Читать книгу The Friday Night Debrief - Kylie Jane Asmus - Страница 12

Chapter 8

Dismissing Doubt

The flyer from the Out Rigging team lay on the kitchen bench. Kylie picked it up, again. It had been a week since her encounter with Shooters in Woolies and she knew the words printed on the flyer by heart. “What do I have to lose?” she asked herself as she took the clean cutlery from the drainer and put it away in the top drawer. “Absolutely nothing – that’s what! I will have a go at a practice session,” she declared to the empty room.

She spent the next two hours going through every item of clothing she owned trying to choose the best ‘first impressions count meeting new people in a sporting environment’ outfit. Her final selection started with current season Billabong flowered shorts to cover any rampant blancmange, in a colour and fabric tough enough to withstand transparency if it got wet. The next item was an exercise top that although sporty had no nipple camouflage. So, in the off chance she did get wet, she stuck some nipple covers on underneath to avoid being embarrassed by any sudden change of temperature that lefty and righty might react to. This was topped off with a dark-coloured singlet that would also resist transparency in water. On her feet she chose to wear reefs, because reefs are a practical outrigging accessory. All up, Kylie thought she oozed the look of confident and comfortable in a beachside situation. This couldn’t have been further from the truth as she had always hated being wet, being seen in her swimmers, and she had an aversion to the beach and the sand and the salty water... But she hated being friendless even more so she channelled her inner voice and declared, “Suck it up Princess!”

The Out Riggers’ meeting place was less than five hundred metres walk down The Strand, in front of a restaurant called The Watermark, Kylie nervously made her way towards the outskirts of the group gathered there, who were chatting amongst themselves. One of the girls began a head count to see how many canoes they would take out, based on six people per canoe. Kylie re-introduced herself to Shooters, who acknowledged her and then turned to the lady who had just finished counting. “How many did you get Bundy?”

Bundy replied, “Twenty Shooters.”

“Same here mate.”

Shooters walked towards Bundy and they met half way and had a quick chat to work out if they could accommodate the newbies. There were fingers pointing to palms of hands, some shaking of heads and then they both screwed their faces up painfully and walked towards Kylie and another girl standing to her left. Facing the two newcomers, the lady who Shooters had called Bundy said, “Hi Ladies, what are your names.”

“I’m Kylie.”

“I’m Jess.”

“Kylie, Jess love, I am so sorry to do this to you both, we would love to take you out but there isn’t enough seats to fill another canoe and we have a regatta coming up this weekend so we need to train with full crews this week. Would you mind if I asked you to come back next week and I guarantee you will get a seat for a trial run then?”

“Sure, Bundy is it?” Kylie asked.

“Yes love.”

“Do you have a thirst for a certain amber spirit mate?”

“Yessssssss, you could say that.”

“And I thought you were Shooters as in guns but I think it might be drinks? Am I right or am I right?”

Shooters eyes widened as she rubbed her hands together and gave a mischievous, “Correct!”

Bundy answered for her, “You have NO idea! Shooters can drink any man, woman or grog monster under the table when it comes to shooters. She’s famous for it. When you come away with us be sure to say NO to a shout from her. It always ends in a bad way for the newbie.”

“Roger that,” Kylie acknowledged her.

“Ha! Roger that. Sorry again ladies, come back next week for sure okay!” said Bundy.

“Yep,” said Kylie.

“Okay,” said Jess.

Shooters then said, “Hey, sorry ladies, last week we had spare spots but this week it’s a little tight. Promise me you will both come back next week and we’ll have a seat for you both!”

“Righto,” replied Kylie, wishing she had come down last week and saved herself the agony of another week’s wait. But she had to be strong minded and keep thinking positively.

“Okay” Jess nodded.

The two newbies stood and silently watched the others walk over and unload the canoes and carry them into the water, all the while talking and laughing with each other.

Kylie looked at Jess and said, “Bummer. Now what?”

Jess said, “Back home I guess. See ya.”

“Bye,” said Kylie.

Kylie hesitated as she saw Jess walking off. She was inches away from reaching out to someone who like Mila, may not want anything to do with her socially. Taking a deep breath, she told her inner voice, “Doubt, Fuck off!” Then she scurried along the sand to catch up with Jess.

“Bugger going straight home. I have enough time alone in my flat, want to go and have a coffee with me?” Kylie asked.

Jess’s face broke into a smile. “Yeah that’d be great.”

“Cool. There’s a cafe up the road on the headland that looks nice but I haven’t been there before.”

“I think I know the one. Yeah, that sounds good.”

“We’ll just walk from here ay?” Kylie suggested.

“Sure.”

“I’m Kylie,” she said turning and offering her right hand to greet Jess.

“Jess,” she replied shaking it.

Jess was a lot heavier build than Kylie, and she carried a male handkerchief in her left hand and was continually dabbing her face with it as she seemed to be over sweating, even when she stood still despite it not being a hot or humid day. She had long mousey brown hair to the centre of her back and was just a bit shorter than Kylie. She wore glasses and her eyes were a lovely green colour, a mixture of olives and trees. Kylie wasn’t fit by any means but she didn’t have any trouble walking and talking whereas Jess was puffing away beside her after only walking twenty metres on the sand.

“Tell ya what, walking in sand sucks!” Kylie said stopping at the concrete path to shake her reefs clean of grit.

“Yep,” Jess said stopping and kicking off her thongs.

“So baby? What brings you to Outrigging? Me thinks it’s not the love of sand!”

“Well this might come as a shock but I thought I should take up some regular exercise and lose some weight,” Jess said sarcastically.

“Hey me too!” Kylie smiled.

“You look great, what do you hope to lose?” Jess said.

“My big arse, my hatred of the ocean and my fear of Lycra” Kylie said.

“Ha! I’ll go for two of those. Why do you hate the ocean?” Jess asked.

“I don’t trust what lives in it. Did you know that Townsville has the world’s largest breeding population of tiger sharks, just off Magnetic Island?”

“Noooooo. I was happy not to know that.”

“And flamin’ crocodiles, they’re swimming in the channel too you know, up the creeks, into the rivers and along the front here,” Kylie pointed to the ocean between The Strand and Magnetic Island.

“Yeah I’ve read about it in the paper but not seen any myself.”

“Those flamin’ walkin’ snappy handbags are here all right. Cheeky pricks can chase you out of the water and take a chomp out of you up on the beach. How rude is that?”

“Pretty rude!” Jess laughed.

“Imagine having a nice breaky down The Strand and you look around and flamin’ Snappy drags you off the grass, over the rocks and starts doing the crocodile roll with you in front of all your mates. Wouldn’t that frighten the shit out of ya!”

“If that’s the case he might spit you out coz you might taste like shit!” Jess said.

“Ha. I’ll make sure I remember that. Good one. Might be the only re-poo-lent that works!”

“So if you hate all those things, why do you want to join outrigging?” Jess asked.

“Because I had a theory it would help me meet new people and bingo! I’ve already met you!” Kylie said, very happy with herself.

“Yeah, good point.”

“What about you mate? Why do you want to join?” Kylie asked.

The girls arrived at the C Bar and sat down at a table. A waitress came over to offer some water and give them menus.

“I’ll have a skinny latte thanks, half strength please,” Kylie said to the waitress.

“Oh bugger it, I don’t have my wallet with me,” Jess said.

“That’s all right, I have twenty bucks on me. My shout.”

“Oh really? I’ll pay you back I promise.”

“Yeah, no worries, whenever.”

“I’ll have a skinny cappuccino please.”

The waitress smiled and walked away.

“How embarrassing! I didn’t think I’d need money out on the water so I didn’t bring any!”

“Don’t be silly. It’s nothing. You are actually doing me a huge favour by being here. I’ve looked at this place so often and had no one to come and sit with and I didn’t want to come on my own, so thank you for being here,” Kylie said touching Jess’s forearm.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’ll stop sweating shortly, I hope. That’s why I carry this man hanky around,” Jess said embarrassed about Kylie touching her sticky wet arm.

“Hey, sweat all you want, I just farted.”

Jess looked up in horror.

“I didn’t mate, I was just trying to make you feel better. Honestly. See?” Kylie took a huge breath in. “Sweet as a daisy.”

Jess laughed.

“To answer your question, I thought outrigging would be the perfect sport for me. No one can see your arse when you are competing, you meet new people and the most important drawcard to me was the ocean, because I thought I could jump in and out before and after paddling and people wouldn’t think I was sweating so much, they might think it’s just spray from the water!”

“Good point. So you worry about how much you sweat mate?”

“Oh you have no idea. This is a good day for me. Wait ’til October onwards.”

“Oh, I’m hearing ya. Flamin’ stand still and you drip in October. It’s putrid.”

“Yeah but I guess it beats being cold, I don’t like being cold.”

“High five to that!” Kylie agreed.

The girls chatted effortlessly and sipped away at their coffees when they came out.

“What an incredible view!” Kylie said sitting back into her chair, taking in the beachfront on her left and Magnetic Island across the bay.

“Yes it’s beautiful isn’t it” Jess said. “Doesn’t it look peaceful out on the water.”

“Yes it does.”

“Hey, that could have been us,” Kylie said pointing to three outrigger canoes paddling past them.

“Yeah. I’m not sad. I’m glad we had a chance to talk.”

“Yeah me too,” Kylie said.

Kylie learnt that Jess was a journalist working for the Townsville Bulletin and had grown up in Rockhampton, or Rocky as it is affectionately known to Queenslanders. She was an only child and had moved up to Townsville two years ago with her parents. They were all living together until nearly twelve months ago when they were both tragically killed in a car accident just outside Gladstone on their way to Brisbane. Jess was not in the vehicle at the time but had to fly down to identify their corpses.

“Oh my goodness. That’s so sad. I’m so sorry Jess,” Kylie said holding her hand as her eyes welled up. “Have you got any other family in town?”

“Noooo. It’s just me. Everyone else I know is in Rocky so it’s been pretty tough. I had a month off work but it was doing my head in staying at home. People at work have been pretty good about it, I really enjoy my work so I don’t want to leave but I haven’t really gelled with anyone yet and made sort of, any friends,” she said sadly.

“Why’s that mate? Is it a bit cliquey?”

“Well there are a few girls for whom image is everything and they don’t want to sit across the table from a big lump that sweats all over her dinner so I can understand that I make people feel uncomfortable.”

“What? You aren’t making me feel uncomfortable. Don’t ever feel like that. Anyway, it’s their loss mate. Silly prissy bitches. They’re too busy making their exterior look pretty that they have forgotten what their heart and soul is for. Bugger ’em! You’ll find new mates through outrigging you’ll see.”

“I hope so,” Jess said.

“Stick with me baby. I’ll work the room, the canoe, but maybe not the Lycra. Trust me, people will wanna hang out with us once they see how much fun we have.”

“You’re fun, I can tell. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed doing something with someone else and wasn’t made to feel self-conscious. Thank you.”

“No worries, do you want to swap numbers in case you ever feel like another coffee or dinner out sometime?” Kylie asked.

“Sure. That would be great, but I better go. I have to go home and feed my cats.”

“Oh, I love cats! What do you have?”

“Two kittens, a chocolate point short-hair Siamese and a Burmese, both have blue eyes.”

“Oh my gawd. If you ever need anyone to look after those suckers I would so love to pat the shit out of them.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah!”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Kylie walked Jess back to her car and they swapped numbers and arranged to meet up after work on Friday for drinks and dinner at Cactus Jacks on Palmer Street.

“Awesome, I’ll see you then Jess,” Kylie said walking back to her apartment.

Because of the time she had spent with Jess, Kylie didn’t feel at all rejected after her first attempt at Outrigging. As a bonus, next week she wouldn’t have to plan out her outfit, she would just wear the same one again, since she didn’t get it dirty or wet. And next time she wouldn’t be standing on the beach alone, she could talk to Jess.

The echo of the paddlers’ call indicating a change from the left side to the right of the canoe carried across the water. Kylie couldn’t make out whether it was Hut or Huck but whichever one it was, it sounded like someone trying to cough up a loogie.

Friday came and both girls headed to Cactus Jacks. On seeing each other again, both their faces displayed an excitement that only a person who had been deprived of company for a long time could understand. Kylie gave Jess a hug and they walked into the air conditioned restaurant and were shown to a table.

“Do you like Mexican?” Jess asked.

“Oh yeah!” Kylie answered.

“Me too. Also, I must apologise, I don’t think I asked you about yourself last week. You said you tried Outrigging because you wanted to meet people. Are you not from Townsville?” Jess asked.

“Don’t worry about that. I think we were chatting about all sorts of other things. I’m from Mount Isa.” Kylie said.

“Oh, I applied for a job out there with The North West Star!” Jess said.

“Did you get it?” Kylie asked.

“I did, but I also got the Townsville Bully job. So I took the Townsville gig instead.”

“Mount Isa was a great place to grow up but I took the opportunity to move here for work.”

“Where do you work?”

“At the Port” Kylie said and gave a brief description of her role there and what she was learning.

Jess was very interested. “Do you do tours of where you work? I would love to come and have a look one day, and possibly write an article on women who work for Mining companies?”

“Yeah, sure,” Kylie said. “Weekends would suit best.”

“Sounds fantastic. That suits me best too. Text me when and I’ll be there!”

“So did you ever go to the Rocky BNS?” Kylie asked.

“Every year for many, many years,” Jess replied.

“Ahhh, I’ve had many a fun time at the BnS Ball in Rocky! Never stole the Bulls’ Balls off the statues but!”

“Many people did!” Jess said laughing. “I didn’t, but many people did.”

After a weekend of hitting the booze, many a prankster would steal the testicles off one or more of the many bull statues located in Rockhampton, a regional city otherwise known as the Beef Capital of Australia.

The girls chatted over dinner and Kylie asked Jess how her week turned out and if anything exciting had happened. Kylie made Jess laugh but every time she laughed, Jess covered her mouth with her hand, which was strange as she had lovely straight teeth.

“How come you keep covering your mouth mate? You don’t have food in there I’d tell you if you did,” Kylie asked, softly putting her hand on Jess’s forearm.

“Oh, I got my braces off recently after having them on as an adult and I’m just used to covering my mouth when it’s open. Bad habit I know.”

“You have lovely teeth. You should be proud of those puppies.”

“I think they are a bit yellow. But they are straight.” Jess took a big sigh.

“Honey, a lot of people have yellow teeth. The only people with halogen teeth are in flamin’ Hollywood. Those buggers don’t need a night light, they just walk up the corridor with their mouth open after dark!”

Jess and Kylie laughed and Kylie gently held both of Jess’s hands down on the table so she couldn’t use them to cover her mouth.

“How did that feel?” Kylie asked tilting her head.

“A bit naked actually. Different!”

“I won’t do it again, I just wanted you to feel the difference. I think you’re a bit hard on yourself mate.”

Jess picked up her hanky and dabbed her forehead and then her arms. “Cactus Jacks has always had really good air-conditioning and fans. It’s my fave place to eat and where I feel most comfortable!” she said patting herself down. She wasn’t perspiring as much as the day the girls had coffee outside in the elements.

“Well then, we should come here more often,” Kylie said.

They settled the bill and went their separate ways and agreed to both go back to Outrigging for another trial. Jess walked to her car with a lovely big smile on her face, one she didn’t cover with her hands. So did Kylie.

On Monday afternoon, Kylie headed back down to The Strand, and waited hopefully to get a spot in one of the canoes. Jess came and stood beside her and they chatted to settle each other’s nerves.

“Girls! You came back. Good on you, come with me!” Shooters said. “Here’s a paddle each. Can you swim?”

“Yes,” Jess said.

“Oh yeah, I thrash about a bit but I can swim,” Kylie confirmed.

“Thrashing is okay, sinking and drowning is not. Everyone this is…” Shooters pointed to the girls and they each said their names.

“Kylie.”

“Jess.”

“And they will be coming with us today,” Shooters said.

“G’day.” Kylie put her hand up and gave a little wave.

“Hi,” Jess said.

“G’day!” they all acknowledged them both.

“Righto, this is the newbie crew. I’ll be sitting in the back and I’ll be your steerer. Girls introduce yourselves to the new girls please,” Shooters instructed.

“I’m Jenna.”

“I’m Ashley.”

“I’m Ella”

“Did your mum have an ellava time delivery you or something?” Kylie said without thinking

“Ha, no,” Ella replied

“Oh, go on, tell her your real name!” Shooters stirred

“I will if you will?” she said raising her eyebrow in return

“Oh. Nup” Shooters said shaking her head

“What’s your real name Ella?” Kylie asked

“Rose-Ella”

“Rosella? Like the jam?” Kylie replied

“Exactly. Don’t laugh, I hate my name.”

“Were your folks fruit pickers or what?” Kylie asked.

“YES!” Ella replied. “They met, fell in love and named me after Mum got pregnant during her first picking season.”

“Lucky they weren’t picking rambutans!” Kylie said.

The girls all laughed.

Ella didn’t get it. “What’s a rambutan?” she said

“It’s a tropical fruit that looks like a hairy testicle but I’m told it doesn’t taste like one, plus that might have been your name!”

“Rose-Ella isn’t so bad then,” Ella said.

“Nup!” Kylie replied.

“Righto ladies, Ella is paddling with us today and is one of our senior paddlers and until you bring someone else along to fill the canoe, you are going to have to keep up with her and she is fast. Anyway, times a wasting, we need to stretch, so follow Ella’s lead.”

Kylie watched and awkwardly tried to copy each move but she felt puffed after trying to simulate the stretch poses, let alone go for a paddle in a canoe. Five minutes of stretches later and Shooters was back in command.

“We’ll lift the canoe to the water soon and push off. Everyone, same seats as last week. Jess you are sitting behind Ella. Kylie, you’re in number Five where I can keep an eye on you,” Shooters explained.

“I only know what Number 1 and Number 2 stand for,” Kylie said.

“There’ll be none of that in the boat, Number 5 is up the back with me. Five seats from the front seat. The armor is on the left-hand side when we sit in the canoe and Number 1 is at the front. Get it? Got it? Good. Let’s go.”

Kylie awkwardly lifted the heavy outrigger canoe with the other girls, sure that she wasn’t making any difference to the payload and afraid it would drop on her at any moment and squash her feet.

“Come on Ladies, jump in,” Shooters said as soon as the canoe was in the water.

“Far out, it’s full on and I haven’t even got in the boat yet!” Kylie said out loud.

“I can’t see any boats around can-you?” Shooters joked.

“Hey that’s funny,” Kylie said.

“Righto everyone, a slow ten so Kylie and Jess can see how to paddle then we’ll get a bit faster. Paddles at the ready, Kylie, you’re alternate to Ella in front, alternate, not the same side, swap your paddle to your other arm? That’s it. Phew. That was hard. Okay paddles down. First things first, these canoes are VERY tippy with all you fresh blooded enthusiasts in them. I need to reaffirm how important it is not to shift your weight or lean over to the right hand side of the canoe at any time, or we will tip this thing over and could very well end up as shark shit. Do you understand? No waving, no leaning, no turning around to the person behind you and placing any extra weight on the right hand side of the canoe. Have I made myself clear?”

“YES,” the crew yelled out.

“Right, paddles ready, and Go! Ella, you’re calling the huts, change at eight. Jess, take note of how she is calling them, we’ll get you to take over next training session.”

“Okay Shooters,” Ella said.

“Okay Shooters,” Jess echoed.

“Good, now focus on the blade in front of you. In and out, in unison with their paddle, let the canoe glide through the water, strong strokes,” Shooters yelled up the canoe so that the person sitting in number one could hear her.

“Kylie turn to your left very slowly. Watch me, see how I’m paddling? See the angle of my shoulder and the way I’m twisting with my torso to reach further out? Put your knees apart and push out from the foot you have in front. Right hand on top of the paddle means you push off your right foot, left hand on top of the paddle means you push off with your left foot. Change your feet over as you change your hands over. Twist with your abs not your back. That’s very important you want to feel it with your stomach muscles, not your back muscles. You could cause yourself an injury that way. When you hear Ella say Hut, you do half a stroke on the side you are on then you quickly swap to the other side and finish that stroke mid way then start again. Got it?”

“Far out. No pressure!” Kylie said trying to remember it all.

“You’re alright. Just go easy to start with Ella,” Shooters said realising she had just bamboozled Kylie with too much information, all be it necessary.

“Okay that’s ten sets, paddles up, have a rest and a drink and a stretch if you like,” Shooters said.

“Am I supposed to be fatigued already?” Kylie asked. “Coz I was buggared after doing the stretches!”

The girl sitting in front of her, Jenna, answered, “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. I felt flogged the first training session I ever did.”

“How long ago was that?” Kylie asked.

“Two weeks,” Jenna replied.

“Awesome, so it didn’t stop you from coming back!”

“Nah, we haven’t even competed yet. Can’t quit before then!” Jenna said.

“Yeah, I’m not a quitter. I’m shit at heaps of things but I’m not a quitter!” Kylie said.

“Righto, enough resting. If you can talk, I’m not working you hard enough. Ella, faster pace this time mate, we’ll head towards the yacht bay out the front of the Casino then you can have another rest, maybe,” Shooters said.

Kylie looked up, and it looked a long way away. “Oh man!” she said unexcited about the pain she could feel already.

The training session went for over an hour. By the time they paddled back into the beach at The Strand, the girls were ready to go home. Kylie was speechless and in need of a deep tissue massage.

After they had lifted the canoe back up the beach and put the paddles away Shooters asked Kylie, “What do you think?”

“It’s full on. I didn’t realise how hard it would be.”

“It’ll get easier. You have nice long arms, and your stroke wasn’t too bad for a beginner. Have you paddled before?”

“Nope.” Kylie laughed, surprised at the compliment.

“Oh, well, do you think you’ll come back? You’ll get better each week and we look like having a new team soon if we get one more person. You’ll be able to compete as a beginner crew if you stick at it? That’s the fun part!” Shooters said.

Kylie wasn’t confident in her ability but she had also proclaimed to the group that she wasn’t a quitter.

“I’ll be back,” she told Shooters.

“Great. Bring a mate would ya!”

“I don’t have any, that’s why I’m here, to meet some new mates,” Kylie admitted sadly.

“Oh, seriously?” Shooters said.

“Yeah I just moved here. But I’ll ask around at work. No one was keen the first time I showed the flyer but I’ll ask again.”

“Good for you. You seem pretty easy to talk to, yell out to me if you are lonely, I’ll chat to any bastard!”

“Thanks Shooters, you sound like my soul mate!” Kylie said with a wave goodbye as they went their separate ways.

“Ba ha ha ha. See ya mate.” Shooters laughed as she walked off.

The next day when Kylie checked for mail at the Town office, she went to see Mila. After finding Mila’s desk empty, Kylie waited until she arrived back at the Port office before sending Mila a quick email to see if she had changed her mind about having a go at Outrigging. While Mila’s response wasn’t favourable, she did reply to Kylie within the same day. “Still thinking about it thanks Kylie. I’m seeing someone at the moment and he isn’t in town much so I want to be able to spend time with him when he is so will see how I go. Toodles. Mila.”

“Fair enough..... but I won’t give up on you!” Kylie replied. And she wasn’t lying. Kylie was a serial pest. All be it one with good intentions.