Heat of the Night Pt. 02

When a crime is committed in her street Lisa draws closer to Siobhan who offers physical security as she and her neighbours watch the drama unfolding on their tv screens, but when Diane, one of Lisa's old friends returns from London she finds herself on skating on thin ice when she wants to meet her new 'friend,' over dinner.

Lisa's eyes opened as the dream faded and out of habit she glanced at the clock radio on the bedside drawers, the display read 03:00 and she made the metal calculation, she'd been asleep for two and a half hours. Siobhan hadn't left until just after twelve and by the time she showered and got into bed it had just gone half past twelve. Usually she laid awake for a good half an hour before drifting off to sleep but tonight she'd been asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

What is happening to me? Am I falling for a woman or is this just the novelty of having a gay girlfriend?

She rolled onto her side and focused on the illuminated digital readout. After dinner she'd taken Siobhan through to the sewing room where she'd been halfway through making a skirt and as she went through the motions Siobhan seemed fascinated by the whole process. Indeed, it was almost as if she became another person. There was no boundary between them like at work, it was as if she'd stepped out of her own skin and into another body as she watched Lisa work.

Afterwards they'd sat and talked for an hour. Usually she had the telly on at night but tonight the only other sound came from the stereo. Siobhan had a wide taste in music that ranged from classical through to the latest pop, rock, and blues. Lisa however had been enthralled by her tales of Belfast, Dublin, London, Scotland and further afield to Europe. Siobhan had agreed to bring around her photo albums the next time she came around.

And there would be a next time, of that Lisa was sure but one thing she was unsure about was where this was going to lead. Would she become her next girlfriend or would it just stay at the platonic level. It was only as she drifted off to sleep again some time later that Lisa realised that for the first time in her life she didn't actually care.

She woke suddenly at 6:15 to the doorbell and when she peered through the spyglass there was a policewoman and a male colleague on the front porch. Lisa pulled the tie around her dressing gown tighter before opening the door.

"G'day," the policewoman spoke up, "sorry to disturb you, but we're just making some routine inquiries following an incident in the early hours of the morning. Do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions?"

"Um, no, of course," she looked past her for a moment.

"Were you home last night between two and three in the morning?"

"Yeah, I was asleep, but I woke up at about three."

"Can you tell me why you woke up?" The policewoman shifted slightly and Lisa felt the hairs on the back of her head tingling.

"I have no idea," she frowned, "I've been a bit restless lately, I have a few things on my mind but I fell asleep shortly afterwards."

"Did you hear anything, unusual?"

"Unusual?" Lisa stared at her, "I don't understand, what do you mean by unusual?"

"Loud voices, perhaps something else like a car backfiring?"

"No, I can't say I did," she frowned, "look, I'm really sorry. I woke up because I've got something on my mind, I stayed awake for I don't know, maybe twenty minutes and then I fell asleep again. I don't know what else I can tell you."

"That's fine," she replied, "and there were no other people in the house last night?"

"Just me, I had a girlfriend from work who left about twelve or thereabouts."

"Okay, if you remember something, please don't hesitate to call us," she handed her a card, "I'm sorry I can't tell you more but we're just asking all the neighbours the same questions."

"No worries," she took the card as they stepped off the front porch but as she looked up again Lisa felt a slight warmth in her belly as she stared at the policewoman's arse. Granted a police uniform was not the sexiest outfit in the world but this particular woman still looked good enough to, she swallowed.

To fuck?

Lisa took a few steps forward so as she could see further up the street and it was only then she saw the police tapes around a car. Two officers stood outside the house down the road and some plain clothes officers had just emerged from a car.

What the hell has happened? Lisa stared blankly as she replayed the conversation. Incident? Did I hear a car backfiring?

However it wasn't until she got to work that she heard about the slaying of a reputed gangland figure in the early hours of the morning. The victim was apparently visiting a female friend when he was ambushed by unknown assailants and gunned down. His wife and children had been notified and police would release his name shortly.

"I had no idea I lived in such a dangerous street," she confessed to Siobhan over lunch, "they're saying he had alleged links to an organised crime syndicate."

"They're often hiding in plain sight," Siobhan commented, "we had that a lot back in Belfast, you knew who was doing what but you kept your mouth shut and pretended it wasn't happening," she eyed her.

"I know it's cold comfort but it's the best I can manage right now."

"Thanks," Lisa eyed her coffee cup, "maybe I'll stay at my parents' place tonight."

"Or I could stay at your place," Siobhan replied.

Lisa hesitated before replying, it almost seemed trivial. Like she was fresh out of high school and needing the comfort of someone much older but she agreed.

"Okay, thanks. As long as it's not putting you out."

"If it was I wouldn't be offering."

That night marked a significant change for Lisa when she let Siobhan stay the night because it was the first time she'd slept in the same bed as a lesbian. Not so long ago she would have thought it a bit strange and even dangerous but tonight it felt somewhat surreal in the light of what had just happened last night. That became even more poignant as she stood under the shower whilst Siobhan watched telly, if a man had been present she might have snibbed the lock but not with a woman, unless, she glanced at the door almost as if Siobhan was going to step into the room. It was a stupid thought and yet one that almost excited her.

Siobhan glanced up from the couch when Lisa returned from the bathroom wearing a nightie and with a towel wrapped around her head.

"They're saying on the news that there's been another shooting that might be related to the one here last night."

"Where?"

"Pascoe Vale," Siobhan frowned, "that's out in the west isn't it?"

"Yeah it is," she stared at the television, "God, I hope it's not part of some gangland feud."

"The police are denying it but they always say that, we've had years of police and politicians trying to tell us that it's just isolated incidents. The fact these things happen over and over and over again is testament to the stupidity of politicians, they wouldn't know their arse was on fire until the fire engine was halfway up their arse."

"Um, the bathroom is free, I've left a fresh towel there and I'll bring you a spare nightie."

"Thanks," Siobhan got to her feet and a few moments later left the room.

Lisa didn't want to sit and watch the rest of the news, the second murder took up part of the news and then there was a news item about the repeal of the Mixed Marriages Act in South Africa, which was being cautiously reported as a step towards normalising relations with the outside world. This news item in particular caught her interest as she headed off to bed a few minutes later. The ban on interracial marriage had long been one of those things her mother ranted about whenever the topic at barbecues turned political. Lisa's mother was a staunch defender of human rights but admitted that sometimes she was kicking out at a father who'd been an outright racist.

"That shower is heaven," Siobhan announced as she walked into the bedroom.

"It's a shower," Lisa smiled crookedly.

"Yes, but your shower is clean. I have black mould in between the tiles and no matter how hard I scrub it just doesn't come out," she eyed the red nightie on the bed.

"You want me in red?"

"There's a black one and a white one in the chest of drawers."

"Better red than dead," Siobhan started to unbutton her blouse, "now that's an Irish thing to say," she undid another button, "you look thoughtful."

"Do you think they'll ever, you know, legalise gay marriage?"

"There's always hope," Siobhan glanced at her as she undid another button, "you're not going to propose right now are you, because I'm kind of distracted."

"Oh, no," she winced, "I was watching that thing on the news about South Africa lifting the ban on mixed marriages and just got to thinking, what's next?"

"Well things are moving, but they'd need to get rid of the idea of marriage being a Christian thing in the first place," she undid the last button and parted the blouse.

"I haven't been in my time machine for years but I'm pretty sure that marriage was a thing long before the Christian church claimed it," she let the blouse fall to the floor.

"What's it like in Northern Ireland?"

"Ah now there's an Irish story," she undid her skirt and unzipped it, "it all depends on whether it was a Catholic ceremony or a Protestant one, the holy mother church doesn't recognise marriages performed by Protestants unless the children are brought up Catholic and the Protestant ones are pretty much against it too but they'll kindly look the other way," she let the skirt fall to the floor, "so if you want to marry someone from the other side you have to elope and get married on the British mainland."

"That's so, so sick."

"It is sick," she picked up the nightie and slipped it over her head, "that's what I love so much about Australia, you're a nation of half-arsed agnostics or outright atheists. As long as you don't shove your beliefs down someone's throat you can pretty much do what you want."

She reached under the nightie and pulled the panties down.

"But it would be a hell of a step in the right direction if the powers that be could actually admit that you can fall in love with someone from the same sex. It's not like we're trying to take over the world and turn everyone gay," she slipped beneath the cover.

"Mind you, lesbianism was never illegal in Britain, even back in the days of Queen Victoria."

"Why not?"

"Apparently," she rolled onto her side, "the prevailing logic of the day said that women could not possible achieve sexual satisfaction with another woman and the women back then kept their pretty mouths shut and fucked each other's brains out."

Lisa opened her mouth to say something but instead burst out laughing.

"That's just weird."

"People are weird, I look at the royal family as being a warning against inbreeding."

Lisa stared at her for a few moments and then Siobhan leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"Now goodnight and try not to finger me in the night," and with that she rolled onto her other side and drifted off to sleep. Lisa was left staring at the ceiling feeling somewhat queer, if that was the right word. There had been no suggestion from the police that the neighbours were in any danger from a repeat of last night's brutal slaying. She stayed away for a good half an hour or so before finally drifting off to sleep.

Lisa woke suddenly the next morning to find Siobhan wasn't in bed, but she could hear the shower running and over the sound of the water she could hear Siobhan singing but she couldn't make out the words. Lisa tried to remember the last time she'd heard someone singing in the shower, it must have been when she was a kid and her father was still drinking she surmised.

Siobhan came back to the bedroom not long after, hastily tucking her blouse into the skirt.

"Shower's free if you're up for it, do you fancy a cooked breakfast?"

"Cooked breakfast?" Lisa sat up in bed, "usually I have cereal or toast."

"Whatever, but I saw eggs and what do you guys call sausages?"

"Snags," she replied.

"Them and all," she grinned, "I'll cook it, you get ready for work and I guess we'll take your car to work this morning."

"Okay," her feet hit the floor, "it's a deal."

"See, I'm not such a dyke after all," Siobhan moved to examine her reflection in the mirror, "with me you get a home cooked meal, makeup tips and the usual womanly advice. My last girlfriend used to wear steel-capped boots whenever she went clubbing."

"How do you dance in steel capped boots?"

"She wasn't wearing them to dance in," she turned to look at her side profile, "Roxy was fond of stepping on a man's foot whenever he came too close to me. It's one of the reasons we broke up, I'm all for being protective, especially in those clubs but Roxy went a bridge too far, it was only a matter of time before she trod on the wrong toes."

It sounded like something out of a seedy crime novel she reasoned some time later as she finished dressing, she had no idea what Roxy looked like but she pictured one of those skinhead types with the braces and boots.

Siobhan was cooking breakfast as Lisa came into the kitchen a few minutes later and seeing as she hadn't taken the plates out yet, Lisa reached up to the top cupboard over the bench to fetch them. Just as she put them on the bench however Siobhan came out behind her.

"Just let me," she pulled at her collar, "fold your collar down," she folded it.

"Unless you're going for the upturned collar look."

"I kind of was but the collar isn't stiff enough, I've got a brooch in the bedroom but by the time I come out of work this afternoon I know the brooch will be in my bag."

"Maybe you should make one," Siobhan replied as Lisa turned around.

"Maybe I will," Lisa stared at her and felt a strangely familiar urge flowing through her, similar to what she experienced with a man, that feeling of closeness and intimacy. At any moment she would lean over and kiss her. Lisa blinked as the urge dissipated. Siobhan had finished adjusting the collar but still held it between finger and thumb.

"Sorry, I uh," she looked past her.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," she let go of the collar and returned to the frying pan.

Lisa opened her mouth to tell her it wouldn't happen again but then shut her mouth and started setting the table. The momentary urge had taken her by surprise but Siobhan didn't seem to care as she finished cooking breakfast.

Could I really be that way inclined?

It was a question that begged an answer and yet without one of them making the first move it might very well have stayed hidden, perhaps to be resurrected many years from now when she might very well reminisce over what might have been.

However things beyond her control were already moving into place like pieces on some cosmic chessboard but nothing much happened for the next week. The street began to settle down into some kind of normality, the gangster's girlfriend hadn't returned and the only news she could find came from a late night news report stating she'd been put into police protection after a man had been arrested on suspicion of having carried out the murder.

In that time however, Siobhan became a regular visitor, often staying for dinner but she never stayed overnight. The blouse Lisa had started making for her was still waiting to be finished but Siobhan didn't seem to mind and it was only on the Saturday afternoon that Lisa finally said no to an invitation to come over to Siobhan's place for dinner.

"I have to finish this blouse," she told her, "it's been sitting there all week, waiting to be cut out but you've been here all week so I haven't had a chance to make it."

"So now it's all my fault," Siobhan chuckled, "okay, I'll stay away but I owe you a dinner."

"Tomorrow night," she promised her.

***

The phone rang just as she finished cutting the last panel and she muttered under her breath as she hurried through to the living room. She'd been at it for the last couple of hours and even though it was only nine o'clock she didn't think she'd get much more done on the blouse.

"Hello?"

"Lisa?"

"Diane," she pictured her friend's face a moment later, "this is a surprise, how long has it been?"

"Too long, I was going to call you three months ago when I came back from London but things being what they are I got distracted."

"Hey, that's cool," she sat on the edge of the sofa chair, "so, what's been happening? How was London and Europe, I hear you were all over the place."

"It was great," Diane replied a few moments later, "um can I come around to your joint for a bit?"

"Now?" Lisa looked at the clock on the wall, "um, sure, are you okay?"

"Kind of, I think but I need to talk to someone and you're the only one I can trust with this."

"Okay, I'll put the kettle on," she replied.

She had time to ponder the mystery as she laid out the cups and coffee. Diane had been one of her best friends in high school but after that they'd drifted apart a little as Diane went to a Tafe college whilst Lisa settled for university. The last she'd seen of Diane had been at her going away party at her parents' house in Nunawading. There were vague memories of throwing up in the neighbour's front yard and Diane's arms around her trying to steer her over to the gutter.

Diane had gone to London to visit her extended family and over the last twelve months or so, Lisa had heard from mutual friends about her travels throughout Europe with interest, considering that she was naturally introverted. It was part of the reason they'd clicked, Lisa was a local girl whilst Diane had spent the first ten years of her life in England and seemed more studious.

Her friend arrived some twenty five minutes later and Lisa took a moment to take in her new look. The long blonde hair had been permed recently and she had a freshness about her that suggested she'd had some kind of revelation. She'd brought over some photos and a snow globe.

"It's not much," she handed it to her, "I bought a heap of stuff the last week I was there, my mind was a complete mess."

"What's wrong, or what was wrong?" Lisa flicked the switch on the kettle.

"I was in love, actually I still am in love."

"Oh, so, what's his name?"

Diane looked past her for a few moments and Lisa suddenly straightened up.

"Or is it a woman?"

Diane looked back at her and nodded.

"Henrietta, she's Dutch."

"Very exotic," Lisa grinned, "I'll bet she speaks English like a native."

"She does, along with German and she's pretty good in French."

"Fantastic," Lisa stepped forward and embraced her, "I'm so happy you found someone," she registered the tension and pulled back suddenly, "you are happy, aren't you?"

"I am," she swallowed, "very happy but there's a problem."

"What?"

"My parents don't know about us."

"Oh, okay. So, when are you going to tell them?"

"That's what I'm trying to work out. You're the first person here that I've told."

"Well, you won't get a lecture from me," she replied, "I'm not homophobic, my ex is now with a guy and I'm friends with a lesbian," she glanced at the kettle as it started simmering.

"So, is Henrietta coming over here?"

"Yeah, she wants to travel around and see the country, she's got a twelve month visa and we're hoping to find some work for her."

"Probably be the hardest thing you'll have to do," Lisa mused.

"You think so? I think the hardest thing I have to do is tell my mother I'm gay."

"How did this all happen?" Lisa folded her arms, "you never seemed like the type, not that we ever talked about that kind of stuff."

It took a while to come out all the same. Diane and Henrietta met at a café in Amsterdam and when someone had tried to pinch her purse, Henrietta had intervened and forced him to release the purse and that had been the start of it all.