Page 35 of Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening Society
She walks towards the group. ‘What are you doing?’
‘We’re the Sunshine Gardening Society!’ Lorraine says and the blonde woman next to her raises her eyebrows. ‘This my friend Cynthia.’ She pats the blonde’s arm. ‘And this is Shirl, and Barb.’
There’s a quick lift of the head from Shirl and Barb, and Kathy immediately recognises the robust shorter woman who wore a Beatles T-shirt the last time she saw her and now wears Crosby, Stills & Nash.
‘G’day, love,’ says the woman. ‘I’m Shirl. That’s Barb. Still walking, are you?’ She winks.
Lorraine looks confused. ‘Do you know each other?’
‘No,’ Kathy says, at the same time as Shirl says, ‘Not know, per se, Lorrie – Kathy came across us outside Lizzie’s place the other day. We were taking up the footpath, weren’t we, Kath?’
Kathy laughs nervously, because she can’t believe Shirl remembers her in that much detail. Surely she comes across a lot of random people? ‘It was fine,’ she says. ‘So the Sunshine …’ She can’t remember the rest.
‘Gardening Society.’ Lorraine beams. ‘We’re volunteers. We look after some council areas. Some private gardens. Only on weekends. Saturdays, mainly. It’s fun!’
She looks meaningfully at Kathy.
‘Nice,’ Kathy says.
‘I remember you said you’d just moved here,’ Lorraine returns.
‘Did I?’ Kathy can’t remember that either. Normally she’s not so chatty with diners. This Lorraine must have disarmed her.
‘I ask a lot of questions,’ Lorraine says. ‘Bit of a chatterbox.’ She laughs.
‘I can attest to that,’ says Cynthia.
Shirl glances in Kathy’s direction again. ‘Do you garden, love?’
‘Oh, well …’ Kathy is about to say no but that’s not true. She hasn’t been gardening since she moved here, but she and Owen had a lovely garden at their place in Carlton North. It was narrow but abundant with all sorts of plants that they enjoyed tending. Part of that comfortable lifestyle of theirs. Since she left him Kathy hasn’t once thought about the fact that the end of the marriage meant the end of getting her hands in the dirt, beingamongst nature. Instead she’s been living indoors. Not a healthy lifestyle choice for many reasons, as she’s discovering.
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘I have done a bit of gardening.’
Shirl looks satisfied, like she’s had a hunch confirmed. ‘I have a spare pair of gloves,’ she says, tugging something from a back pocket. ‘Want to join us?’
‘Oh.’ Kathy looks down at her clothes – old shorts, a daggy T-shirt from a long-ago holiday destination. Not exactly fit for company, although she supposes anyone who’s passed by her in the past hour or so has seen what she’s wearing.
‘Shorts aren’t ideal,’ Barb says, and Kathy notes her sensible long taupe slacks. ‘But we can overlook that. If you’d like to join us, of course.’ She smiles as if she doesn’t mind one way or the other.
The day ahead holds nothing but reading the newspaper, indulging in regret and waiting for when the sun will be over the yardarm. Kathy has no good excuse to refuse these ladies. And what’s the harm in putting on some gloves and picking up a trowel? If she doesn’t like these women she doesn’t have to see them again.
‘Sounds good,’ she says. ‘What would you like me to do?’
‘Here.’ Shirl tosses the gloves to her as Lorraine shifts a little to the right.
‘We’re putting in some potted colour,’ Lorraine explains, gesturing to some small plants on Cynthia’s other side. ‘Preparing the beds first.’
Kathy watches then copies, and before she knows it an hour has passed and she hasn’t thought about Jemima or Owen or her children or anything else much at all, as the banter back and forth between the women keeps her distracted – and entertained. It turns out Shirl is a local bridge champion and has been trying to convince Barb to be her playing partner for years – except Barb has no interest in cards. And Lorraine and Cynthia have knowneach other since high school, which Kathy finds amazing since she made precisely zero friends in high school.
‘So you’ll come back?’ Lorraine says as she gets to her feet, frowning. ‘Ouch. Stiff.’
‘Um … yes,’ Kathy says, making a snap decision, because what else is she going to do on a weekend apart from work at night?
‘Great! Karras is my last name. Look me up in the book and I’ll tell you where we are next Saturday.’
‘Okay.’ Kathy stands up too, and smiles at each of the Sunshine Gardening Society members in turn.
‘Always happy to have new members, Kath,’ Shirl says. ‘Lorrie, help me up.’
