Women Who Talk Pt. 01

"Well, I'll be buggered," she sat back and rubbed her hands together.

She emailed the pictures to Cindy and then shut the computer down and went downstairs to where an open fire burned brightly.

***

Robyn shared the three bedroom brick veneer house in Anita Street with two other women and a King Charles Spaniel called Scamp. He belonged to Josie, a twenty five year old veterinary surgeon who worked at a local clinic. Josie had taken out a mortgage on the house a couple of years ago and like many people her age, she'd taken in boarders to help pay the mortgage. There had been two others before Robyn and Erin but one moved in with her boyfriend and the other walked out after a blazing row when Scamp threw up on her best shoes. To be fair, it wasn't just the shoes, she hated having to lift dog hairs off the couch and her clothes and claimed her hay fever was exacerbated by the doggy smell.

If it was one thing Josie wouldn't tolerate though it was anyone picking on Scamp. She'd come by him after his owner, a lovely but frail old woman died in her sleep while her dog was being kept overnight at the clinic. This left the head veterinarian with an uncomfortable choice, either taking the dog to the pound or finding a new owner. The police had tracked down the only next of kin in the state, a fifty two year old son who promptly offered money to have the bloody dog put to sleep. Josie wasn't squeamish about putting animals down but she baulked at the thought of doing it to a perfectly healthy, young dog. When she offered to take the dog herself the man shrugged and to her amazement, peeled off a fifty dollar note from the wad of cash in his hand.

"Here, that's for food, have a nice day."

Thus, one of Robyn's first tests when she first stepped into the living room was to see how she got on with Scamp and when she rubbed his belly affectionately, Scamp rolled onto his back to expose himself and twisted back and forth excitedly.

"I think he likes you."

"We had one when I was growing up," Robyn had grinned, "sadly we lost him to a car."

They didn't just bond over Scamp though. Like Robyn, she'd come from a country town, Maldon, midway between Ballarat and Bendigo. When she stated quite firmly that the best part of the town was the road that led out of it Robyn giggled.

"Yep, sounds like Warbie, the arsehole of Victoria."

Taking into account the fact that Robyn had casually announced she went to church nearby Josie had raised her eyebrows.

"I'm a Christian," Robyn continued, "but it doesn't mean I can't say shit, bloody or bastard, and you won't find me on my knees beside my bed every night. Faith is a private thing, I'm not into the whole preachy fire and brimstone trip. My mum on the other hand lives and breathes it."

"And your dad?"

"Dad's a cop in Warbie, he's not a churchgoer at all, which made for an interesting childhood. I've got an atheist on one shoulder and a Christian on the other."

"And which one wins?" Josie asked her.

"The one I feed the most," she patted Scamp, "isn't that right, Scamp?"

Scamp rolled over and spun around to jump up on her and lick her face.

"When can you move in?" Josie spoke up.

"The weekend all right?" Robyn slid her hands through his coat, "I'm in a bit of a bind with the guy I'm sharing with, we're housemates, I rent the bungalow but two weeks ago he got pissed and tried to crack onto me. It's been difficult ever since, he's the older brother of a mate from school but I'm not going to become his new girlfriend."

That had been eighteen months ago and then twelve months later a chance conversation with the girl who worked at the jewellery store in Main Street, Croydon led to an interview with Josie the following weekend. Erin was two years younger than Robyn and desperate to get out of a home where her mother had constant battles with her boyfriend and the boyfriend had begun to look at the eighteen year old Erin with a disturbing interest. Her age had troubled Josie initially but the thought of Erin fending off the attention of a lecherous forty year old man had turned the tide.

At nineteen years of age, Erin was an outgoing, gregarious young woman with a wide circle of friends and no serious boyfriend to speak of, she was very tactile but somewhat wary of Josie who was so much older than her and so she latched onto the slightly older Robyn. She didn't have a car licence but had enough friends with cars that she hadn't seen the need for a licence until she moved in with Josie and Robyn. Even then it had taken another four months before she finally went for her learner's permit but she wasn't going to book any driving lessons until Robyn got her full licence in three months time.

"Because it'll save me money and I can take turns driving us to work."

Robyn stepped back to look at the suit in the mirror as she recalled the night she'd stood in front of the mirror in Cindy's tiny sewing room over four years ago. The trouser suit was black but it had white spirals and whorls emblazoned on it, which helped to contrasted the black sheen. As a suit it was unsuitable for an office environment. The trousers were tight but stretchy and it looked as if it belonged on a stage, which was precisely where the idea had originated when Robyn had seen an old music video on MTV. Agnetha Fältskog from Abba was singing The Winner Takes it All and she'd worn a similar suit but hers was purple and white.

When a much older Robyn confessed to her gay nanna that she'd had a girl crush on Agnetha her grandmother took her to see a friend who was a dressmaker. She'd been delighted with the suit but she still felt strange wearing it. Her grandmother had weakened suddenly a few months later and she had stayed by her side until the end, but her promise to wear the suit at her funeral was one she was forced to break when her mother forbade her from wearing that evil suit to a funeral filled with lesbians and sluts. Her father however had taken her to the graveside a week later on the promise she wear the suit and he'd deal with the fallout later.

Tonight she'd put on a white blouse under the jacket and in homage to her celebrity crush, left the top couple of buttons undone and folded the collar up. A black tie hung loosely from her neck and she pulled the knot down a little and then picked up her ankle boots as Scamp pushed the door open and trotted into the room followed by Erin.

"Wow, babe, you look fucking hot," Erin raised the glass of vodka. She was wearing a black dress with a flared skirt, the two wide straps left little to the imagination.

"So do you," she sat down and pulled a boot on.

"You're going to this gay meeting dressed like that?" Erin sat down as Scamp leapt onto the bed.

"It's not a gay meeting, it's just a bunch of women who talk," she zipped the boot up.

"Don't all women talk?"

"We do," she pulled the trouser leg over the boot, "but this is more... structured," she picked up the other boot, "they have themes."

"But they're all old bats though."

"No they're not, Penny looks about thirty and there's a twenty five year old woman," she picked up the other boot.

"Like I said, old bats," she took another sip just as Josie walked into the room and snapped her fingers at Scamp who was burrowing under the bedclothes.

"I heard that, Scamp, off!"

Scamp pulled his head out and stared at his mistress and his tail thumped a couple of times, but then he rose and walked to the edge of the bed, he gave his mistress a poor me look and then jumped off and shook himself.

"You look good enough to fuck," Josie eyed her, "my God, woman. You don't even look that good for Jeff."

"That's because Jeff might have to go home and change his pants," she zipped the boot up, "but there won't be any premature ejaculation at this barbie."

"Unless one of them is a tranny," Erin giggled.

Josie winced at that and stepped aside for Scamp.

"I'll be out at Matt's tonight, I've got the weekend off so if I don't see you before Sunday have a good one," she nodded at her.

"So, which shoulder is winning now?" Josie gave her the once over.

"I'm not sure," she admitted, "nanna was Penny's teacher in high school and I know there's at least one lesbian working there, maybe she's one too."

"I thought you said she was well dressed," Erin raised an eyebrow.

"My grandmother was one of the most elegant women in Warbie, she never went out without her makeup and clean clothes, and she was as camp as a row of tents," she patted her leg.

"You understand, don't you, babe."

Erin winced and looked down at her hand but Josie just burst out laughing as she backed out.

"You asked for that one, Erin."

Robyn let go of her leg and stood up.

"Relax," she patted her shoulder lightly, "I was just fucking with you."

Some ten minutes later she loaded the quiche she'd bought from Coles onto the back seat along with meat and a bottle of Coke but as she backed out she spotted the flowers across the road.

Flowers, she stared at them, Coles sell them, she shifted into first, it's only a minor detour.

***

A few of years ago on a work Christmas party Helen had been asked to name a song that summed up her life and without hesitating she'd said, "cigarettes and whiskey and wild, wild women." It had gotten a laugh from her co-workers although there was some tension behind the laughter because they all knew that she'd just named her three main vices. Helen smoked like a chimney preferring the roll your own tobacco and not a brand like Golden Virginia or Drum but the acrid taste of White Ox. Some of her colleagues thought it was because she perhaps liked to mix it with dope but Penny was of the opinion it was because that was the brand smoked in jail and Helen's other claim to fame was that she was the sister of famed armed robber, Rory McInnes aka the Tranny bandit who had gone on a crime spree during the early 90s. His preferred outfit when robbing banks, TABs and 7-11 stores was women's clothing and even the cops had been impressed at his ability to fool witnesses afterwards. He was now doing time out in H.M Barwon having been moved from Pentridge when it closed down.

Helen strolled casually out of the bottle shop that Friday evening with a slab of VB under her arm and three bottles of spirits in a plastic bag but as soon as she left the bottle shop she realised that she'd forgotten to buy tobacco. She was nearly going to turn around and head back into the bottle shop when she spotted a familiar figure at the stand alone tobacco stand wedged between the other checkouts in Coles.

Robyn was dressed in a suit that looked as if she was about to step onto a stage and Helen's pace slowed as she studied her. She had her head turned away as she put her pin number into the terminal but as Helen drew nearer she saw the flowers on the counter.

"You didn't have to go that far," Helen spoke up.

"Huh?" Robyn turned around as she pushed the terminal towards the girl on the other side, "oh, it's you," her eyes widened slightly, "a quiet night in, is it?"

"Kind of," she looked at the flowers, "a quiet night in is the right word," she smiled slyly.

"Sorry," she continued, "my bad."

"That's fine," she replied.

"Who're the flowers for?"

"Penny," she took her card from the girl and slipped it into her purse, "I'm going to one of her meetings."

"Ah, the women who talk," she rolled her eyes, "I was banned from that."

"Why?"

"I talk too much, no one else can get a word in edgeways."

"Well, maybe you should shut up and let someone else talk for a change," Robyn chuckled.

"Can't do that, I have too much to give," Helen countered.

"Like what?" Robyn's eyes narrowed.

"Whatever you want," she grinned, "a packet of white ox, thanks luv," she glanced at the woman.

"Okay," she picked up the receipt and put it into her purse, "I hope you find what you're looking for," she glanced at the bag of bottles, "have a good night," she picked up her flowers and purse and smiled as she turned to go.

"You too," Helen stared at her arse and as she walked away Robyn glanced over her shoulder and Helen felt as if she'd been struck by lightning.

What would it take to get my hands on that arse?

Robyn glanced around briefly as she left the store. Helen's coded references to having too much to give and whatever you want hadn't been lost on her. It was something guys said too but this was the first time a woman had come onto her like that. Her nanna's friends had been much older and they hadn't been so overtly sexual, nor were they interested in a teenage girl. She'd only known one gay girl in her age group, a girl from school who'd been a Goth and only interested in Goth girls, and Warburton wasn't Goth Central.

However although the lines had been somewhat clumsy and lewd, Robyn was still struck by the recklessness, confidence and complete lack of shame. She'd noticed the look in the girl's eyes when Helen approached, she'd looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights but she'd given as good as she got. What must it be like to have that confidence in displaying your sexual orientation. Her nanna had been forced to hide her sexuality behind vague euphemisms, my friend, a boarder, a woman who needs help. There were various ways of describing her girlfriends and it was only when she turned seventeen that Virginia finally admitted she was gay and had been for years.

"But in this town you keep your mouth shut about it and nobody asks questions."

She put all that out of her mind however as she turned onto the Mount Dandenong Tourist road and despite its hairpin bends and the treacherous chicane that always seemed too close to the edge, she felt an inner calmness spreading through her as she rose higher and higher until finally she turned onto Ridge Road and she was slowing down to look for house numbers, which wasn't an easy task because mailboxes were camouflaged by trees and bushes. She slowed as she neared a brightly painted Holden panel van that had a bumper sticker that read.

Honk if You're Horny.

The driver's side door opened and a youngish looking woman with long blonde hair got out and walked to the back of the van. She glanced briefly at her before opening the back tailgate to lift out a polystyrene tray of meat and a bottle of wine. As she closed it, Robyn inched forward and picked up the piece of paper beside her handbag and wound down her window.

"Excuse me," she came to a halt, "I'm looking for this address, Penny Jones?"

"No worries," the woman smiled at her, "just follow me," she stepped back, "be careful and don't go too close to the edge, it's a straight drop down the hill."

Robyn reversed back and then parked behind the van while the woman waited. She was wearing a white shirt that was open to above her cleavage and black leather trousers, she also wore a black leather biker's jacket, a brown cowboy hat and black biker's boots. She stared at Robyn's high heeled shoes and grinned rakishly.

"Brave girl."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see, the driveway's a bitch, my name's Kathy by the way," she extended her hand, who're the flowers for?"

"Robyn from Kilsyth but I'm originally from Warbie so I know all about walking down dirt roads in high heels and the flowers are for Penny."

"Righto," she stared at the chrysanthemums in her hand, "fair enough, what part of Kilsyth?"

"Anita Street."

"I'm in Montrose, just off Swansea Road, so, how did you get an invite?"

"From Penny," she replied, "I met her at the office."

"You work there?"

"In Croydon, the real estate agent near the arcade."

"Arcade?" Kathy frowned, "Hewish Road?"

"Yep," she glanced at her, "so, what do you do?"

"Painting," she replied, "I'm a spray painter and panel beater, two years into my apprenticeship."

"Okay," she turned to look at the van and noticed the Wonder Woman mural, "your work?"

"Yeah, the other side hasn't been started yet but," they started walking down the road.

By the time they got to the house she'd learned that not only was she a spray painter and panel beater, she also played rhythm guitar for a local band, Blizzard and was currently living with a girl called Melissa who'd recently come out to her homophobic, Christian family. Kathy was twenty three years old and Melissa was twenty one. She didn't mention that she was a Christian though, but thankfully Kathy didn't ask.

Kathy was impressed by the ease with which she negotiated the steep, curving driveway that doubled back on itself at the house. Part of it peeled off towards the edge of another steep drop and the other part continued on for the length of the house. She could see how the combination of the two drives meant Penny could essentially reverse back and turn, and then drive straight up to the road twenty or thirty feet above them.

The two-storey house had been impressive enough from the road, the tin roof had a large centre section with two peaks set at right angles to form wings. However at one end an octagonal section rose to form a low tower, with windows all around. The walls were made of mud brick wedged in between what looked to be telephone poles and that proved to be the case as they reached the level ground. Directly in front of her there was a wooden walkway that wrapped around two sides of the house and Kathy assured her it went around the whole house as they stepped onto the walkway. Robyn nodded as she touched the wooden railing, her heels click clacked on the boards and she noted the verandah was made of Western Red cedar. Someone had tried their hand at embossing the railing with a soldering iron because there were runic symbols all the way along it.

Penny's front door was a double door made from planks of light coloured wood joined together by wrought iron bands. A large door knocker shaped like a ring hung in the middle but then she saw the button off to one side and Kathy pressed it as Robyn turned to look at the embankment behind her, it had been strengthened by a retaining wall made of concrete cribs and sleepers and then she heard the door opening and turned to find herself looking at Penny.

Penny was dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a white blouse that was opened to her belly, she wore a black tee shirt under it and a long cardigan loosely tied in the middle, a pair of Ugg boots completed her outfit. She was standing inside what looked to be an enclosed porch, there was a wall made of split logs some ten feet behind her and two walls on other side but they didn't extend all the way to the directly in front of her. There was an archway however to Robyn's right, she could hear the rise and fall of conversation and laughter.

"Hey, welcome girls," she smiled at them.

"I think I'm a bit overdressed," she looked down at herself.

"Oh, I don't know," she studied her for a moment, "I'm impressed you made it all the way down my drive in those heels, I see you've met Kathy. She's our youngest member."

"Not anymore," Kathy stepped inside, "she's nearly twenty one."

Penny smiled at that as they stepped inside and then Robyn handed her the flowers.

"These are for you," Robyn held the flowers out as if they were a bomb.

"For me?" Penny's eyes widened, "why, thank you. I can't remember the last time someone bought me flowers," she closed the door behind them.

"Come on through and meet the others."

"I'll take these through to the barbie," Kathy held up her tray of meat.

"Sure, no worries," she nodded.

Kathy headed across the slate floor and through the arch followed by Penny and Robyn and as they reached the arch Robyn glanced to her left to look at the passageway extending past the wall to her left to form a room. She could see another arch as well and she turned to her right briefly to see that the passageway came to an end, there was another room directly to her right. She followed her into a large living room and Robyn came to a dead stop, momentarily, to take it all in.