Sunday Girl

by Ella Craig

  ‘Kath, have you been drinking?’

  ‘I had a couple at lunchtime, Jenny.’ Kath gurgled into the telephone.

  ‘And to what do I owe this pleasure? I haven’t heard from you in weeks.’

  ‘Over a month actually. How is Jim’s research project getting on?’

  ‘We are putting the finishing touches on the report now.’

  ‘Did everything go well?’

  ‘Very well, in fact, better than we expected. How did your exams go?’

  ‘No sweat, I sat my last one today. How is Jim?’

  ‘He’s OK,’ said Jenny. ‘Jesus, I can’t take much more of this. What do you want?’

  ‘I just called for a chat,’ Kath’s voice wavered a little. ‘We are still friends, aren’t we?’

  ‘Of course, we are, you dozy bint, but stop playing silly buggers and talk to me like a normal person.’ Same old Jenny, thank goodness, some things never change.

  ‘I missed you, Jennifer O’Driscoll, and I am sorry for ignoring you. It was unforgivable of me.’

  ‘Kathy, I forgive you.’ Was Jenny laughing at her? ‘I know things have not been easy for you lately. I guessed you needed space and besides, I figured you were busy with your college work.’

  ‘That is all over now, and I’m footloose and fancy-free. What are you doing this evening?’

  ‘Today is Mickey’s birthday, remember? He and Allie are having a party at their place.’

  ‘Oh!’

  ‘What do you mean “oh”?’

  ‘I don’t think that is such a hot idea.’

  ‘Why on earth not?’

  ‘I doubt if Mickey has forgiven me after what I did to Miles.’

  ‘He was angry at first, but not now,’ said Jenny. ‘People still think of you, and they often ask after you.’

  ‘They don’t ask me to their parties,’ grumbled Kath.

  ‘Don’t be such a sourpuss. You should have known we’d do something for Mickey’s birthday. Are you coming?’

  ‘It’s too soon. I can’t face everyone yet.’

  ‘Don’t be daft. They would love to see you again. They are your friends.’ Jenny tried to coax her out.

  ‘Liz said you all sent me to Coventry.’

  ‘You don’t want to listen to Liz,’ said Jenny. ‘Admittedly you weren’t the flavour of the month for a while. I did my best for you, not that you were around to appreciate my efforts, you ungrateful cow! They wouldn’t listen to me, said I was biased, but Miles came to the rescue and brought them to their senses.’

  Miles? He didn’t hate her. Kath breathed a silent prayer of thanks. ‘How is he?’

  ‘I wondered when you would ask. Miles always asks after you, when he writes. Although there has been little to say recently and before hope springs eternal, be warned, he’s mentioned a certain Laura once or twice in despatches.’ Kath heeded the warning, and a small lead weight attached itself to her heart, it looked like it might be there for some time.

  ‘So, how is everyone? What’s been going on in my absence?’

  ‘Ah-ah, you don’t get information out of me that easily. You can find out at the party tonight.’

  ‘Don’t try to bribe me; I’m not going.’

  ‘Cowardly custard,’ jeered Jenny. ‘Scaredy-cat!’

  ‘Shut-up,’ Kath couldn’t help laughing. ‘How about this for an idea, find out when the women are free and ask them if they want to come over to my place. We can have a girls’ night and paint each other’s toenails.’

  ‘Excellent idea, I’ll arrange something for me, Sue, Allie and Liz.’

  ‘Especially Liz, you know how close we are.’ They exploded with laughter. ‘And don’t forget Julie, I have some ironing she can do.’

  ‘Don’t be bitchy about my sister-in-law; that is my job.’

  ‘Try to organise something for next weekend. Pay them if you must, but make sure they all turn up.’

  ‘Kath, only your stupid imagination stopped you from being friends. They’ll be there.’

  ‘I know, but my track record this past year is, to put it bluntly, lousy. If I didn’t ignore them, they ignored me.’ Kath said it with humour, not pathos.

  ‘Well, I’m going to ignore you now. Do you realise how long we’ve been on the phone? I’m all behind, as the fat lady said. You enjoy a boring evening in on your own, and I’ll fix up our girls’ night. Cheers m’dear.’

  ‘Bye.’ Kath put the phone down and leapt to her feet. Her evening would not be boring, not with her relaunch into society to plan. She hummed a tuneless monotone as she searched for a pen and a piece of paper to make a list of things to do and buy. Two minutes later, she stopped writing, tore up the list, and threw it in the bin.

  ‘Just wing it, you daft twit.’

  She danced a jig around the kitchen and tried to twirl the pen around her fingers. Her buoyant mood left her restless, and she thought about crashing Mickey’s party but decided to go for a walk over the Hoe instead.

  i will survive

  Kath nailed a red brocade curtain over the lounge door and hooked it to one side with a length of gold braid. She stepped back and admired her handiwork, still no door but better than manky blankets. She tossed the hammer in her bucket of cleaning stuff, shoved the lot under the sink, and surveyed the results of a day of hard work.

  Her flat gleamed, with the floors and walls scrubbed clean, and every surface polished to within an inch of its life. Open windows let in the warm June air to dry her freshly washed curtains, and bowls of flowers added a homely touch. They also helped mask the acrid reek of the vinegar she used to remove the blooms of mould from the place, but nothing could disguise the smell of nervous sweat.

  To say she was apprehensive would be an understatement. Kath’s unease grew as she carried out her last few preparations. With shaking hands, she laid plates of food, wrapped in Clingfilm on the coffee table. A hostess trolley liberated from the shop downstairs made an ideal mobile bar, but she smashed two glasses wheeling it into position. She swept up the mess, took another shower and perched on the edge of the sofa, wondering what to do before her first guests arrived. She only had two hours to wait. This was more nerve-wracking than a first date; Kath mixed a weak gin and tonic and pretended to watch television.

  Jenny arrived first.

  ‘There is enough time for a strong drink and an even stronger spliff.’

  She ignored Kath’s protestations and inflicted both on her. Thanks to Jenny ministrations, Kath relaxed and greeted her guests without embarrassment, the perfect host, taking coats and wheeling around the drinks trolley. Until Jenny announced, ‘Kath wants to say something.’

  ‘I do?’

  ‘Why else did you invite us all?’ Jenny nodded encouragement, lit a cigarette, and plonked herself on the window seat. ‘Don’t be shy; we are all friends here, so, shoot.’

  Kath stared at Allie and Sue sat on the settee with the same looks of eager anticipation on their faces. Liz sprawled in the armchair and eyed her in a cool, analytical way. Only Julie ignored her as she made herself comfortable on the floor cushions. ‘I hope these are clean.’

  ‘Everything is,’ Kath told her. ‘Does anyone need another drink?’

  Liz raised her full glass. ‘We only just got here. Stop stalling, say what you have to say and put us out of our misery.’

  ‘I feel like a sacrificial virgin,’ Kath lowered herself on to an overstuffed pouffe. ‘OK, here goes, I guess I need to explain why things didn’t work out between me and Miles. I was seeing someone else at the same time.’ She noted with dismay that no one received this piece of news with any shock. ‘He was a married man.’ That moved them. Julie looked as if Kath had shown her photographs of dead babies while Allie and Sue exchanged surprised glances. Liz raised an eyebrow as if to say, I didn’t know you had it in you.

  ‘I was such an idiot,’ Kath admitted. ‘I fell for the oldest line in the book: my wife...’

  ‘...doesn’t understand me,’ they chorused.

/>   Kath gave them a foolish grin. ‘By the time I realised my mistake, it was too late, and Miles had gone.’ Simple words to explain a far from simple situation. She hoped it was enough for them to understand what happened.

  ‘What about Darren?’ Trust Liz to stick in her oar.

  ‘I have no idea why I went out with him. Darren is not my type, too intense and too impatient. He wanted commitment, and I didn’t. How is he getting on, Liz?’

  ‘Fine, he’s been seeing some girl for the past couple of weeks. I think she may be the one for him.’ Cool as a cucumber, did this woman never get riled?

  ‘Is that why you gave up karate?’ Jenny called from her perch in the window.

  ‘Yes, I’d gone as far as I cared to go. It was fun whilst it lasted, but I missed John, we needed to spend more time together.’ Liz spoke with a silky-smooth voice that did not invite comments.

  ‘That is what it is like when you love someone; you want to be with them all the time.’ Julie spoke with conviction not noticing the undertones in the conversation. ‘But sometimes you must make sacrifices and let him do his own thing.’

  ‘Bollocks!’ snorted Kath, turning on Julie, one of life’s natural victims. ‘Love is when you stop behaving like a prat and treating him like a pet dog.’

  ‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Julie’s nostrils flared in feminine rage.

  ‘Yes, do tell us, Kath, we are all ears,’ said Liz.

  Kath threw her a sulphurous look before addressing Julie. ‘Whenever a group of women talk about their men, it sounds like a dog training class.’ She assumed a smug, girly voice. ‘I got my Gary to give up his Wednesday football training night to come down the gym with me instead. Then someone else will say; I stopped my Steve from going for a drink with the lads Saturday lunchtimes, we do the shopping instead. Give them six months, and they’ll be single again.’

  ‘Kath, you are so cynical.’ Julie turned pink from being the centre of attention, but she carried on determined to speak her piece. ‘If you realised, you have to make compromises and give things up to be together you might still have a man.’

  ‘Even if he was someone else’s,’ chimed in Liz.

  There was a moment of shocked silence, followed by a few nasty sniggers and cries of ‘out of order’, and ‘below the belt’.

  ‘No, Kath’s right.’ Jenny shouted to make herself heard. ‘If I tried to stop Jim going to band practice, he’d soon piss off and leave me. Likewise, there is no way I am going to sacrifice everything for him, no matter how much he means to me.’

  ‘But you must spend so much time apart,’ said Julie. ‘How can your relationship grow if you don’t practice togetherness?’

  The sound of vomiting greeted the last remark.

  ‘We practice togetherness with plenty of rampant sex.’

  A chorus of raucous catcalls rattled the windows.

  ‘Shut up, I am being serious,’ roared Jenny. ‘You need to do things apart, otherwise what else do you find to talk about?’

  ‘Can’t be a problem for you two if you spend your time shagging each other,’ observed Kath.

  ‘But what are you going to do when that loses its novelty?’ queried Allie.

  ‘You do what everyone else does.’

  ‘What’s that, Sue?’

  ‘Start a family!’

  ‘Quick someone, check her temperature.’

  ‘Send a taxi for Dan; Sue needs him here double-quick.’

  ‘Don’t panic; I keep a jar of sperm on me for when Dan’s not available.’

  ‘You are not using my icing syringe, I’ll tell you that for nothing,’ said Kath.

  ‘You don’t have a jar of... you don’t, do you?’ Julie disappeared under a barrage of cushions and cheese rolls.

  ‘Oy, stop throwing food around,’ barked Kath. ‘Pick up this mess, please.’

  ‘Now what’s the matter with you?’ Julie plucked lumps of pickle from the floor and wrapped them in a napkin.

  ‘It’s this talk of rumpy-pumpy,’ said Kath, ‘If I don’t get it at least once a week I consider myself sex starved.’

  ‘You must be in the middle of a famine,’ screeched Liz.

  Kath noticed Jenny sitting cat-like in the window. It dawned on Kath that by Jenny forcing her to talk; everyone was bickering and joking as if the last few months never happened. Where would she be without her? She gave her the thumbs up, and Jenny saluted her with her cigarette.

  ‘Right, who wants another drink?’ Kath pushed the trolley into the centre of the room. ‘Hold out your glasses and nod at your bottle of choice.’ She poured out huge measures not caring how much she spilt or insisting on coasters. ‘Another fruit juice, Sue? Are you up the duff at last?’

  Kath meant it as a joke, but Sue blushed. ‘I hope so because I’m four weeks late.’ She couldn’t hide the excitement in her voice. ‘Every time I come out of the toilet, Dan is waiting to see if I’ve come on, and so far so good.’

  ‘You marvellous creature.’ Allie swamped her sister with hugs and kisses. ‘I’m sure you are. When will you do a test?’

  ‘We wanted to wait another week. Fingers crossed, but next Wednesday is when I take my tub of widdle to the doctors. Don’t you dare tell mum yet.’ Sue rounded on her sister.

  ‘Don’t worry; I won’t. Will you get married if you are? That would make her day.’

  ‘We were thinking of September in case I’m too big for Dan to carry me over the threshold.’

  ‘This is a night of surprises,’ said Kath, ‘Liz back with John, and Sue possibly pregnant and getting married. Please tell me there are no further revelations to come because I don’t think I can take much more.’

  ‘You’d better brace yourself because in two months’ time Jim will leave for America. He’s got a teaching post at Seattle University in Washington.’

  ‘And you’re going with him?’ Kath asked, already knowing the answer.

  ‘I’ll be going in September to do a master’s degree in social research, but not in Seattle. I shall be studying at the University of Portland in Oregon, which, for your information, is about a three-hour drive from Seattle.’

  ‘You are one lucky sod,’ sighed Allie.

  ‘Make sure you rent a two-bedroom place, so friends can stay over,’ said Liz.

  They toasted Jenny and cried out for more drinks.

  ‘Shite, we’re out of gin.’ Kath gaped with dismay at the trolley. ‘I am so sorry.’

  ‘You and me both.’ Liz elbowed her out of the way. ‘Hmm, vodka, cherry brandy and vermouth, leave this to me.’

  While Liz made her ghastly cocktail, Kath joined Jenny at the window.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Even to her own ears, Kath sounded like an aggrieved wife.

  ‘You haven’t been around much to tell you anything.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Kath mumbled.

  ‘Stop apologising, but if it makes you feel any better, we told no one our plans because we didn’t want to jinx it. Jim thought he wouldn’t stand a chance. He suffered four interviews by video-link and nearly exploded with delight when they offered him the job. This is what he wants to do.’

  ‘And you really want to go with him?’ (Please don’t leave me; I can’t lose both you and Miles.)

  ‘I want to be with Jim, and I’m not the little woman following her man around. We talked it through. Jim is on a three-year contract, and I could wait here for him, but studying over there won’t do any harm to my career prospects. Besides, I want to go; I need to break away and do something different, build a whole new way of life.’ Jenny spoke with the fervour of the newly converted.

  ‘I am devastated; we grew up together, losing you will be like losing part of me.’

  ‘Likewise,’ Jenny gave her a crooked smile.

  ‘You are one lucky and clever cow with your man, a career and, most important of all, choices.’

  ‘No luck involved only careful planning.’

  ‘Jennifer O’Driscoll, do you realise how je
alous of you I am?’

  ‘This is the chance of a lifetime opportunity, and neither of us is going to miss it.’ Jenny was firm on that.

  ‘When do you think you’ll go out there?’

  ‘By the end of August, it will be a shame if I miss Sue and Dan’s wedding, but I am itching to go.’

  ‘Good luck, you old bag,’ Kath blinked to hold back the tears that threatened to come. ‘Give ‘em hell.’

  ‘Kathryn, if you cry, I’ll slap you. Don’t you dare get maudlin on me.’ Jenny patted Kath’s cheek. ‘I will be sad to go, but it’s time I tried something new. Everything has to change.’

  ‘Take this Kath; you appear in need of a drink.’ Liz handed her a glass.

  ‘This is disgusting.’ Kath coughed and spluttered.

  ‘Make the most of it; all we have left is beer, rum and a bottle of Blue Nun. Who is responsible for bringing that monstrosity?’

  Julie raised her hand. ‘I did, but the man in the shop recommended it.’

  ‘Try a different off-licence next time,’ commanded Liz. ‘Kath, do you have any fruit juice, nutmeg and lemons? Excellent, I shall make a rum punch.’

  ‘What about a few drinking games?’ Sue piped up. ‘Due to my possible pregnancy, I will stick to lemonade, and I propose we play spin the bottle.’

  Liz passed Sue the now empty wine bottle.

  ‘Thanks, right, everyone in a circle. The rules are simple; the bottle spinner asks the question, and anyone who doesn’t answer has to down a glass of punch. Here we go.’

  The bottle stopped in front of Julie, who looked at Sue with dread in her eyes.

  ‘How often do you have sex with Dave?’

  Kath leaned forward with interest, fully expecting Julie to refuse to answer.