Siren by Rachel Matthews

Author:Rachel Matthews
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780995359598
Publisher: Transit Lounge

CHAPTER 21

Ruby’s coupled-up friends were perplexed by her single life. Don’t you get lonely, Rubes? Tired of these interrogations, she saw them infrequently. She couldn’t bear their sanctimonious tones, especially when Ruby knew that not all of them were happy. Some married men flirted with her at barbecues. Her bored friends changed their hairstyles every month and went to Bali for girls’ trips, sucking on cocktails and bitching about their husbands.

‘Your friends mean well,’ said her mum. ‘They’re just worried. You are getting on.’

‘I worry about some of them,’ Ruby snapped.

She tried online dating. The cyber world of romance was a strange place. She was amazed by the profiles. There were men holding Rottweilers or standing on the edge of cliffs, some sitting on their cars and the occasional bare chest. And the names – DreamGuy, SagittarianSpunk, HotInTheCot. Some wore shirts buttoned up to the neck, tagging themselves as hopeless romantics.

But she’d heard some good things, too. Clara, a woman at work, married a great guy she’d met online. It took energy and guts to be there, and a lot of patience. Clara said it was the law of frequency that got the results in the end.

Ruby’s online chats became twisted games. She’d turn off the computer and wake the next morning to listen to the clinking sound of a lone spoon inside her cereal bowl.

Now it was midweek, and she sat at her computer, drinking an immune-boosting berry tonic recommended by her herbalist. She logged in to the singles’ chat room, staring at the screen with heavy eyes.

Someone called Dreamweaver sent her a message. Within five minutes, he asked her if she wanted to see his massive boner.

Ruby logged off. Stepping into her slate-blue and chrome bathroom, she splashed water on her face and flicked on the radio. A live cross to a press conference about another sinking asylum seeker boat. ‘A tragedy,’ said the prime minister.

Back in the lounge room, she opened her laptop and watched a news video – floating bodies bobbed up and down like plastic bottles. A woman from Pakistan was interviewed. ‘Yes, we are lucky we could buy plane tickets,’ she said. ‘But remember this is our home. It wasn’t easy to leave. Our house was bombed two times. And I ask anyone, what would you do?’

The talkback calls started. ‘I’ve got nothin’ against ’em. I mean, good luck to ’em, but won’t it put more people on the dole?’ ‘Both parties should be ashamed! These are human beings! I’m voting for the Sex Party!’

A YouTube video showed a child being pulled out of the ocean. Ruby saw the tiny swollen lips of the girl, and her bulging eyes. She heard the sobbing of the rescue worker as she lay the tiny body down. She shut the browser and opened up her email. You Didn’t Win – Suckitup Underwear from eBay.

Ruby jumped to the sound of knocking on her door. It was just after 9 p.m. She walked over to look through the security peephole.

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