John Thornton was tired after a long day of arguing with the company's consultants and accountants about its export plan. Melbourne was cold and wet. He had finished about six o'clock PM and knew that he would miss the 6:05 express to Deniliquin almost the best train of the day as its first stop was Bendigo where he lived. The next train home didn't leave Spencer Street for another hour. John wanted to grab something to eat for the train because it didn't have the usual dining car he enjoyed. He wanted something more substantial than a snack. One of his choices was the Melbourne Club, but he was almost certain to meet someone and have to chat to them. "Chatting with a stranger is the last thing I am up for" he thought.
He turned off Bourke Street into a hotel. "Hmmm there's a convention for parents of intellectually disabled children. I wonder if I'll find out something that might help us with Bronwyn?" He read closer.
"No it's about Autism."
Having ordered a counter meal and a lemon squash he sat down in the bar and looked around waiting for the meal to arrive. He saw a lady sitting at the bar alone, drinking a margarita on the rocks and wearing a white, slinky dress with a slit up the side.
"She must be feeling daring I don't think she's got a bra. Oh well to each their own" he thought then he turned back as his food arrived.
The woman rubbed her legs together. Before long, she felt her nipples start to harden and her body start responding in ways it hadn't in a while.
"Tonight is a special night, mine to enjoy" she thought
She felt uninhibited and free from the restraints of family and small town morality that normally bound her. She was in a strange country half across the globe from Alabama, at a conference for parents with Autistic children for her son. She was to pass on all the information she learned to her own support group. But tonight there were no seminars and she wanted to do something she hadn't done for a long time, something which her husband and son would never know about.
A few moments later Thornton had the odd feeling that someone was staring at him.
"Oh dear, I can/t go anywhere without someone knowing me, I expect that in Bendigo but a hotel in Melbourne?"
He turned round expecting to see someone he knew from his work, the National Party, the Diocese or perhaps from the advocacy support group he had joined to help his daughter and people like her. "That's odd -- I don't see anyone I know." He mused.
He resumed eating but that odd feeling wouldn't go away. He looked around more slowly this time.
"It's that lady in the white dress. I'm sure I don't know her. Better be polite, I suppose. He nodded to acknowledge the lady who was smiling and rubbing her thighs together at her table.
I hope she's no tart wanting to pick me up," he thought.
The woman had been watching the slightly short, conservatively dressed man walk in and sit at the bar. "He looks lonely, his overcoat is wet it must be raining outside. I wonder what he is doing here? He can't be staying here he would have put his coat in his room. He can't even be planning to be here for long or he would have checked his coat in" she concluded to herself.
She looked back at the man again wondering about him. "Why, he's even got a hat, he looks like someone out of a 40s movie. Well maybe that's what they do in Australia. Wonder how old he is? Grey and thinning hair, a fair few wrinkles but what a lovely smile" She saw him smile "nothing ventured nothing gained" she thought blushed and smiled demurely, then stood up, walked to the bar where he was sitting eating, ordered another drink and turned to John "Hello how are you?" she said.
"Excuse me Ma'am, do I know you? I thought you were looking at me. My memory for faces isn't all that good. I do hope you don't think me rude."
"What a strange voice, perhaps it's the Australian accent," she thought before replying, "No I don't know you. But yes I was looking at you. I guess that's pretty rude of me. I am sorry. I'm American and I'm here for the Autism conference. I was just thinking about the people here and idly looking at them."
"I'd guess you're from the old South? Your accent is unmistakable. Those who say Americans sound all the same are wrong. Are you a presenting a paper?"
"Yes I am from the South but no I'm just an attendee," she explained.
Thornton glanced at his watch thinking," I've got 30 minutes till my train leaves and nothing much can happen in that time. The lady's probably lonely and looking for some company" He then asked, "Why are you attending?"
"My son is Autistic."
"We share a bond then. My youngest child is severely intellectually impaired."
"May I ask your name please?"
"I'm sorry. My name is John Thornton. I live in Bendigo -- a city about an hour and 20 minutes away by train."
She offered her hand, "Pleased to meet you John, I'm Margaret Hale. Please sit with me –join me at my table." He shook her hand but instead of letting his hand drop she held onto it for a moment. "I would really like someone to talk to, would you mind?"
"Excuse me while I bring my dinner plate over. Would you like anything to eat?" He asked tentatively.
She smiled released his hand and replied, "No thanks."
He returned with his half eaten dinner and sat down.
"Well let me be predictable and ask how do you like Australia?"
