Women Who Talk Pt. 01

"That's pretty extreme," Mary broke in.

"The mother certainly sounds extreme," Penny nodded, "but I'm not her mum."

"Neither am I," Cindy replied, "but I've put myself out there for her, we're just talking about cutting patterns and sewing panels together but right now she needs positive role models, and she gravitates towards you."

"I did notice that," she looked down at the floor, "so, what do you suggest?"

"Give her what she wants," Cindy replied.

Penny raised her eyebrows at that.

"Someone to talk to, a sounding board if you like."

Cindy leaned forward and looked into the fire.

"Offer to meet up with her on a weekly basis and answer questions, at least between now and the next meeting. It gives you a chance to sound her out for a start and let her clarify her position. Let her ask questions, I mean the woman's actively searching for answers and I can tell you she's more like her grandmother than her mother."

"All right, I'll do it but it's a temporary thing, I think she's too young for me and right now I'm not in a good place when it comes to that sort of thing. I'll give her all the advice she needs and after that we'll see which way she jumps but I am not and will never get into a race to the finish with anyone, including Helen."

"Whatever but no one says anything needs to happen at all, just leave an open door. It's not a case of convincing her that she likes women, I think she's already made that clear enough but right now she needs to feel secure. Let her walk into your rooms and explore all the nooks and crannies. She needs to see that we're not all sex mad."

"And if she decides to take it further?"

"You're a twenty nine year old woman, I'm sure you can work out what to do next."

Penny nodded and moved away from the fire to sit down next to Mary and for a minute or so there was nothing to hear but the crackling flames.

"There is something more important we need discuss though," she put her hands between her legs and looked up at Cindy.

"What's that?"

"That spare room up there, the junk room. I've been talking about gutting it for the last couple of years but nothing happens because every time it's kind of cleaned out, I just fill it full of new shit and we're right back where we started, unless," she stared out the window.

"It gets used for another purpose," she continued, "like a sewing room. I can't fill it full of shit if it's already full of someone else's shit."

"Oh," Cindy straightened up, "oh, shit. This was unexpected."

"I didn't say anything in front of the girls because I didn't want to put you on the spot, and before we come to any agreement I'd need to get a quote for furnishing it with shelves and benches."

"You're serious?" Cindy stared at Mary who had also looked at Penny.

"She's serious," Mary pulled a wry grin.

"I'd need to go home and look at my books first, if you're putting down money then I need to look at what I can put towards it."

"Whatever, it won't be much to refurbish, I've got Trevor in mind but it'll be small change when I compare it with what I'm thinking of spending. I'm even thinking of central heating, I got another brochure in my junk mail collection tonight and now that my share of Auntie May's inheritance has finally come through I may just pull the pin and spend some of it."

"Okay, I'm not saying okay let's do it but I am saying okay I'm going to give it some thought," she looked up in the direction of the junk room, "it is twice as big as the room I've got now."

They talked some more before Cindy and Mary left, but as she turned out the lights and headed up the stairs to bed she'd already examined one of her walls. It was up there for a reason, to protect her from gold digging women but it had also kept honest women at bay. Maybe it was time to look at making a door in the wall.

***

Helen McInnes stared at the back of the door to her home office. The front of the door just had a sign saying Office over another sign that read Private, it was one of the only internal doors to have its own Yale lock. Other doors like the bedroom and bathrooms had the standard latching system but the presence of the more sturdier Yale lock merely added emphasis to the signs. There were only two keys, one was on her keyring and the other was on the spare keyring hanging by the front door and the only person to set foot in here was Penny. The reasoning behind that lay in the contents of the bookshelves that covered two walls, the one in front and the one to her right.

They were filled with large folders, each one labelled and numbered by volume and year or both, which were filled with catalogues from real estate and boats through to the more mundane items that people bought to convince their partners that they were on the up and up. Whenever Penny looked at a settlement from a lawyer representing the other party she always asked her client for a list of goods and chattels owned either solely or in partnership. Knowing this, the lawyers on the opposing side tried to get their clients to underestimate the value, usually the resale value of a house and that's where Penny would drop by to have a look in the appropriate folder to check actual values against estimated values. It had been a genius move on her part because on more than one occasion she'd uncovered potential tax evasion that had sent the other lawyer scuttling back to their clients with 'suggestions.'

Admittedly though, Helen had gone full OCD with her catalogues. Penny was primarily interested in property values and occasionally luxury items like boats and high end sports cars, which might convince a judge that the husband wasn't doing as poorly as he claimed.

The office was also used as a retreat because it was furthest away from the traffic on Swansea Road and overlooked the backyard. Two pine trees in the back yard further limited the views of curious neighbours making the room darker than the spare bedroom at the other end of the passageway. It was in this place however where she mapped out her next conquest and whilst she was 'going out' with Roxy, her attention had been aroused by Robyn. What had started with an appreciation for her physical beauty and youth had become much deeper and was now beginning to turn into something of a fixation.

Some ten minutes later she printed the page out and studied it. A smile nudged her lips as she stared at her work, she had a feeling that this would be her greatest triumph yet.

A few minutes later she picked up the Trading Post she'd bought yesterday. The paper was one of the most popular in Melbourne because it was filled with listings of things people wanted to sell, with a small section for things people wanted. Just about everything under the sun was listed, if it was legal to own it then the Trading Post advertised it. Only guns had been removed after the recent spate of massacres in recent years. However, it was her bible and as she flipped through to the craft section her eyes alighted on a listing for pattern books. There were several and she circled it and then leaned back as she stared at the bookshelf and began to map out her approach.

To be continued...