This is an extract from my book. Carol and Bev meet an unscrupulous landlord.
Carol
rang the bell. A woman of about
thirty-five with curly, strawberry blonde hair and freckles opened the
door. She was wearing baggy yellow
trousers and a cheesecloth shirt, bangles and bracelets and lots of rings. We
were not expecting any of this.
‘Hello. What a
lovely day. You must be Bev and
Carol. Please come in. Watch out for the cat.’ She jangled when she moved, like my auntie
Vera used to. She wasn’t a real
auntie. I mean, she was real, but not
my auntie.
We stepped over a ball of happy,
black fur and waited politely in a large spangly hallway. It was a house where the cat would be more
important than us. There were mirrors and tapestries, a glass lamp on a shiny
black table engraved with elephants, a Buddha carved in wood and standing
almost three feet tall, and a framed proverb hanging above it that said: ‘Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the
truth.’
‘Oh, don’t mind that. Adil thinks we should constantly strive for
spiritual fulfilment. My name is
Ursula. Pleased to meet you.’ We shook
hands and I bowed.
‘I like your house.’ I blurted, in the short confused silence
that followed.
‘Yes.
It’s not bad, is it? Would you
both like a cup of tea? The lounge is
through here, I won’t be a sec. Make yourselves comfortable.’
The lounge was sumptuous, with sofas thick with padding and strewn
with silky-bright cushions. Exotic
paintings in colours rich enough to make you squint hung on the walls;
expensive looking rugs layered the floor and adorned the walls and a large
stone fireplace of intricate design housed a roaring log fire. It was light and cosy and I wondered whether
we would be kidnapped and sold as slaves to rich Indian men who wanted a bit of
western promise.
‘Weird,’ Carol whispered.
‘Yeah.
Like some kind of palace.’ I
whispered back. Carol raised her top
lip and rolled her eyes.
‘Shall we sit down?’ I suggested in a more normal voice, now that
I remembered we were alone.
‘She said to make ourselves comfortable,’
Carol said.
We sat on the edge of the largest sofa. I could feel the muscles in my buttocks
tensing so I did a few pelvic floor exercises.
Shame not to. I had read about what happened to women if they neglected
to maintain their intimate muscles. Ursula returned with a tray of tea as I was
in mid clench and I smiled serenely as she carried it towards us.
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