Versace Sisters (9 page)

'Oh, you're early.' Jacqueline did not sound impressed.

The light from the hallway bathed Chantrea in a warm
glow as Jacqueline opened the door, but the welcoming
atmosphere was spoilt by Jacqueline's frosty greeting. Earliness
was akin to tardiness in Jacqueline's book of etiquette.

'Yeah, sorry . . . it's just . . . I finished up early at school.'
Still feeling sensitive, Chantrea uncharacteristically started
stammering her apologies until she glanced at her watch
and realised she was only five minutes early. 'Oh, for God's
sake, Jacqueline, it's twenty-five past.'

'Hmmm,' demurred Jacqueline, 'well, you might as well
come in. Sera's early too.'

She led Chantrea into the 'good' room where Sera was
already seated. 'Make yourself at home and I shall fix us all
Fluffy Ducks,' she smiled, heading for the kitchen.

'I am never going to forgive you for including her in
this group,' Chantrea hissed to Sera after she'd hugged her
hello. 'She's a fucking nightmare.'

'I know, I know, I'm sorry,' replied Sera, rolling her
eyes. 'She was so nice to me when we moved in, though.'

'Didn't you see at the time how superior she could be?'
Chantrea whispered.

'Well, she did bang on a bit about her precious boys,
but that's just a proud mum, isn't it? You're right though,
she is getting worse.'

'Ya think?' said Chantrea, leaning forward to select a
dainty hors d'oeuvre from the floral tray. 'Bleargh!' She spat
it into a pastel-coloured napkin. 'What the hell?'

Sera fell laughing onto the over-stuffed chintz cushions.
'I was going to warn you, but then I decided, bugger it, it
would be way more fun to watch your reaction! She made
asparagus spears out of icing. Tonight's theme is apparently
"Sweets for the Sweet".'

'Bitch,' Chantrea grumbled, shoving the evidence into
her handbag.

'So how are you, anyway?' asked Sera, when her laughter
subsided. 'I haven't seen you all week. Everything still
crazy busy?'

To her great surprise, tears sprang into the eyes of her
tough friend.

'Oh no, what's wrong?' Sera leaned forward with
concern.

'Bloody bitches at bloody crèche. Bloody cows,' Chantrea
sniffed. She quickly related the evening's events.

Sera knew Chantrea kept her past to herself, in fact she
only found out where she'd been born after an in-flight
mix-up once, when a Chinese passenger was having difficulty
communicating and the purser asked Chantrea to help
out. Sera had never seen such an explosion.

'How the fuck dare you!' Chantrea had hissed at the
white-faced purser, 'Just because I look Asian you think I
can suddenly speak the hundreds of languages and dialects
scattered around the entire region? You'll be asking me to
translate for the Pakistani passengers next. What about you?
Why don't you go and translate for those Croatian passengers?
You've got bulbous round eyes and so have they.
You must be cousins!'

The purser had tried to calm her down. 'Look, Chantrea,
I just thought I'd ask. I don't know, do I? I thought
you'd speak Mandarin because you come from China.'

'I'm from Cambodia, you ignorant bitch,' Chantrea
spat, storming into the galley. The purser had reported
her and Chantrea had been suspended for several
weeks.

Now Sera was outraged at what she was hearing.
'That's disgusting, how dare they!' she fumed. 'We need
to go to the police; they can't go around saying things
like that!'

'That's a bit much, Sera,' Chantrea said. 'Anyway, I
couldn't give a shit. They can rot in their Escada for all
I care. What I am so angry about is my bloody mother.'

Sera had often heard Chantrea complain about her
mother, the hard-working and feisty Dara Kim. To make
ends meet, Chantrea and Dara lived together, both working
long hours and co-parenting Sally. Although Chantrea
hated that her mum raised Sally half the time – often
completely ignoring her parenting rules – she desperately
needed her help.

But Sera had never seen Chantrea so angry with her
mother as she was tonight.

'I can't believe it, I just can't believe it.' Chantrea was
practically shaking as she clasped her hands and leaned
forward staring at the ground. 'I thought it was over,
I thought I'd shaken it. I had made the break, I'd put
that . . . all that . . . horror behind me . . . behind us.'

'Chantrea, I'm sorry, I just don't understand. What's to
be ashamed of? Why aren't you pleased that Sally is proud
of her heritage?'

'Proud?' Chantrea looked up at Sera, her eyes glowing
with bitterness. 'What can Sally be proud of, Sera? That her
mother's a refugee? A stinking boat person?'

Sera hadn't realised her friend had arrived in Australia
as a refugee. She stared at Chantrea wide-eyed. They sat
looking at each other, with only the gentle tick of a crystal
clock on the mantelpiece punctuating the long silence.

Suddenly Jacqueline's voice floated down the corridor.
'I'll be there in a shake of a lamb's tail – the Fluffy Ducks
are nearly ready.'

'Hellooo!' Mallory trilled from the front door a moment
later. She always let herself in and yodelled through the
house, which Jacqueline found incredibly annoying. But,
overloaded as she was with a tray-full of ornate cocktail
glasses, a jug of yellow foaming liquid and an array of little
paper umbrellas, it was quite handy that Mallory was able
to let herself in.

'Mallory, darling, do come in,' Jacqueline twittered
triumphantly – still managing to maintain her control as
a hostess, just seconds before Mallory's little foot actually
crossed the threshold.

'Mwah, mwah.' Jacqueline air-kissed the latest arrival
from a distance, over the tray of goodies, then indicated
with her head. 'They're all in there, darling, I'm just
serving cocktails.'

'Hiya all!' Mallory bobbed her pretty head from side to side
in greeting. With her golden plaits and smocked mini-dress
she looked remarkably like an extra from
The Sound of Music
.
And as always, Mallory was blissfully oblivious to the room's
thick air of tension and quickly dispelled it with her sunny
presence. She had the happy knack of being able to radiate
warmth, happiness and good intentions wherever she went.

Mallory and her husband Vince had had their surprise
daughter while Mallory was still in her teens and the child's
birth seemed to have stopped the clock for them both.
They listened to Triple J, had Facebook pages, decorated
their home with pinball machines and hip-hop posters,
and Tilly, their fifteen-year-old daughter, was more like a
flatmate than a child.

Mallory rather enjoyed the number of people who
mistook Tilly for her kid sister. 'Omigod, it's like sooo
funny,' she'd say with a giggle.

Mallory had always wanted lots of children, and for
years had tried for more babies until she found out that
Vince had different ideas and had taken himself off for a
sneaky vasectomy. It was a terrible loss for Mallory but
she eventually forgave Vince and came to accept that Tilly
would be her only child.

'Oooh, I'm starving,' she announced as her hand shot
out to grab a canapé.

Sera and Chantrea swapped small smiles, anticipating
her reaction.

'They're sugar,' explained Jacqueline. 'It's a "Sweets for
the Sweet" evening. Except for Sera's pies,' she added.

'Ooh, what fun,' squealed Mallory as she popped the
sugary 'vegetable' into her mouth. 'Yum! It's delicious,
aren't you clever!'

Jacqueline smiled serenely at Mallory's praise. 'Thank
you,' she said simply, but inside she felt warm and soothed.
Getting up at four am had been worth it after all.

'Now,' said Mallory, moving on quickly, 'what's happening?
What did I miss?'

'Oh, nothing really,' Sera said. 'We've only just arrived.'
She accepted an elaborate cocktail from Jacqueline. 'Delicious,
thank you.'

'Good lord, we're all going to get diabetes after so much
sugar,' said Chantrea, putting her drink back on the table.
'I don't have much of a sweet tooth, I'm afraid. Are those
pies nearly ready? I'm starving.'

Jacqueline glowered at Chantrea. 'I'll just see how
they're going,' she said.

'God, imagine the calories!' Sera moaned when Jacqueline
was safely out of earshot. 'I've gained two and a half
kilos from that drink alone,' she complained, while sucking
in and patting her tummy.

'Tell me about it,' whinged Chantrea. 'I've had to go up
to a size ten in my uniform. I've NEVER been a size ten.'

'You know,' giggled Mallory, shovelling another sugar
asparagus into her mouth, 'no matter how much I eat I just
can't put on weight.'

When the doorbell sounded, Sera went to open it. 'Hey
there, Sam,' she said to the leafy figure she found on the
doorstep. 'Why are you camouflaged as a bush?'

'Tussie-mussies for everyone,' he exclaimed as he
entered the house, handing out small bouquets of herbs to
the girls. 'There's sage, chives, coriander and continental
parsley. Oh, and mint of course. There's bucketloads of
mint. I had no idea that mint absolutely takes over. I can't
get rid of the bugger now. And I don't know what to do
with the stuff, apart from the odd leaf in yoghurt with
Greek food, does anyone know?'

'I do,' came the enthusiastic response from Jacqueline
from down the hall. 'Let me get you my peppermint ice-cream
recipe.'

'Of course, I knew you'd have something Jacqueline.
How are you?' Sam turned to follow her voice and present
her with a bouquet of herbs.

'You don't think he's gay, do you?' said Mallory,
looking at her herbs in doubt.

'No!' the other two women said immediately and in
unison.

'Have you seen the shoes?' added Sera. 'So grubby, and
he wears the same Converse Allstars every week.'

'And last week he was definitely a bit on the nose,' said
Chantrea.

'Absolutely,' agreed Sera. 'Not too stinky or anything,
but definitely BO. Like he'd been working in the garden
and not showered before he came out. What gay man
would do that?'

'I guess,' demurred Mallory, 'and I suppose the fact he's
asking me about my friend Phoebe the bikini model . . .'

'What?!' said Sera eagerly. 'Give us the goss!'

'Oh, I just saw him down at the beach with his girls and
I was there with Tilly and Phoebe. I introduced them
and that night he called me and asked about her.'

'Wooo,' the girls teased as Sam returned to the room.

'What's all this, then? What are you talking about?' he
asked suspiciously as he helped himself to a Fluffy Duck.
He reached forward to the platter of asparagus canapés but
caught Chantrea's eye as she shook her head slightly, so he
sat back without the food.

'We're talking
about
you, not
to
you,' said Mallory.

'What?' he said. 'You can't do that to me, what are you
saying?'

'I spoke to Phoebe,' said Mallory, grinning like an imp.

'Oh yes,' Sam replied, sitting back and faking nonchalance.

'She's keen to go out with you.'

'Really?' he squeaked and sat forward. 'I mean . . .
really
?' and he lowered his voice to a manly baritone.

'Yep, she thought you were cute.'

'Holy macaroni, I won't know what to do, what to say!'
he said, looking around at the group with a scared expression.

'Well you can start by
not
saying "Holy macaroni",'
Chantrea said dryly, pouncing on the party pies as soon as
Jacqueline entered the room.

'It'll be fine, just be yourself,' said Sera, patting his knee
and feeling like an old married woman.

'We're just sorting Sam out with a date,' Mallory
explained to Jacqueline. 'He wants me to come and style
him beforehand.'

'No I don't!' Sam protested.

'Yes, you do,' Mallory said, patting him on the knee too
and ignoring his protests.

'But . . . ?' he blustered, looking to Sera for support.

'You do,' Sera agreed.

'Now, where to take her?' Mallory pondered.

'Hang on, this is my date,' protested Sam.

'Not now that you're with a group of women,' Sera
smirked. 'But seriously,' said Chantrea, 'where will you
take her?'

'I know, what about The Lounge?' Mallory suggested
excitedly. 'It's the most happening club at the moment.'

'What about the Park Hyatt?' Jacqueline suggested. 'So
refined.'

'Oh, you're such a grown-up, Jacqueline,' said Mallory.
'Honestly, that's far too stuffy.'

'Fine,' Jacqueline declared, then changed the subject
abruptly. 'What about a brunch?'

'For Sam's date?' Sera asked, confused.

'No, but wouldn't it be delightful if all of you brought
your families here for a brunch? We could have it Sunday
week. I'll cater; you just need to bring yourselves and your
families.'

No one spoke for a moment, as they considered the
logistics of children, parents and in-laws.

Jacqueline took their silence to mean approval. 'It's all
settled, then,' she said, delighted to have another social
event to plan. 'With this dreadful weather I think I'll do a
chartreuse and white theme.'

The group members finally reached into their bags to
retrieve their knitting projects.

After an hour or so of diligent handiwork, slightly
slowed by the effects of the Fluffy Ducks, they packed up
their craft items and farewelled their hostess.

Sera walked down the front steps with Chantrea. 'Do
you want to pop in for some salt to balance tonight's sugar-fest?'

Sera joked lightly, knowing her friend still needed to
talk.

'Are you sure it's not too late?' Chantrea asked.

'Of course not,' Sera replied.

When they entered the house, Sera saw to her great
relief that mother-in-law had gone to bed.

They raided the kitchen for some blue cheese and
crackers, accompanied with a nice dry chardonnay, then
installed themselves at the kitchen table.