Page 78 of Thursdays at Orange Blossom House
‘Why do you ask?’ Patricia says quickly.
‘Because you’re not married even though I’d think many men would have wanted to marry you. So either you’re not the marrying kind. Or,’ she raises an eyebrow, ‘you perhaps told someone to get lost.’
Patricia snorts. ‘I’m not a lesbian, if that’s what you mean.’
A strangled noise comes from Dorothy’s direction.
‘Oh dear,’ says Grace Maud. ‘Here I was thinking I was being subtle.’
Laughing, Patricia says, ‘I haven’t told anyone to get lost either. It just …’ She shrugs. ‘Hasn’t happened. So much of life is in the timing, don’t you think? Like meeting you two – that’s purely because we went to the same class.’
‘I think it was fate,’ Dorothy says dreamily. ‘It can’t just be luck.’
‘Or perhaps we make our own luck,’ Grace Maud says.
‘As you did,’ says Patricia with a nod of acknowledgement. ‘You could have done what everyone thought was the right thing and stayed married.’
‘True.’ Grace Maud brushes her hands together, ready to change the subject. ‘Let’s have a sandwich. They look delicious, Dorothy.’
They eat in silence for a minute or so, then Dorothy asks if they really understand what the Sanskrit words in class mean; and does anyone really meditate at the end or do their brains chatter like hers?
As Dorothy talks, Grace Maud contemplates that perhaps fate has played a role in her life by bringing her to this place at this time. But she also knows that most of her life has been forged in the fire of her determination. There was luck, yes, but more than that: the resolve to never let go of that luck once it arrived, and to make the best of her lot while doing so.
They’re skills she passed on to Tom, so she can’t blame him for trying to make the best of what he has, even if it involves change. Instead, she should be proud that he has learnt from her, and let him take his place in the same lineage of strength and hard work that has shaped her.
AUTUMN 1994
Four Weddings and a Funeral, starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell, is released in Australia.
Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks, is released.
East 17 top the Australian singles chart for
seven weeks with the song ‘It’s Alright’.
Frontline, a satirical TV comedy starring
Rob Sitch, begins on the ABC.
The final episode ofMother and Sonairs on the ABC.
Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, dies in Seattle, Washington.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
No. This can’t be happening. Not again. Not now. She’s in her second trimester. It’s the furthest she’s ever gone, and she’s made it this far without any problems. The blood can’t be real. There’s hardly anything.It’s not real.
But it is real, because it’s on her fingers and it smells like iron. It’s the smell of every month of disappointment she’s experienced over the past few years.
While the others are insavasana, blissfully relaxing, Dorothy’s slipped out to the funny old loo at the back of Orange Blossom House. It’s the students’ toilet – Sandrine must have her own inside the house – and Dorothy’s only been here a couple of times before. She usually tries to avoid it, because its corners are full of daddy-long-legs and the toilet paper roll is always near its end. It’s a necessary visit tonight, though. Once she felt the dampness in her underpants she knew she couldn’t wait until she got home.
Her bag is still in the studio. With her car keys in it. How is she meant to get away from here without the car? If she goes back in, she knows Patricia and Grace Maud will want to know where she’s been for … ten minutes? Fifteen? She’s lost track. Sitting in here staring at her fingers, wanting the colour on them to be anything other than red.
‘Dorothy?’ She hears Patricia calling. So much for making an escape.
‘Dorothy, are you in the toilet?’
‘Y-yes,’ she says hoarsely, then quickly stands and pulls up her underpants and tights before she flushes.
