TUMBLING AND FALLING.
Linda has agreed to go on a ladies camp with women from Rowena's church, with the caveat that she won't have to get into all that Christian stuff, but when an innocent act in the dormitory is misread by one of the women it sets off a chain of events that will alter their lives forever.
Author's note: Dim sims are a unique Aussie dish. They're similar to dumplings but are oblong shaped and filled with either minced meat and various spices or completely vegetarian. Can be either steamed or deep fried.
We recently went out with Petra and her partner to a new restaurant in Ringwood, Rowena has a multicultural palate and over a dinner of Nepalese-style chicken chow mein Petra jokingly accused me of seducing Rowena.
Rowena just burst out laughing at that.
"When I came onto her she backed off and I had to resort to subterfuge."
Never a truer word was spoken! I had, to all intents and purposes, accepted that there was a bright red line drawn between us complete with a sophisticated alarm system and sirens. In hindsight it could be said I'd initially agreed to this line in the hopes of wearing her down but somewhere along the line the unusual became the norm. A lot of that can be put down to Rowena laying down the law and slowly this tomboy began to change her stance. I mean on the outside I still looked the same apart from minor wardrobe changes and I did start wearing some makeup, but deep down I'd begun to question things I'd always accepted as unchangeable.
Like the fact that I had to take the lead, which says a lot about the kinds of women I'd been out with in the past, who tended to give way to me. I'm a little taller than usual but Rowena is also tall and so she could look me in the eye and make me back down. I'd open my mouth to say something and then change my mind when I realised that the imaginary dialogue I'd constructed in the last few hours wasn't going to come out the same way. I used to have these conversations inside my head in the times we were apart. I'll say this and she'll say that, and they were quite complicated but when we finally met up it all fizzled into nothingness. Rowena would be focused on learning a new song or writing music and lyrics, and some of our conversation would consist of rewriting lyrics to suit a particular piece of music.
Most of the time I was at her parent's place and along the way I became an unofficial part of the family. I gravitated towards her mother because she was so unlike my mother. Alison is part of a family of doctors, her mother is a retired doctor, one of her brothers is a psychiatrist and the other is a sports physician for a football club. It stands to reason that she's frightfully intelligent and yet I never detected a hint of snobbishness about her. She always referred to me as Rowena's friend but treated me more like a daughter, perhaps she had a prescient understanding. Suffice it to say that Rowena's family had a major impact on me.
Another thing that changed was my circle of friends, I still had the same friends but now the circle was considerably wider and included Christians, although these latter friends were band members for the most part. I became a little more mellow and thoughtful, less inclined to argue although I can get quite political but when I was around Rowena I found that a lot of the anger and resentment had a way of dissipating. It's not like Rowena isn't politically minded, she can be quite strong willed about human rights and egalitarianism, just to mention two. But Rowena sees no need to go on the attack whenever someone challenges her views. She listens to the other point of view but then just shrugs and says she doesn't agree and just moves on, I'm the one wanting to go ten rounds with some homophobic neo-Nazi type. In that way Rowena is more secure in her basic beliefs than yours truly because she doesn't see the need to lay it out for someone else.
However, the most fundamental change revolved around my search for meaning, which is one of those universal human longings. Whether we believe that humans came into existence because of alien intervention, a Creator god or natural evolution, we all wrestle with the questions of why are we here and what happens when we die? Admittedly I'm still struggling and to her credit, Rowena has always said that faith is a deeply personal thing. What inspires one person will repel another person.
With all that in mind I have to return to the story and that ladies camp because what happened there had a profound effect on both of us.
Bonnie Doon is memorable for two things. The first is its proximity to Lake Eildon, which supplies a lot of the drinking water for Melbourne. The second has to do with the Australian movie, The Castle where the family at the centre of the dispute have a holiday home at Bonnie Doon. Part of the movie was filmed at a house in Bonnie Doon and when it was put up for sale, the agents tried to cash in on its claim to fame. This did backfire somewhat when crank callers rang to ask about the price and upon being told it they came out with the immortal line from the movie, "tell them they're dreaming!"
The camp site we were at was once a farm that had been bought over and the new owners had built bungalows, cabins and a meeting hall/kitchen, all in mud brick. It's used by school groups as well as church groups, the owners are apparently church goers but they're not fanatical about it. The camp had a good variety of outdoor activities, some of which were focused on traditional Australian skills like horse riding, bushcraft skills, hiking, and boating.
Brian and Marie are a lovely couple, Brian is a retired bank manager who took early retirement from his city job and went up the bush with his wife and hasn't looked back since. As I mentioned earlier they do go to church but aren't as fanatical about church dogma, which was a relief to me although I overheard a couple of ladies in my dormitory gossiping because they were watching a comedy show that is thought to be too risqué for Christians. When I asked Petra about it she just shrugged and admitted she watched it sometimes as well.
Now the first time I'd met Petra was at church and in that environment she was conservative for obvious reasons but out here in the bush she seemed to come alive in a new way and it was only the following day I overheard her telling someone she'd been raised on a farm.
I could only guess at what they were saying about the strange woman who didn't want to join their Saturday prayer breakfast. I did have breakfast but then spent the next hour or so exploring the farm and talking to Brian and Marie. These two guessed almost straight away that I um, wasn't straight but didn't make me feel unwelcome in any way, and then it was time to go horse riding.
Now, I can ride a motorcycle but horses are an entirely different matter. Janelle, one of our guides did a pretty good job at getting us all acquainted with our mounts and we set off on a short ride with two other guides. They certainly had their work cut out for them though because horses have a mind of their own, obviously. Mine wanted to turn back twice, possibly due to the light rain but Petra soon got him going again.
"You need to let the horse know you're in control," she commented, "if he thinks he can pull a fast one over you he'll do it."
By the time we got back after a mere three and a half hours I was discovering muscles I didn't know existed and they hurt like hell. The general idea is to push up to match the rhythm of the horse, so your calf muscles get a decent work out. Oddly enough Janelle thought I had natural talent, which I thought was amusing as I slid off the horse and hit the ground. I limped into the dormitory and fell onto my bed and woke up Rowena who'd been dozing.
"Sorry," I mumbled, "I think I've gone lame."
"What's wrong?"
"Horse riding is harder than it looks," I looked down at my legs, "what I wouldn't give for a decent massage."
For a few moments she didn't reply and then swung off the bed.
"Well, I guess I can," she looked at the door, "although I won't be using oil here."
"Hah," I snorted, "I can live with that but you don't have to."
"Roll onto your stomach," she rose, "I have to go to to the toilet."
I dutifully rolled onto my stomach and was just starting to doze off when I felt her sliding onto the end of the bed.
"Let's see what we can do for you."
