be silly. It’s nothing. You are actually doing me a huge favour by being here. I’ve looked at this place so often and had no one to come and sit with and I didn’t want to come on my own, so thank you for being here,” Kylie said touching Jess’s forearm.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’ll stop sweating shortly, I hope. That’s why I carry this man hanky around,” Jess said embarrassed about Kylie touching her sticky wet arm.
“Hey, sweat all you want, I just farted.”
Jess looked up in horror.
“I didn’t mate, I was just trying to make you feel better. Honestly. See?” Kylie took a huge breath in. “Sweet as a daisy.”
Jess laughed.
“To answer your question, I thought outrigging would be the perfect sport for me. No one can see your arse when you are competing, you meet new people and the most important drawcard to me was the ocean, because I thought I could jump in and out before and after paddling and people wouldn’t think I was sweating so much, they might think it’s just spray from the water!”
“Good point. So you worry about how much you sweat mate?”
“Oh you have no idea. This is a good day for me. Wait ’til October onwards.”
“Oh, I’m hearing ya. Flamin’ stand still and you drip in October. It’s putrid.”
“Yeah but I guess it beats being cold, I don’t like being cold.”
“High five to that!” Kylie agreed.
The girls chatted effortlessly and sipped away at their coffees when they came out.
“What an incredible view!” Kylie said sitting back into her chair, taking in the beachfront on her left and Magnetic Island across the bay.
“Yes it’s beautiful isn’t it” Jess said. “Doesn’t it look peaceful out on the water.”
“Yes it does.”
“Hey, that could have been us,” Kylie said pointing to three outrigger canoes paddling past them.
“Yeah. I’m not sad. I’m glad we had a chance to talk.”
“Yeah me too,” Kylie said.
Kylie learnt that Jess was a journalist working for the Townsville Bulletin and had grown up in Rockhampton, or Rocky as it is affectionately known to Queenslanders. She was an only child and had moved up to Townsville two years ago with her parents. They were all living together until nearly twelve months ago when they were both tragically killed in a car accident just outside Gladstone on their way to Brisbane. Jess was not in the vehicle at the time but had to fly down to identify their corpses.
“Oh my goodness. That’s so sad. I’m so sorry Jess,” Kylie said holding her hand as her eyes welled up. “Have you got any other family in town?”
“Noooo. It’s just me. Everyone else I know is in Rocky so it’s been pretty tough. I had a month off work but it was doing my head in staying at home. People at work have been pretty good about it, I really enjoy my work so I don’t want to leave but I haven’t really gelled with anyone yet and made sort of, any friends,” she said sadly.
“Why’s that mate? Is it a bit cliquey?”
“Well there are a few girls for whom image is everything and they don’t want to sit across the table from a big lump that sweats all over her dinner so I can understand that I make people feel uncomfortable.”
“What? You aren’t making me feel uncomfortable. Don’t ever feel like that. Anyway, it’s their loss mate. Silly prissy bitches. They’re too busy making their exterior look pretty that they have forgotten what their heart and soul is for. Bugger ’em! You’ll find new mates through outrigging you’ll see.”
“I hope so,” Jess said.
“Stick with me baby. I’ll work the room, the canoe, but maybe not the Lycra. Trust me, people will wanna hang out with us once they see how much fun we have.”
“You’re fun, I can tell. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed doing something with someone else and wasn’t made to feel self-conscious. Thank you.”
“No worries, do you want to swap numbers in case you ever feel like another coffee or dinner out sometime?” Kylie asked.
“Sure. That would be great, but I better go. I have to go home and feed my cats.”
“Oh, I love cats! What do you have?”
“Two kittens, a chocolate point short-hair Siamese and a Burmese, both have blue eyes.”
“Oh my gawd. If you ever need anyone to look after those suckers I would so love to pat the shit out of them.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah!”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Kylie walked Jess back to her car and they swapped numbers and arranged to meet up after work on Friday for drinks and dinner at Cactus Jacks on Palmer Street.
“Awesome, I’ll see you then Jess,” Kylie said walking back to her apartment.
Because of the time she had spent with Jess, Kylie didn’t feel at all rejected after her first attempt at Outrigging. As a bonus, next week she wouldn’t have to plan out her outfit, she would just wear the same one again, since she didn’t get it dirty or wet. And next time she wouldn’t be standing on the beach alone, she could talk to Jess.
The echo of the paddlers’ call indicating a change from the left side to the right of the canoe carried across the water. Kylie couldn’t make out whether it was Hut or Huck but whichever one it was, it sounded like someone trying to cough up a loogie.
Friday came and both girls headed to Cactus Jacks. On seeing each other again, both their faces displayed an excitement that only a person who had been deprived of company for a long time could understand. Kylie gave Jess a hug and they walked into the air conditioned restaurant and were shown to a table.
“Do you like Mexican?” Jess asked.
“Oh yeah!” Kylie answered.
“Me too. Also, I must apologise, I don’t think I asked you about yourself last week. You said you tried Outrigging because you wanted to meet people. Are you not from Townsville?” Jess asked.
“Don’t worry about that. I think we were chatting about all sorts of other things. I’m from Mount Isa.” Kylie said.
“Oh, I applied for a job out there with The North West Star!” Jess said.
“Did you get it?” Kylie asked.
“I did, but I also got the Townsville Bully job. So I took the Townsville gig instead.”
“Mount Isa was a great place to grow up but I took the opportunity to move here for work.”
“Where
