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Shelley didn’t want to go to the Bar Mitzvah but Charles insisted.‘You need to get out a bit now.’He smiled that beaming smile of his but she couldn’t answer. She went into the kitchen and cried.At the Bar Mitzvah party, their table was at the back near the swinging door into the kitchens. Charles was slightly put out, but she was glad. She barely touched the food, overwhelmed by the clatter of plates, voices rising higher and higher, the klezmer frenzy, the disco. With her hands clutched tightly in her lap, Shelley tried to listen as Jenny Leon, seated beside her, enthused about her new on-line business, Invitations on the Internet, but felt her mind slipping away. When Jenny said, ’Coffee?’ she nodded, ‘Please.’ Maybe it would clear her head. ‘How’s Claire these days? She must be nearly twelve.’ Jenny wielded the cafetiere, gold bracelets falling on brown wrists. Shelley awoke, took a deep breath, began to say, ‘She’s gone. .’ But Charles leaned over. ‘Away at school. Didn’t you know?’ Jenny’s eyes widened, she turned to Shelley but Charles continued, this time proudly, ‘They believe she has artistic ability.’ Jenny, resting the coffee pot on the table, said, ‘Well, that’s wonderful.’ ‘Sorry to cut this short,’ Charles scraped back his chair, ‘but I’ve a big case tomorrow. Been telling Joe. No details of course.’ Joe nodded. ‘Come, Shelley, We must go.’ Great circles of boys and girls had gathered on the dance floor ready for the hora and the noise was stupefying. She stood up uncertainly. ‘I thought we were. . ,’ But Charles had already marched up to the barmitzva boy’s table and she had to follow.
‘Big deal tomorrow,’ said Charles as they drove home. Then, ‘Did you enjoy it?’ ‘Jenny told me about her new business,’ she said, watching the headlights cut through the November night. Once home, they went straight to bed. Charles switched out his lamp, began to snore gently. Shelley lay awake; images from the evening pounding a |
I Never Wear Black |
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All work within this periodical is copyrighted by the authors and Big Pond Rumour, January 2008. No part is to be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the authors and Big Pond Rumour Press. |