Well-behaved Women by Emily Paull

Author:Emily Paull
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Margaret River Press

PICNIC AT GREENS POOL

It felt like we had been banished to the bottom of the world. Tegan drove most of the way because it was her car, and because she got nervous being in the passenger seat on those long stretches where the speed limit was 110. I controlled the radio. For a while, I switched between the CDs I’d found in the folder beneath the seat and a podcast I had downloaded to my phone. After the first few hours, I turned it off completely so we could talk. We talked about a lot of things, but we didn’t talk about what had happened.

We made it to Albany in the early evening. It was no longer the peak period, though it was still technically summer. The dusty four-wheel drives with Perth number plates were all gone, and the campervans were few and far between.

My dad’s beach house was on a steep hill overlooking the harbour. It was mine—ours—so long as I did all the cleaning and maintenance work that he’d listed and, I suspected, stayed down there until he felt that he could look me in the eye again. Tegan’s parents hadn’t cared where she went, as long as it was away, and she was going to go and live with her great-aunt in Joondalup for a while, until I suggested she come with me.

I’d been instructed to paint the house and shampoo the carpets, but the first day we were there, we decided it was too hot and we couldn’t be bothered. Tegan slept late, her long, muscular legs spread out over half of the bed. I woke early and tiptoed out to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea. When it had brewed, I took it out onto the balcony, which looked down the hill towards the port. I’d slept in all my rings, and there was a dent in my face from one of the bigger ones where I’d slept leaning on my hand. After the drive, I hadn’t changed out of my clothes, only shucked off my jeans and slipped my bra out from under my shirt, pulling one strap out of my sleeve and then the other.

On the coffee table in the living room, I found an old paperback copy of Robinson Crusoe. I tried to read it while I waited, but I’d never read a duller book. Soon, I gave up, and stared out at the wind farm visible on the cliffs surrounding the bay.

Tegan emerged around lunchtime. She was already wearing her bathers. Her skin was the colour of thick honey. Her tiny bikini top barely held her breasts. Joining me on the balcony, she folded her arms across them.

‘I guess I’ve grown a little,’ she said.

I shrugged, grinning into the last mouthful of my tea.

‘Beach, then?’ she asked, coming to stand behind me, and massaging my shoulders.

‘Sure. But it will be freezing.’

‘Wuss.’

* * *

We drove out to Denmark, to Greens Pool. It seemed strange, to drive for an hour through fields of hay and cows and sheep to get to the ocean.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.