Saturday, January 23, 2010

23. Mornng smoko


For the life of her, Marie could not work out the attraction. What did Helen hope to gain from her acquaintance? Yes, she may just be a lovely, friendly woman who treated all folks equally. But this was ridiculous – they were in different stratospheres. How did the song go, “I say tom-ay-toes” and you say “tom-ah-toes”. Andrea went to Ascham, followed by Arts/Law at Sydney, then into Blake Dawson with the offer of a partnership in her early thirties. Whereas Marie slugged through Retail Sales 101 at the local TAFE to spend the next seventeen years helping women like Helen choose the latest silk-linen ¾ sleeve number off the rack at David Lawrence.

And here she was in the lane, puffing away to calm her nerves. Each day another poster sloshed up and others tagged. Riff raff. That was her station in life. Gym partner or no, this must stop.

6 comments:

myletterstoemily said...

there are limits, after all! :)

Joan Elizabeth said...

Julie, I like the description of the "differences".

I like the description of Marie in the laneway puffing at her smoke. However, that was not clear until I linked with the title. I originally thought Marie and Helen were jogging (because of the gym reference) but couldn't figure out how that would calm her nerves or which gym partner had to stop.It was all a bit of a puzzle to me for a while but I got it in the end.

Like the Riff Raff link with image.

Julie said...

Ah, so what is so clear in my imagination, must be made clearer in the passage. This is what I miss each time. Taa ...

That typo in the title gives me the irrits ...

diane b said...

I'm sorry but you lost me in this one, but then I have other things on my mind right now like preparing dinner for 12.

Vicki said...

This worked for me. Two women on different life paths ending up on opposite sides of the same fence. I felt Marie’s angst, sensed her dilemma.

No reason why people in different stratospheres shouldn’t be friends, though.

BTW you can edit titles and posts through the dashboard or customise>>posting tab.

Julie said...

Edit titles and posts through the dashboard.