and pulls the monitor round.
On screen there’s a website with photos of the latest Suzuki motorbike. Maria is confused. Dezzie and Brian are helpless with laughter.
‘Ha! You did it Brian! Got her a beauty!’
Dezzie unfolds Brian’s arm, holds it above his head and delivers a high five. They giggle for ages, each setting the other off again, until eventually they begin to sober up.
‘Sorry Maria, he’s only winding you up,’ says Dezzie.
Maria presses her hand to her chest, relieved not to have looked upon other women’s vaginal lips in the presence of Dezzie. Marriage would be out of the question after that.
‘Nice one! She totally fell for it, didn’t she?’
‘Brian. One. Maria. Nil.’
Maria feels herself blush. There are two ways of looking at this:
1. Dezzie has, albeit unconventionally, empowered Brian, helping him express his mischievous personality in a prank, or
2. He’s broken ranks by siding with a client against a member of staff (the most heinous centre crime possible) and purposely made her look foolish.
But seeing as it’s Dezzie, this time she’ll make an exception and plump for the former. And so Maria belatedly joins them giggling, glad to be included, even if it’s in laughing at her.
‘Listen, we’ve interrupted you, we’d better let you get back to your work.’
Dezzie stands behind Brian’s chair and makes to wheel him out of the room.
‘No, it’s okay, honestly. I wasn’t making much progress anyway.’
‘Oh? Anything I can help with?’
‘No, I don’t think so. I’m just doing a bit of research for my show.’
‘Well, good luck with that,’ Dezzie says.
‘It’s for the Inclusion Initiative.’
Dezzie makes a sympathetic face.
‘Say no more.’
‘I’m trying to organise a community show. But the most important ingredient has to be community, obviously.’
‘Obviously.’ says Brian.
‘Obviously,’ agrees Dezzie, nodding and smiling towards Brian.
Their sincerity is suspect. Maria momentarily wonders if they are taking the piss again.
‘If I get the community together in a show then I’ve absolutely satisfied the criteria for the Inclusion Initiative.’
‘Absolutely.’ says Brian.
Luckily Dezzie doesn’t say it too but he can’t help but smile when Brian says it. They are taking the piss. Is she being really boring? No, that’s paranoid. It’s harmless boyish fun. She should be pleased Dezzie and Brian have hit it off so well.
‘Well, anything I can do to help.’
‘Really, Dezzie?’
‘Yeah, sure. Don’t put me down for singing or dancing or anything like that, I’m rubbish, but other than that I’ll help any way I can. I think it’s a brilliant idea, just what we need around here, a bit of showbiz.’
As Dezzie swings Brian’s wheelchair round and out of the room he leans in close and whispers in Maria’s ear, his lips almost caressing her yielding earlobe.
‘We make a great team, don’t you think?’
She nods shyly as the boys leave. A grubby hotness spreads up her chest and neck. The tips of her overheated ears are likely to burst into flames. In one of her lonely unvisited places, Maria feels a moistening.
Chapter 12
Outside, on what had been the church noticeboard, there’s a homemade notice. Written in blue felt-tip pen, on a piece of A4, inside a plastic file to keep the rain out, it says:
Why not come in for a nice sit down, a cup of tea and a blether?
Come as you please,
Come one, come all,
Come away in!
Alice sticks her head round the door. She knows this church. Used to come here when they first moved to Hexton, all the wives did, it was expected. Many moons ago.
The new guy has decimated the place. He’s shoved all the pews to either side and has made his workshop right in the middle of the floor. Like the way the butcher’s shop used to be, there’s sawdust everywhere, on the floor, settled on the rail to the altarpiece, flying in the air; she can see it floating in the beams of orange and
On screen there’s a website with photos of the latest Suzuki motorbike. Maria is confused. Dezzie and Brian are helpless with laughter.
‘Ha! You did it Brian! Got her a beauty!’
Dezzie unfolds Brian’s arm, holds it above his head and delivers a high five. They giggle for ages, each setting the other off again, until eventually they begin to sober up.
‘Sorry Maria, he’s only winding you up,’ says Dezzie.
Maria presses her hand to her chest, relieved not to have looked upon other women’s vaginal lips in the presence of Dezzie. Marriage would be out of the question after that.
‘Nice one! She totally fell for it, didn’t she?’
‘Brian. One. Maria. Nil.’
Maria feels herself blush. There are two ways of looking at this:
1. Dezzie has, albeit unconventionally, empowered Brian, helping him express his mischievous personality in a prank, or
2. He’s broken ranks by siding with a client against a member of staff (the most heinous centre crime possible) and purposely made her look foolish.
But seeing as it’s Dezzie, this time she’ll make an exception and plump for the former. And so Maria belatedly joins them giggling, glad to be included, even if it’s in laughing at her.
‘Listen, we’ve interrupted you, we’d better let you get back to your work.’
Dezzie stands behind Brian’s chair and makes to wheel him out of the room.
‘No, it’s okay, honestly. I wasn’t making much progress anyway.’
‘Oh? Anything I can help with?’
‘No, I don’t think so. I’m just doing a bit of research for my show.’
‘Well, good luck with that,’ Dezzie says.
‘It’s for the Inclusion Initiative.’
Dezzie makes a sympathetic face.
‘Say no more.’
‘I’m trying to organise a community show. But the most important ingredient has to be community, obviously.’
‘Obviously.’ says Brian.
‘Obviously,’ agrees Dezzie, nodding and smiling towards Brian.
Their sincerity is suspect. Maria momentarily wonders if they are taking the piss again.
‘If I get the community together in a show then I’ve absolutely satisfied the criteria for the Inclusion Initiative.’
‘Absolutely.’ says Brian.
Luckily Dezzie doesn’t say it too but he can’t help but smile when Brian says it. They are taking the piss. Is she being really boring? No, that’s paranoid. It’s harmless boyish fun. She should be pleased Dezzie and Brian have hit it off so well.
‘Well, anything I can do to help.’
‘Really, Dezzie?’
‘Yeah, sure. Don’t put me down for singing or dancing or anything like that, I’m rubbish, but other than that I’ll help any way I can. I think it’s a brilliant idea, just what we need around here, a bit of showbiz.’
As Dezzie swings Brian’s wheelchair round and out of the room he leans in close and whispers in Maria’s ear, his lips almost caressing her yielding earlobe.
‘We make a great team, don’t you think?’
She nods shyly as the boys leave. A grubby hotness spreads up her chest and neck. The tips of her overheated ears are likely to burst into flames. In one of her lonely unvisited places, Maria feels a moistening.
Chapter 12
Outside, on what had been the church noticeboard, there’s a homemade notice. Written in blue felt-tip pen, on a piece of A4, inside a plastic file to keep the rain out, it says:
Why not come in for a nice sit down, a cup of tea and a blether?
Come as you please,
Come one, come all,
Come away in!
Alice sticks her head round the door. She knows this church. Used to come here when they first moved to Hexton, all the wives did, it was expected. Many moons ago.
The new guy has decimated the place. He’s shoved all the pews to either side and has made his workshop right in the middle of the floor. Like the way the butcher’s shop used to be, there’s sawdust everywhere, on the floor, settled on the rail to the altarpiece, flying in the air; she can see it floating in the beams of orange and
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