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Authors: Diana Hockley
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Stop blaming yourself, I need you to hang in there and help me.’
She looked at me sympathetically. ‘Yeah, I was forgetting you were planning the Big Sex Scene on Friday night.’
I could feel myself flush. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh come on, Ally knew what you were up to. Supper indeed!’ I could feel myself flushing. Pam laughed. ‘Brie, you’re so obvious. We all know how you feel about her, including Ally. She was looking forward to “supper” which is why I know she would never have left with those people without telling someone. We have to be strong, Brie, because I think she’s in serious trouble.’
‘Do you think I don’t know that?’ I could feel frustration and anger starting to boil inside, which wasn’t fair to Pam. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here. I can’t stand it.’
As we walked down the hallway to the front door, the house echoed abandonment with every step we took. Had I lost the one woman who might have been my soul mate? Please God, save her save her save her…
When I was ten years old, Mum and Dad had taken my siblings and me to a classical concert in the local town hall, where I fell irrevocably in love with the cello. I whined them into paying for lessons, at first on a piano, after which I made it my business to learn to play every instrument I could get my hands on. If rehearsal for the school orchestra started at 9am, I was there at 8. And when I wasn’t with my teacher or practising, I fought for my life in the school playground, Mochrie’s a poofter, but they let me live because I was good at soccer.
After I proved I was a stayer, my godmother paid for an almost new cello. Proficient at the piano, I excelled on that cello. Jazz, rock, heavy metal–I played them all, and still play jazz in The Cellar most Friday nights. But classical became my total passion. I don’t get to go home to the country often. Fortunately my younger brother, Tim, is a born farmer and was only too happy to step into the breach. Mending pumps, fencing and shearing sheep is not my idea of a life’s work, but I could if I had to.
Music is my career, my comfort–my link with Ally. Schubert’s Impromptu in G, one of her concert pieces got a good work-out. While I played, I felt she was safe beside me. Every time the phone rang my heart jerked, thinking it might be her. Just before dawn, I crashed on my bed fully clothed and fell asleep, but not for long.
Violent hammering jerked me awake. Ally! I leapt out of bed, staggered blindly to the front door and threw it open.
My heart sank. The tiny foyer outside the door of my flat was crammed with my sisters, clutching bags of groceries. Judging by the happy expressions on their faces, they hadn’t heard about Ally’s disappearance. It would be up to me to tell them. I would kill for my sisters, but right then, needing time by myself, I could cheerfully have wrung their collective necks.
Exclaiming over my desperate appearance, they swept through the door in a relentless tidal wave of love and admonishments. They rooted in my refrigerator, snooped inside my cupboards, stacked tins of things into them and stocked up my freezer. I was about to tell them about Ally when the telephone rang. I had forgotten to check the answering machine; Pam’s voice bellowed through.
‘Brie, have you heard any news of Ally yet? The police have been here again and Aunt Eloise arrived on the bus this morning. Ring me as soon as you get this message, I’ve got something important to tell you!’
She hung up; my sisters gawped in horror. ‘What’s happened to Ally?’ they shrieked, clustering around the door leading to the lounge room. I picked up the phone and hit recall. Pam answered on the first ring.
‘The cops were here again, but they’ve gone now. I forgot to get the paper, so I don’t know if it’s in the news yet. But listen to this! I collected Aunt Eloise from the Transit Centre then I went to do some shopping and take a CD to Jess, so I was
She looked at me sympathetically. ‘Yeah, I was forgetting you were planning the Big Sex Scene on Friday night.’
I could feel myself flush. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh come on, Ally knew what you were up to. Supper indeed!’ I could feel myself flushing. Pam laughed. ‘Brie, you’re so obvious. We all know how you feel about her, including Ally. She was looking forward to “supper” which is why I know she would never have left with those people without telling someone. We have to be strong, Brie, because I think she’s in serious trouble.’
‘Do you think I don’t know that?’ I could feel frustration and anger starting to boil inside, which wasn’t fair to Pam. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here. I can’t stand it.’
As we walked down the hallway to the front door, the house echoed abandonment with every step we took. Had I lost the one woman who might have been my soul mate? Please God, save her save her save her…
When I was ten years old, Mum and Dad had taken my siblings and me to a classical concert in the local town hall, where I fell irrevocably in love with the cello. I whined them into paying for lessons, at first on a piano, after which I made it my business to learn to play every instrument I could get my hands on. If rehearsal for the school orchestra started at 9am, I was there at 8. And when I wasn’t with my teacher or practising, I fought for my life in the school playground, Mochrie’s a poofter, but they let me live because I was good at soccer.
After I proved I was a stayer, my godmother paid for an almost new cello. Proficient at the piano, I excelled on that cello. Jazz, rock, heavy metal–I played them all, and still play jazz in The Cellar most Friday nights. But classical became my total passion. I don’t get to go home to the country often. Fortunately my younger brother, Tim, is a born farmer and was only too happy to step into the breach. Mending pumps, fencing and shearing sheep is not my idea of a life’s work, but I could if I had to.
Music is my career, my comfort–my link with Ally. Schubert’s Impromptu in G, one of her concert pieces got a good work-out. While I played, I felt she was safe beside me. Every time the phone rang my heart jerked, thinking it might be her. Just before dawn, I crashed on my bed fully clothed and fell asleep, but not for long.
Violent hammering jerked me awake. Ally! I leapt out of bed, staggered blindly to the front door and threw it open.
My heart sank. The tiny foyer outside the door of my flat was crammed with my sisters, clutching bags of groceries. Judging by the happy expressions on their faces, they hadn’t heard about Ally’s disappearance. It would be up to me to tell them. I would kill for my sisters, but right then, needing time by myself, I could cheerfully have wrung their collective necks.
Exclaiming over my desperate appearance, they swept through the door in a relentless tidal wave of love and admonishments. They rooted in my refrigerator, snooped inside my cupboards, stacked tins of things into them and stocked up my freezer. I was about to tell them about Ally when the telephone rang. I had forgotten to check the answering machine; Pam’s voice bellowed through.
‘Brie, have you heard any news of Ally yet? The police have been here again and Aunt Eloise arrived on the bus this morning. Ring me as soon as you get this message, I’ve got something important to tell you!’
She hung up; my sisters gawped in horror. ‘What’s happened to Ally?’ they shrieked, clustering around the door leading to the lounge room. I picked up the phone and hit recall. Pam answered on the first ring.
‘The cops were here again, but they’ve gone now. I forgot to get the paper, so I don’t know if it’s in the news yet. But listen to this! I collected Aunt Eloise from the Transit Centre then I went to do some shopping and take a CD to Jess, so I was
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