Go Easy!” Shonky said as Chris laughed. “I have three kids. Two girls and a boy, all in high school. My job is nearly done!” he said rubbing his hands together.
“Wow, good for you,” said Kylie genuinely.
“So single hey?” Chris said. “Wow, I’m glad I’m not single anymore. I have no idea where I would go to meet people. Where do you go?” he asked.
“How the hell should I know, I only moved here yesterday and I have no mates to go anywhere with!” Kylie answered.
“Wow. Full on,” said Chris. “Never fear. We have crew barbeques every month. That’s some company for you,” he said.
“Yeah righto,” Kylie said wondering how that was going to go, her and a whole lot of married folks and kids. She imagined herself being made to be the babysitter for them so the parents could relax during the entire event.
Shonky must have read her mind. “Don’t worry, everyone’s kids are self sufficient. You can hang out at the grown ups table.”
“Roger that,” she said.
“Ooooohhhhh. Did you hear that Shonky?”
“Roger, I heard that, Roger That!” Shonky laughed and put his hand up to Kylie to high five her.
“Did you like that Shonk? Ole Rogerhhhh?” she said smiling and high fiving him back.
“Yes I did. You’re all over it,” he said.
“Roger is my Dad’s name. That’s why I say it. Reminds me of him,” she elaborated.
“Well I say it ‘cause it’s affirmative and sounds cool,” Shonky replied.
“Whatever floats your boat Shonk,” Kylie said with a smile.
“Hey do you like fishing?” asked Chris.
“Nope. I hate fishing. It’s hot, I get seasick and you have to be quiet,” replied Kylie.
“Yeah I hate it too. But this mob aren’t quiet when they go fishing,” Chris said.
“Roger,” Shonky confirmed, “maybe we can sit in the boat at a BBQ and just drink beer in it. No need for quiet, you won’t get seasick and no fish to gut!”
“Yeah....Nup,” Kylie answered making Chris laugh again.
The trio talked until the train came. Once it arrived Kylie stayed with one of them and they showed her how they unloaded it. One of them had to be in the control room at all times, while the other one was able to leave the control room and be on the ground, checking the smooth running of the entire process.
“Do you think I could learn how to do what you guys do?” Kylie asked Chris and Shonky when they were all back together.
“Sure! Yeah? Why not?” they said.
“I’d do it in my spare time on weekends and after hours,” said Kylie.
“Yeah, I’ll ask the boss for you. See what he says,” Shonky said.
“Thanks. That would be really cool,” replied Kylie.
After they had finished unloading the train, the guys showed Kylie how they had filed and set up the office and gave her full reign to change anything and everything to suit herself. She logged on to her computer and had a look at the office electronic files and started familiarising herself with it all. It was a very easy day of light office work and inductions. The guys also took her into Head office about 5 kilometres away to introduce her to the rest of the team and to take her to lunch.
It was a great first day and she really enjoyed the personalities of the all male work crew that shared her office. Kylie left work at 5 pm and headed home via Woolworths to buy some grocery items for dinner. It was a day of firsts. First day at work. First shopping trip. First night of cooking. First night of burning what she tried to cook for herself, and the first night of takeaway food in Townsville. Tomorrow there would be another first, the first time she would make enquiries about renting a place of her own.
Finding An Address
Kylie took every opportunity to look for a place to rent so that she would be able to move in before her transition accommodation came to an end. She was familiar with Hermit Park since her Grandad lived there and after visiting him one Saturday morning she drove past Raine and Horne on Charters Towers Road and walked in to enquire about any apartments for lease.
The receptionist gave Kylie a folder with photos and descriptions of two-bedroom apartments. Although Kylie didn’t want to live with anyone, she wanted an extra room for visitors to stay, her mum and dad mostly but hopefully some friends as well. When she narrowed down her list to three addresses, she was offered the three sets of keys to view them right away.
Kylie got back in her car and drove to the first address in North Ward. It was an old Queenslander in Eyre Street that had one flat underneath and two upstairs. She had the keys for the downstairs flat. As Kylie walked through the overgrown lawn to the front door, she was acutely aware of how many big fat ugly cane toads would be able to hide in the long grass at night, jump on her feet and scare the shit out of her when she searched for her keys in the dark. She walked to the entrance and fought with the key to get it to turn in the lock and then had to shove the door to open it up due to the warp in the bottom of it.
“Mmmm. This place feels dodgy,” she said getting a bad vibe about the place. The lounge room floor was covered in worn, vomit-coloured carpet with a stale smell. She noticed a few lead light windows were open so she tried to shut them but they wouldn’t budge. None of the windows had fly screens and she thought it felt very pov-vo and extremely unsafe. “Awesome, the windows don’t even shut to keep out uninvited two legged pests, let alone stop mosquitoes carrying dengue fever, Aye” she muttered.
Kylie walked straight back out the front door. She was not interested in living in a place owned by someone who didn’t care about the security of their own tenants. “Next,” she said pulling the door hard to lock it then walked back to her car.
The next apartment was at the back of Rowes Bay near Herald Street. The red-brick ground-level apartment block housed eight apartments. All you needed was one lousy or loud neighbour and you would be miserable. Kylie took a deep sigh and walked in but she just hated it. The bathroom featured baby poo-coloured tiles in the shower and on the walls, teamed up with a brown-coloured vanity. “I can’t look at that for forever or even just for a little while. Buggar that,” she said with a grimace and walked into the kitchen.
The cupboards in the kitchen looked older than the cupboards in her grandfather’s house, and his place was relocated from Charters Towers in 1950. As she walked out the front door she saw a slimy short, hairy-backed man with no shirt on walking down the driveway staring at her. His comb-over was flapping in the wind. “Hello,” he said through yellow, nicotine-stained teeth.
“Goodbye,” she replied hopping into her car, locking the doors and getting the hell away from there.
The next
