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Authors: Grace Wynne-Jones
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to know.’
Then I stomp into the kitchen and get the box of Snack bars Charlie bought the other day. He knows I like them and they’re cheaper in boxes. ‘When you buy in bulk you eat in bulk’ as my father used to say.
Susan follows me into the kitchen and finds me tearing off a wrapper. ‘We’re not going to attract too many men over for rugby internationals if we pig out like this.’ She smiles and reaches into the box. ‘I’m sorry if I upset you.’
Susan is looking rather miserable. In fact now that I think about it, she’s been miserable all morning.
‘What’s wrong Susan?’
‘Nothing’s wrong.’
‘Yes, something is.’
Susan’s eyes are dull and her mouth is curled down at the corners.
‘No. No. It’s nothing.’
‘Come on. You can’t fool me.’
‘Oh, all right. It’s Charlie.’ She releases this information most reluctantly.
‘What’s Charlie done?’
‘He’s not done anything. That’s the point. When we went to that film it was so obvious.’
‘What was obvious?’
‘That he doesn’t fancy me. At one point I tried to take his hand but…Oh, Jasmine…’
‘What?’
‘He pretended he was looking for something in his pocket.’ Susan takes a forlorn bite out of her Snack bar at thememory.
‘Oh, Susan.’ I put my arms around her. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘It’s all right.’ Susan gives me a brave grin. ‘He was very nice otherwise. Dating’s not easy at our age, is it? Explaining yourself to people over and over again. Sometimes I wish I’d married Eddie Moran and got it all over with.’
‘Not Eddie Moran.’ I’m aghast.
‘He was rich. I could have got away from him. Trips abroad. Days spent in hairdressers.’
I’m staring at Susan as though she’s just grown two heads. ‘Susan, I’m gobsmacked. I – I can’t believe you’d exchange all those years abroad for marriage to a man who sang “I Did It My Way” off-key every time he got drunk.’
‘I get lonely.’
‘Well so do I, but I think we have to practise some discernment here. I mean, if men didn’t have penises, would we really bother with them? Sometimes I think I’ll just buy myself a nice big vibrator and make do with that.’
‘Oh, Jasmine,’ Susan giggles. ‘That’s not fair. There are some nice men around but most of them are married.’
‘Oh, no – we’re not back on that again!’ I’m beginning to wonder if Katie isn’t on to something with her lesbianism after all.
Then Susan says she has to go. She’s got a lunch date with a man who put an ad in the personal columns of the Evening Herald. She announces this just as she leaves.
Why do I sense there’s something Susan’s not telling me? It’s been there all morning – hanging in the air.
As Susan drives away I realise that staying in this house with Charlie and his music must be getting to me. As the door creaks closed it sounds rather like the opening bars of Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’.
Chapter 9
Katie’s coming to stay this weekend. I’ve been asking her for ages, but now that she’s agreed I’m in a tizz. She’s bringing Sarah, the friend she’s sharing a flat with. Charlie’s house is big enough for them both to have their own rooms. I think it’s best that they have their own rooms.
One of the rooms is used for storage, so clearing it has been quite hard work. When I was moving a box some photos fell out of a blonde woman with small breasts and brown pubic hair. In most of them she was reclining dreamily on a bed, but in one she was looking over a balcony onto a beach. ‘Greece – August 1980’ was written on the back.
Charlie wanted to move the stuff for me, but I said I wanted to move it myself. So he went off and made a phone call and then came back just as I was lugging a huge wooden crate full of skiing equipment.
‘Do you ski?’ I asked, somewhat accusingly.
‘No.’ He was leaning lazily against the banisters.
‘Then why do you have all this
Then I stomp into the kitchen and get the box of Snack bars Charlie bought the other day. He knows I like them and they’re cheaper in boxes. ‘When you buy in bulk you eat in bulk’ as my father used to say.
Susan follows me into the kitchen and finds me tearing off a wrapper. ‘We’re not going to attract too many men over for rugby internationals if we pig out like this.’ She smiles and reaches into the box. ‘I’m sorry if I upset you.’
Susan is looking rather miserable. In fact now that I think about it, she’s been miserable all morning.
‘What’s wrong Susan?’
‘Nothing’s wrong.’
‘Yes, something is.’
Susan’s eyes are dull and her mouth is curled down at the corners.
‘No. No. It’s nothing.’
‘Come on. You can’t fool me.’
‘Oh, all right. It’s Charlie.’ She releases this information most reluctantly.
‘What’s Charlie done?’
‘He’s not done anything. That’s the point. When we went to that film it was so obvious.’
‘What was obvious?’
‘That he doesn’t fancy me. At one point I tried to take his hand but…Oh, Jasmine…’
‘What?’
‘He pretended he was looking for something in his pocket.’ Susan takes a forlorn bite out of her Snack bar at thememory.
‘Oh, Susan.’ I put my arms around her. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘It’s all right.’ Susan gives me a brave grin. ‘He was very nice otherwise. Dating’s not easy at our age, is it? Explaining yourself to people over and over again. Sometimes I wish I’d married Eddie Moran and got it all over with.’
‘Not Eddie Moran.’ I’m aghast.
‘He was rich. I could have got away from him. Trips abroad. Days spent in hairdressers.’
I’m staring at Susan as though she’s just grown two heads. ‘Susan, I’m gobsmacked. I – I can’t believe you’d exchange all those years abroad for marriage to a man who sang “I Did It My Way” off-key every time he got drunk.’
‘I get lonely.’
‘Well so do I, but I think we have to practise some discernment here. I mean, if men didn’t have penises, would we really bother with them? Sometimes I think I’ll just buy myself a nice big vibrator and make do with that.’
‘Oh, Jasmine,’ Susan giggles. ‘That’s not fair. There are some nice men around but most of them are married.’
‘Oh, no – we’re not back on that again!’ I’m beginning to wonder if Katie isn’t on to something with her lesbianism after all.
Then Susan says she has to go. She’s got a lunch date with a man who put an ad in the personal columns of the Evening Herald. She announces this just as she leaves.
Why do I sense there’s something Susan’s not telling me? It’s been there all morning – hanging in the air.
As Susan drives away I realise that staying in this house with Charlie and his music must be getting to me. As the door creaks closed it sounds rather like the opening bars of Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’.
Chapter 9
Katie’s coming to stay this weekend. I’ve been asking her for ages, but now that she’s agreed I’m in a tizz. She’s bringing Sarah, the friend she’s sharing a flat with. Charlie’s house is big enough for them both to have their own rooms. I think it’s best that they have their own rooms.
One of the rooms is used for storage, so clearing it has been quite hard work. When I was moving a box some photos fell out of a blonde woman with small breasts and brown pubic hair. In most of them she was reclining dreamily on a bed, but in one she was looking over a balcony onto a beach. ‘Greece – August 1980’ was written on the back.
Charlie wanted to move the stuff for me, but I said I wanted to move it myself. So he went off and made a phone call and then came back just as I was lugging a huge wooden crate full of skiing equipment.
‘Do you ski?’ I asked, somewhat accusingly.
‘No.’ He was leaning lazily against the banisters.
‘Then why do you have all this
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