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By Julie Capaldo Submitted by deevaa Date: 2002 Oct 21 Comment on this Work [[2002.10.21.03.59.19201]] |
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Valda was in shock. It as midnight when she had heard the tap tapping on the bedroom window. 'Val, love, it's only me,' Pat had called. For the first time Valda realised that her friend only had pencilled eyebrows that were obviously washed off every night. It gave Pat a wide-eyed, startled look. And as she stood in her dressing gown, hair in curlers and face shining from her nightly ritual of Oil of Ulan, Valda thought, not for the first time, how ugly Australian woman were. Patty was her friend and she loved her but God, Pino was lucky to have a real woman like herself! One with real eyebrows and curves. She wondered what would have happened to Italian painters if they had been born in Australia, she understood why Australians painted gum trees. 'I remember what I had to tell you today. Remember Robin Masters, the little blond who said she went ice-skating?' 'Si, yes.' 'Well, I saw her in Foodland today, by the frozen peas... And she's left her husband!' 'No!' 'And--wait for it Val--she's left the twins too. She's shacked up with her ice-skating teacher.' 'No!' Pat nodded triumphantly. 'See, I knew there was something going on, I mean, a grown woman ice-skating--in the day, really.' Valda gasped. Skinny little Robin Masters, with no bosom and probably no eyebrows, who would have ever thought it? |