we should be sensitive but taken to extremes it just flies in ever decreasing circles until it swallows itself."
"That's a good way of putting it," Evie chuckled.
Stella didn't reply as she glanced once more at the ring on her finger and then her eyes moved up to her face. Evie was twenty three on her profile, living in the outer eastern suburbs. She worked at the Swedish consulate in Melbourne and had two sisters. She loved travel, reading, netball and walking her dog, not always in that order. She was straight but also curious, she didn't smoke and rarely drank, she identified as politically progressive and open minded.
Ask her!
"So you're a lawyer," Evie went on, "what kind of law?"
"Um, civil cases for the most part, property disputes and accident claims but we've also branched out into immigration, we take on the Department of Immigration. I'm not there yet, we've only got a few cases on the books but if it gets bigger then I'll get my own cases," she glanced at the laptop for a moment.
