she said, proud of herself…
Until he said, “Nope, next guess?” Egging her on, he gave her another hint by speaking Pirate, “Argggh, me ardies, I’m Captain......?”
“Hook!” she exclaimed.
“Yes!” Marley said.
The next page showed a carton with an arrow with the words THIS WAY crossed out and UP left over.
“UP,” she squealed.
The next photo was of a 40 speed restriction sign without the 0. Another give away.
“FOUR!” she said tearing open the next envelope without the need for confirmation.
It was a picture of a standard hot meal served for dinner, meat and three veg. “MEAL or DINNER?” Mila questioned.
“Dinner,” Marley confirmed. “Next!”
On the next page was written 1 + 1 = _um
“Sum?” she said, not sure if she was correct.
“YES!” he said.
The page inside the last envelope showed two pictures, one was the sun on the top of the page and the other was the moon on the bottom of the page. NIGHT was written in the same section of page as the moon and was crossed out and DAY was the only word left to read out.
“DAY!” said Mila, proud that she made her way through all the puzzles.
“Now read them all out in order so you can make a sentence,” Marley asked politely.
Mila gathered the pages and turned them over one by one. “EYE, TINK, WEE, GO, 2, HOOK, UP, 4, DINNER, SUM, DAY.”
“Yes! I’d love to!” Marley replied, cheekily answering the question he had created for Mila.
“I can’t Marley, you know why!” Mila said, head down towards her chest, sticking to her guns.
“Sum Day, when you can, when you aren’t in a relationship, okay?” Marley clarified softly.
“Here’s my number, keep it with the pages from the envelopes. If you ever want to catch up, just send me a photo of your thumb in the thumbs up position to my mobile. Okay! And I’ll give you a call. Until then, I will only pester you if I see you out and about. Howzat sound?” he said calmly and genuinely.
“Okay. Okay, Thank you. That sounds like a plan,” Mila agreed.
Marley started up the car and drove back to his work so that Mila could pay her invoice and pick up her car. There was no awkward silence after the paper proposal. It was not Marley’s style to be short of words or charisma.
“Do you have anything planned for the weekend? How long have you lived in Townsville? What sort of movies do you like to go watch?” he rattled off one question after the other. The conversation flowed so freely between them that they arrived back at the dealership in no time and were again standing at the same desk where they had first met. “Super to meet you Mila. Take care,” Marley said when she had finished settling the bill and was about to walk away.
“You too Marley, you too,” Mila said genuinely. Sunnies in one hand, her paper request for a date in the other and her eyes smiling, she turned away and walked out to her car. After stashing all the paperwork Marley had given her in the glove box, Mila drove home.
As she drove, the unexpected events of the day were food for thought. The man she was seeing, Jake, worked out of town on a mine site for fourteen days at a time was only back for seven and he didn’t have half the communication skills Marley seemed to possess. When she got home, Mila checked her calendar and saw that Jake was due to fly back in eight days. Their relationship was only in the beginning stages but it seemed to be held in a time warp for longer than normal since he was away at work for two weeks at a time. When he did come back he would forget what she had previously told him about herself and seemed to ask the same basic questions over and over again. At this stage, their relationship was mildly better than a booty call arrangement. They had minimal conversation when they sat across from each other at dinner followed by sleepovers at his house a few nights when he was home. Mila wondered if she would ever feel as excited to be around Jake as she did when she was around Marley.
Convinced she should stop thinking about the whole situation she jumped in the shower and washed the day away. Then she rang Jake, knowing he would be finished work for the day. The call went straight to his message bank so she asked him to call her back. It took him two days to return her call. Mila was not impressed at the lack of interest he showed in calling her or returning any of her messages. But on the flip side, this was all good news for Marley!
Dismissing Doubt
The flyer from the Out Rigging team lay on the kitchen bench. Kylie picked it up, again. It had been a week since her encounter with Shooters in Woolies and she knew the words printed on the flyer by heart. “What do I have to lose?” she asked herself as she took the clean cutlery from the drainer and put it away in the top drawer. “Absolutely nothing – that’s what! I will have a go at a practice session,” she declared to the empty room.
She spent the next two hours going through every item of clothing she owned trying to choose the best ‘first impressions count meeting new people in a sporting environment’ outfit. Her final selection started with current season Billabong flowered shorts to cover any rampant blancmange, in a colour and fabric tough enough to withstand transparency if it got wet. The next item was an exercise top that although sporty had no nipple camouflage. So, in the off chance she did get wet, she stuck some nipple covers on underneath to avoid being embarrassed by any sudden change of temperature that lefty and righty might react to. This was topped off with a dark-coloured singlet that would also resist transparency in water. On her feet she chose to wear reefs, because reefs are a practical outrigging accessory. All up, Kylie thought she oozed the look of confident and comfortable in a beachside situation. This couldn’t have been further from the truth as she had always hated being wet, being seen in her swimmers, and she had an aversion to the beach and the sand and the salty water... But she hated being friendless even more so she channelled her inner voice and declared, “Suck it up Princess!”
The Out Riggers’ meeting place was less than five hundred metres walk down The Strand, in front of a restaurant called The Watermark, Kylie nervously made her way towards the outskirts of the group gathered there, who were chatting amongst themselves. One of the girls began a head count to see how many canoes they would take out, based on six people per canoe. Kylie re-introduced herself to Shooters, who acknowledged her and then turned to the lady who had just finished counting. “How many did you get Bundy?”
Bundy replied, “Twenty Shooters.”
“Same here mate.”
Shooters walked towards Bundy and they met half way and had a quick chat to work out if they could accommodate the newbies. There were fingers pointing to palms of hands, some shaking of heads and then they both screwed their faces up painfully and walked towards Kylie and another girl standing to her left. Facing the two newcomers, the lady who Shooters had called Bundy said, “Hi Ladies, what are your names.”
“I’m
