Page 86 of Queenslander
A soft knock on the door.
“Come in.”
Nev stepped in, sized up the situation, and shut the door behind her. “Can I join you?”
“Please.”
Nev undressed, folding clothes that smelled like woodsmoke and lining them up on the bench smallest to largest. Ronnie stepped into the steamy shower and turned the heat down from scalding to hot before Nev joined her. They took turns under the stream, keeping a respectful distance apart, not touching. Ronnie averted her eyes like she would if she was showering with a friend in the locker room after football practice.
In the master bedroom they sat in the big bed under the fluffy white duvet and listened to Chopin. Women’s football on the telly, muted, with subtitles. Ronnie sprawled on her back with her head on her arm.
“Is this all right?” she asked. As she asked, her phone vibrated. Incoming call from Maude.
Nev glanced up from her book, watched her send the call to voicemail, but made no comment. “Do you need anything?”
“I’m good. You sure you don’t mind?”
“What do you need?” Nev asked.
“Nothing.”
“Tell me if that changes.”
Ronnie took over-the-counter painkillers, drank water. “You didn’t like being down there.”
Nev shook her head. Ronnie hadn’t either.
The older woman set her phone on the bedside table and slid her reading glasses up into her hair.
Ronnie put a hot water bottle on her stomach, Nev’s hand warm on her knee. There was still so much they were not saying, maybe never would say about that night down by the creek. The night she almost died. Technically, maybe she had died.
It wasn’t clear why Nev had reacted as if the loss was her own. That was Nev’s personality, to be responsible for things.
Like a nocturnal animal, the older woman wasn’t always there in the day, or if she was she wasn’t always on the right foot, but she was there at night, in the ugliness and pain. Nev was the veteran in the darkness, found it beautiful, saw more clearly at night, knew all the hidden paths and ways. When traveling in a foreign country, hire a local guide. Nev was that interpreter.
Ronnie’s phone rang. It was Rainbow’s number. Ronnie answered. “Hiya, babe. What’s going on?” She glanced at Nev, who was reading a James Baldwin book.
Rainbow’s voice. “Hi.”
The burn started in Ronnie’s chest, then travelled to her throat and eyes. She cradled the phone against her ear. “Everything good?” She really needed to figure out video calling.
“Are you feeling better?”
“Much better today. I’m at Stone House with Nev. We went hiking.”I’m sore but it was worth it. Worth it to feel human again.
“Where?”
“Down to Lazy Creek. We had a fire.”
“You shouldn’t have done that, mum. Don’t do too much. You’re not superwoman. You need to take it slow.”
“Thanks, babe. What did you do today? You had school? What did you do in soccer practice?”
“Drills.”
“Which ones?”
“Lots of stuff. Foot work. Sprints.”
