Anna has accepted Gitti's offer of a room after her husband, Ritchie is arrested on firearms and drug charges. This brings her into daily contact with Ellen and her daughter, Tabitha who live in the bungalow in the backyard but as the police build the case against Ritchie it seems as if Anna and Ellen have more in common than just a shared living space.
Author's Note: Putting on the hard word means pressuring someone for sexual favours, originally it was someone in a position of authority putting the hard word on a subordinate, but these days it can just imply someone taking the initiative. The term can also be used with a sexual subtext as in an employer making unreasonable demands of employees. As with a lot of Australian slang, context is everything!
The DPP is the Department of Public Prosecutions, which is responsible for prosecuting a case once the police have finished their investigation.
Ellen came to a halt in the driveway as she spotted a familiar car parked where she would have parked her car. The restored Chrysler Charger belonged to Julie and her eyes were drawn to the bumper sticker:
Take My Advice, I'm Not Using It.
There was a rainbow sticker on the other side, indicating that the driver was either supportive of gay rights or gay herself. Julie had called her at work that morning to tell her she'd drop around sometime that night with the two blouses she'd ordered.
Anna had been living here for just over a week and in that time she'd become somewhat intrigued by her quiet, unhurried manner. Despite her decision to leave her husband there had been none of the emotional whirlwind that Ellen went through when she left her husband. Anna had just stated her case and seemed intent to just get on with her life, it was almost like closing the door on a compartment of her life and throwing away the key. It had raised eyebrows behind her back with Gitti remarking that still waters ran deep but so far she seemed to have drawn a line through her marriage. Indeed, in some ways Anna had shown her a new way of living. Ellen had always associated breakups with shouting, tears and general upheaval.
Ellen backed out into the street and parked the car. It was nearly 5:00 PM and she'd just finished a day at the Tafe college in Croydon, well half a day to be exact and she'd hoped to at least get dinner started before Julie arrived.
"Not to worry," she checked her messages, "a late dinner isn't breaking the rules."
As she made her way down the driveway she chanced a look at one of the windows, the second bedroom was at the front of the house. Gitti had always used the back bedroom even though it was slightly smaller because it had French doors and because of the east-west orientation of the house it was only in the afternoon that it caught the full glare of the sun. Her office was sandwiched between the two bedrooms.
Anna was standing with her back to the window and she could see another woman sitting on the bed and as she got closer she saw it was Ilona. So, Julie had turned up with her girlfriend and Ilona was in Anna's bedroom, she managed a slight grin. They certainly had a relationship based on mutual trust and respect, it occurred to her as she reached the back gate that this was an arrangement she'd do well to look at more closely.
She glanced at the back door and then the front door of her bungalow, momentarily undecided. Was Julie in her place or Gitti's? A moment later she mounted the steps to the back door and stepped into the laundry, she could hear the voices in the living room and when she entered the room Gitti was standing with her arms raised whilst Julie measured from her armpit to her waist. They looked at each other for a moment and Gitti grinned.
"Hiya, hard day at the war?"
"It was okay," she glanced at Tabitha sitting on the couch, "hiya, sweetie," she walked to the couch, "how was school?"
"We've got an excursion to Captain Cook's cottage," she pulled a consent form out of her school bag, "it costs money."
"Captain Cook's cottage," she squinted at the form, "now that brings back memories, I was about your age when we went there," she pulled a wry grin as she saw the amount in bold text, "although it was a lot cheaper then."
"It's a place I've never been," Julie wrote down the measurement and then eyed the catalogues on the couch, "we nearly did when my cousin came over from Scotland but then we went to the bar at the Hilton hotel and got poured out two hours later."
She nodded at the catalogues.
"How's about you go through them while I show Ellen these clothes, just write the pattern number on the pad," she stepped over to the couch and picked up a large plastic bag.
"Can I come too, mum?" Tabitha looked up.
"Sure, sweetie. Have you finished your homework yet?"
"We had no homework today."
"Lucky you," she folded her arms, "come on then."
As they headed back outside she glanced down the hallway, she could hear the voices in the bedroom but Julie didn't seem concerned.
"That's my joint there," she indicated the bungalow, "two bedrooms, a living room slash kitchen and a bathroom and laundry, it's a bit of a Tardis."
It was an off the cuff statement that was confirmed when they stepped inside, the combination of living room and kitchen created the illusion of more space. The bathroom was between the two bedrooms and part of the living room extended to the bathroom door.
"A nice place you have here," Julie stepped over to the window of Ellen's bungalow.
"Yeah, most of the longer blocks in this street have been converted either into units, the house across the road belongs to Gitti's friends and it's only when you step into their backyard that you get a sense of the size of the blocks. They haven't built a unit in their yard," she dumped her handbag on the coffee table.
"Change out of your uniform, sweetie," she nodded at Tabitha.
"Nice view of the house," Julie stepped over to the living room window.
"Ha ha," she smirked, "Tab's bedroom looks out onto the backyard, but I've just got the house to look at," she pulled the blouses out of the bag.
"Wowee," she continued, "great quality."
"Thanks, but you need to try them on first."
"Okay," she draped them over the back of the couch and proceeded to unbutton her blouse.
She tried on the beige, silk mandarin blouse first and by the time she'd finished buttoning it her daughter had changed into after school clothes.
"That looks so sexy, mum."
"You think so?" Ellen stepped over to a large mirror situated near the bathroom door, "wait'll you see the satin one," she turned to look at herself side on, "really nice fit though, I admit I was a bit worried about handmade clothes," she locked her hands behind her head and arched her back, "but there's still room to move."
"Let me see," Julie joined her at the mirror, "yeah, that works," she tugged at the shoulders, "not too tight here?"
"No," she dropped her hands, "you can feel it pulling against your shoulders and this is finished?"
"Yep, try the other one, it should be much the same although there's a bit less stretch in the satin, this is a stretch material."
The black satin, tie blouse felt almost foreign against her skin. She'd seen Anna wearing a white satin blouse earlier in the week and couldn't keep her eyes off it but she'd doubted that satin would look good on her though. Julie assisted with the tie, fastening it into a pussybow, Ellen stood stock still and watched her work whilst Tabitha perched on the couch to observe them.
"There," she stepped back, "how does that feel? Not too tight around the throat?"
"No," she slipped a finger behind the collar, "I can put a finger behind it, I'm just not used to a shirt buttoned to the top, I'm an open collar woman," she walked over to the mirror.
"But this looks okay," she glanced at Tabitha, "what do you think, rascal?"
"You look so cool," Tabitha straightened up, "it's really soft."
