Johanna and Maxine

"Okay, sure... I'm free Monday and Wednesday mornings up until ten thirty, Friday after two, and Saturday all day too. I start work at nine every other day and finish at five Monday to Thursday, yep, I can do Tuesday arvo, five thirty? That's not a problem," she looked up.

She straightened up a few moments later and wiped her eyes as she replied.

"Thank you so much, I'm looking forward to seeing you. What do I have to bring?"

There was a pause and then she nodded.

"Okay, okay, I'll see you at five thirty on Tuesday."

She handed the phone back to Johanna but Melanie had already hung up and so she put it back in the cradle. Margaret pulled a tissue out of a small box in her handbag and wiped her eyes, Johanna let her recover some composure before speaking again.

"All right, let's get this emergency cheque for you."

"Of course, sorry, sorry, I'm just a bit overwhelmed."

"It's understandable," Johanna inclined her head and turned to her computer.

Margaret stared as Johanna inputted the details and loaded a blank cheque into the printer. It was only when it was in her hand a minute or two later that she finally spoke.

"Thank you so much," she swallowed, "this'll really help."

"No worries," Johanna took out a second page from the printer, "if they try to charge you money to reconnect just call their hotline and quote the reference number at the top here," she pointed to it and then went on, "do you have enough instant meals at home?"

"I've been eating at my sister's place the last few days," she replied.

"Here," Johanna opened a locked drawer and took out a food voucher for Coles New World, "take one of these, it's only a hundred dollars but you can only use it at Coles."

"Thank you," Margaret took it from her.

"No worries."

Margaret left not long after and Johanna farewelled her with a smile.

So this was Maxine's auntie?

***

Penny lived in a beautiful two-storey house on the top of Mt. Dandenong. The mountain was the most dominant feature of the Melbourne landscape, stretching along the edge of the eastern suburbs from north to south. To the east of the Dandenongs was the Great Dividing Range, stretching all the way to Queensland in the north. There were still parts of the Great Divide that white people hadn't seen yet, every time she drove up here it felt as if she was entering a prehistoric forest. Stringybark hung from power lines and during the winter the forest was filled with a semi-permanent mist. In the warmer months, smarter people flocked to the Dandenongs because it was always a couple of degrees cooler, leaving the beaches to tourists.

At this time of year however the cold had begun to bite and the mist swirled over the road and by the time they reached Lookout Point there was a bank of clouds below them. Maxine turned onto Ridge Road and followed the Google Maps app on her phone until she pulled up outside the house perched on the side of the hill. The clouds had started clearing a little on this side of the mountain and as they made their way down the driveway they caught the distinctive smell of wood fires, it seemed as if every house had its own wood-burning heater. One of Maxine's ex boyfriend's family had a house in Olinda and in the wintertime that burner was constantly on.

The house itself was made of mud brick with what looked like old telephone poles as uprights, a small octagonal tower was on one side and there was a verandah that looked as if it extended around the entire house. The bannisters had been carved with runic symbols and when they got to the huge double doors she noted the door-knocker fashioned in the shape of a lion's head with the ring in its mouth. However there was also a button on one side of the door and under it was a wooden sign. The words had been burned into it with a soldering iron she suspected.

No Sales People. No Mormons. No Jehovah's Witnesses. No Exceptions.

Maxine chuckled at the sign as Rowena raised the ring and then rapped the striker below it. The sound it made was loud enough but it seemed as if whoever was inside hadn't heard it and so she knocked again.

"Maybe I'll try this," Maxine stepped over to the button but just as she was about to press it they heard footsteps on the other side of the doors and a voice.

"Coming, coming."

She lowered her hand and a moment later the door opened to reveal a woman who looked to be in her early forties. Her blonde hair fell to her shoulders framing an angular-shaped face and blue eyes, she was dressed casually in a denim shirt, blue jeans and a thick cardigan that covered her hips, held closed by a matching belt. Maxine let her eyes fall to the Ugg boots as Rowena spoke up.

"Hiya, I'm Rowena, Rowena Petersen and this is my sister, Maxine. I'm looking for Robyn?"

"Oh," her eyes shifted, "sure, come on in."

"Thank you," Rowena replied as the woman stepped back, "you must be Penny?"

"That's what they call me," she smiled crookedly, "and you're one of our candidates."

"I am," she turned as Penny shut the door, "I've got my second interview on Saturday."

"Fantastic," Penny smiled, "are you nervous?"

"A little," she confessed, "this courtroom style interview is a little different."

"Think of it like an exchange of opinions. The interviewer wants to try to persuade you not to take things further and you have to take the opposite view," she led them through the large porch area and down a passageway to their left to a spiral staircase.

"I can't really give you any hints," Penny went on, "all I can suggest is that you pretend that you're outside yourself arguing for yourself. See you as others might see you in other words."

"Be objective," Maxine spoke up.

"Precisely," Penny stopped at the iron railings and bannister, "just go down the staircase, there's only one door at the end."

"Thank you," Maxine nodded at her, "for your advice."

"No worries," Penny stepped back.

They made their way down the staircase to a wooden door at the very bottom and knocked on the door before opening it.

Robyn Smith was a thirty-seven-year old woman with long blonde hair and green eyes. Like Penny she was also wearing casual clothes, a knitted white, turtleneck jumper and jeans although unlike Penny she wore sheepskin moccasins.

"G'day, ladies," she smiled, "welcome to my parlour."

"Long time, no see," Maxine smiled, "nice little parlour you have here."

"Thanks, we do all right down here," Robyn gestured at a kettle, "you want coffee or tea?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Rowena spoke up.

"Me too," Maxine touched a cupboard, "love the effect."

The cupboards and shelves lined two walls with a bookshelf against a third wall, which was full of folders, a desk stood against the fourth wall. She glanced at the archway in the centre of the room and beyond it she noticed the large table in the middle of the room with a door on the other side that most likely led to the outside. The cupboards were all made from recycled timber, heavily lacquered to a high shine. At one end of the room there was a two seater sofa and two other sofa chairs around a coffee table, the chairs looked handmade although she was only guessing.

"This is actually the second workshop, the other one is upstairs on the first floor but we had this level fitted out a couple of years ago. The chippie who did the upstairs refit did this one too, he uses a lot of recycled wood, amazingly talented guy."

"I'm impressed," Maxine glanced at her, "I've been thinking of going to your dressmaking classes at church lately."

"No worries, the more the merrier," she opened up a drawer, "let's get you measured up then," she nodded at Rowena, "strip down to your bra if you just want tops and blouses but it's all the way if you want a dress or trousers."

"Fuck it, I'll go the whole hog," Rowena shrugged.

"Are these your patterns?" Maxine walked over to the bookshelf.

"We buy our patterns, for the most part," Robyn took a measuring tape out of the drawer, "have a gander if you want."

"Don't mind if I do,"

She pulled one out at random whilst Robyn started measuring Rowena. The catalogue she'd chosen had a lot of '80s patterns and she soon found one that caught her eye due to the fact the illustration was actually a hand-drawn picture. It was a blouse with a double row of buttons.

She vaguely recalled seeing a picture of her mother wearing a similar blouse when she was much younger. Maxine glanced up briefly as Robyn wrote down a measurement on a pad, her sister glanced over at her and smirked.

"Found something you like?"

"Um, yeah," she held the folder up, "remember mum had something like this?"

"Oh, right?" Rowena's eyes narrowed, "yeah, she worked in an office apparently but it was before my time."

"I can remember her coming home from work," Maxine murmured, "but I was pretty young too and then she gave the job up when she fell pregnant with you."

"That pattern goes back years," Robyn squatted down to take her inside leg measurement.

"The original blouse belonged to my nanna," she squinted at the tape.

"After she died I got most of her old clothes and Penny liked that blouse so much she ordered a few from Cindy, we cut the pattern from nanna's blouse and wound up starting a fashion trend. I've got a few in the same style."

"I could wear something like that," Johanna murmured.

"You want me to measure you as well?" Robyn raised her eyebrows, "I can do you a group discount if you like."

"Um," she frowned and Rowena giggled.

"Go on," she looked down at her state of undress, "unless you don't want to strip down in front of a total stranger?"

"How much discount?"

"Your sister's ordering three blouses, if you order at least two I'll drop forty percent, or fifty if you order three. Rowena's getting a fifteen percent discount at the moment."

"Do it, do it, do it," Rowena chanted as Robyn rose to write down the final measurement.

"Bugger it," Maxine finally gave into her sister's cheeky taunt.

"Cool," Rowena turned to pick up her clothes, "now strip, strip, strip," she paused and then started to hum the traditional stripper's melody.

"Is she always like this?" Robyn grinned.

"Pretty much," she rose and pulled her jumper up.

Despite the jovial atmosphere it still felt a little weird stripping down to her bra and underpants in front of a lesbian but Robyn didn't seem to notice and whilst she got measured up Rowena went through a couple of folders. She selected three blouses. Originally, she'd wanted three standard blouses for work but because Maxine had taken down an eighties folder she wound up changing her mind. Rowena chose a pussybow blouse, a tie blouse and the double-breasted blouse that Maxine had showed her earlier.

Maxine on the other hand chose a double-breasted blouse in white satin, a standard blouse in red polyester and a white pussybow one in white silk. The total cost added up to three hundred dollars but Robyn reassured her that they would last for years.

"Providing you don't pile on heaps of weight but we give you a fifty percent discount if one gets too small for you," she glanced down as her phone beeped.

She read the message and glanced at them.

"Penny's invited you two to stay for coffee," she put the phone into her pocket, "and I'm taking a short break, you fancy staying? She's made cinnamon buns by the way."

"Sure," Rowena shrugged, "we can't stay too long though."

"Follow me then," Robyn smiled and then pointed to the other door in the room next door.

"Oh, by the way. If you're picking up clothes and there's no answer at the front door just go back to the corner of the house and follow the path on the right to the side door. Penny works during the day and Cindy and I are often down here."

They followed her upstairs to the ground floor and Robyn led her through to the rustic kitchen with its heavily-lacquered cupboard doors and a huge island bench.

"You two are staying?" Penny glanced at them.

"Yeah," Maxine replied, "someone said cinnamon buns."

"I thought that'd tempt you," she grinned, "it's a genuine Swedish recipe."

"I've been to Sweden once," Maxine replied, "their cinnamon buns were to die for."

"Sure are," Penny replied, "go on through to the living room and I'll bring them through."

The living room caused both women to come to a dead stop and take it all in. The large room was surrounded on three sides by a walkway on the first floor, the vaulted ceiling was criss-crossed with wooden beams and central heating ducting. To their right was an open fireplace with a fire burning merrily in it. Four couches faced each other with longish coffee tables between them. The other end of the room was completely taken up by a huge window and French doors that looked out over the city of Melbourne and they were both drawn to it like moths to a flame.

"Pretty impressive, isn't it?" Robyn announced a minute or two later as she entered the room.

"Yeah," Maxine glanced at the verandah on the other side of the window, "wonderful view."

"It was the first thing I noticed," she agreed.

Penny came into the room not long after with hot cinnamon buns and coffees on a tray and as she set them down she cracked a smile.

"I see you're checking out my backyard."

"Yeah," she glanced over at her handbag as her phone beeped and when she retrieved it she read the message from her auntie.

Margaret: It's done! Going to see Melanie on Tuesday. Feel like the world has been lifted off my shoulders!

Maxine: Fantastic, I'm so proud of you. Was it Johanna you spoke to today?

Margaret: It was, she's so cool and calm.

Maxine: She strikes me as being like that. It must be that Scandinavian reserve.

Margaret: She's Scandinavian? She sounded American.

Maxine: She was born in America but she's lived half her life in Sweden, totally cool woman.

Margaret: Cool, thanks for giving your auntie a kick up the bum, I needed it.

Maxine: No worries, so glad you're on your way up. You can only go forward if someone kicks you in the arse!

Margaret: LOL.

"That's my auntie Margaret," she explained to Penny, "she's going to see Melanie on Tuesday."

"Ah, my bull terrier," Penny raised her coffee cup, "she worked in banking for years. If you want to play hardball with the banks you send Melanie, Louise or Sigrid in to bat for you," she took a sip and put the cup down.

"I had a cash flow problem about ten years ago and Melanie had it sorted within two hours, I was stunned. We started that business not long afterwards. Louise and Sigrid are her partners as well as her neighbours, I've known those women for years," she picked up a bun.

"They've been part of our women's meeting for years," she finished.

"I've heard about this meeting," Maxine ventured a minute or so later.

"How do you join? Is there an application process?"

"It's not an application process," Penny replied, "you speak to a member and if they recommend you then you attend a meeting and see how it feels. We get quite a few who come a couple of times but then decide it's not for them, it's not a gossip session and while we have alcohol around it's not a party. We structure our monthly meetings around different themes and try to stick to the subject as much as possible," she took another sip of coffee.

"Why? Do you want to come along?"

"Um," she straightened up, "sure, I'd love to come along and my friend Johanna is interested as well," she sank back against the back of the couch, "but you'd probably need to talk to her."

"What's she like? Your friend?"

"She's," she paused, "fascinating, "she's from Sweden even though she was born in California, she works as a financial counsellor out at the CAB. She's had quite a bit to do with Melanie and when I said I'd like to check out this meeting she wanted to come too."

Penny glanced at Robyn and something seemed to pass between them.

"We've only just met but I reckon she'd benefit from this meeting. She's got a few friends but I just get the feeling she's a little bit out there."

"In what way?" Robyn asked her.

"I don't know," she fiddled with her watch, "I just get the impression that she'd love to be amongst other women, I can call her myself if you want to talk to her."

"What do you think?" Penny looked at Robyn.

"Yeah," Robyn picked up another bun, "I reckon you're right. Why don't you just invite her up at the same time? Normally we have an informal vetting process but we don't have as many members at this group these days. Half our members left to start another group, which is the way it's always been for years so bring her up. If she lasts a night with the velvet fingers club then so be it."

Maxine looked at her phone and then nodded as she picked it up and at first she didn't think she was going to answer but then she did and there was a pause before Maxine spoke.

"Hiya, it's me, Maxine? Thank you for helping out my auntie."

"That's fine," she sounded out of breath, "I just walked in the door, it's a half day on Saturday but it's all part of the job to be honest."

"I know but even so... I'm at Penny and Robyn's place and we were talking about that women's meeting, are you still interested in going?"

"Yeah for sure."

"There's one this coming Friday, I've been invited. Do you want to come along with me and check it out for yourself?"

"Um, yes, sure. I'd love to come up. What time?"

"What time?" Maxine looked over at Penny and Robyn.

"Any time after five," Robyn replied, "but if you come that early you'll be put to work. Most come around sixish or so, the meeting starts at eight."

Maxine relayed that information back to her and Johanna confirmed that she'd be there.

"Thanks for asking about it, I really appreciate it."

"No worries," she replied.

"On another subject, I was thinking about you after your aunt left, you said you needed a Swedish language partner."

"Yeah, I do. I kind of looked online for one but they're all charging money and I have to budget for other things too."

"So, why not let me be your language partner? I won't charge money but it might cost you a meal at home once or twice a week."

"Oh," she leaned forward and blushed, "um... sure, thanks. I'd love that."

"All right then," Johanna chuckled, "how does Wednesday sound?"

"Yeah, Wednesday is fine, actually any night is fine, I'm pretty flexible with time."

"Okay then, Wednesday it is but if anything changes then I'll phone you but right now I have to get off the phone because I'm busting for a piss."

Maxine thanked her and farewelled her.

"Well that was unexpected."

"What?" Robyn smiled, "being accepted into our group?"

"That too, but Johanna has agreed to be my language partner."

"Some of the women in the group speak Swedish too," Penny smiled crookedly, "okay, we'd better get you an official flyer."

***

Johanna opened her eyes as the dream began to fade. She'd jumped into the shower not long after talking to Maxine and predictably enough she laid down for an afternoon nap. It hadn't been raining when she closed her eyes but when she awoke the rain was battering against the windowpanes. She tried to recollect the dream as she adjusted to the light but it had faded, leaving her feeling as if she had missed something. She sat up on the couch and stared out at the fading light. Her house was in a relatively quiet street. The neighbour on the other side of the street was backing out of her driveway and a car coming down the street had just stopped to let her out.

The memory of the phone call came back now. The irony wasn't lost on her. If anyone should be teaching her it was Pia or any of her friends back home in Stockholm not herself, they had a much better understanding of the nuances.

I should call papa, she frowned, or, she closed her eyes as she pictured one of her other friends, Åsa or Pia. Åsa would be a good choice because she'd just left her husband to focus on her career and her daughter, Frida. She felt some guilt about Åsa, she hadn't been one of the friends closest to her when the marriage ended. She sent a brief email to Åsa and set to doing some housework.