Very Social

I was up at 9am, on a Saturday. (even if my schedule doesn’t allow for any day to be weight higher than any other) Bugger! Sam said it was the call of the "mari" that woke me. Considering, I’d been tossing and turning for half an hour before I, actually, got up, it had crossed my mind, I have to be honest. So, what could I really say to Sam? He gave me “that look” which filled the ensuing silence admirably.

I smiled.

I made coffee and rolled a joint, I had no choice, it had already been spoken off, after all. No elephant in the room this morning.

Buddy was sitting right up the very back on the garden bed, like a porcelain Bulldog. He is such a character as to where he can be sitting in the mornings. Old man face. Sad Face. Learned face. Quizzical face. There-is-something-going-on face. I’m-on-to-it face.

A cloud of smoke filled the lounge room.

I was out of muesli, damn.

The morning slipped by.

I got very hungry.

Mark and Luke wandered off while we were in the shower, something about the bank and the rest of it was out of earshot. It could have been, we’ll be gone for a couple of hours, or we will see you later, I’m not sure. Shane and Tulli are just a door click, at the best of times. Shadows at the end of the front hallway, the two of them. I was out of money, I wanted the rent to pay for lunch, so we waited for all of them, any of them. So while I was waiting for Mark and Luke any way, so I was happy to wait for the rent too.

Anthony called to confirm the arrangements, laughing and saying how fortuitous, when I told him my car was at the mechanic with an engine problem and that the parking area out the back was completely free.

“It is most likely going to be there for 3 weeks.”

“Even better,” he said. “I might visit again in that time.”


I seemed to be waiting for everyone else before I could go out and eat. We seemed to be waiting around forever. Sam is quite keen on his food, of course, and the last thing he wanted was for Mark and Luke to come back saying they have eaten. He was starting to pace.

Shane turned up first flush with the cash.

Sam and I were out the door and walking up Gertrude Street, all anxiety blown off, gnashing of teeth, exclamations of, where are they? Shrugs, wide eyes… finally free… when we laughed at the sight of each other, stopping in Gertrude facing each other, what a lather. We decided that we didn’t need to spend the money when we had leftovers in the fridge.

We had only just prepared our meal, when Mark and Luke walked in the door with a mountain of shopping.

And they had eaten.


Anthony arrived by 3pm. It was the first time I’d seen him since the induced coma… er… not that I saw him then, but right before in the pain that necessitated the coma. I had swept the rear parking area for him, as per his note, his 10 point note on what was to occur for his visit. I hadn’t made his bed, although I did have a set of new bedding to be put on, thanks to Jill.

Anthony told me that there was going to be a “private” bbq for Shane and Tulli on the 27th January… apparently, Anthony knows Alex – the second of Sebastian’s failed relationships that he has had in the time that I have know him, who now acts as Sebastian’s shadow. I should be attracted to Alex, young, good looking, Greek, but I am just not, never have been, strangely.

“What does “private” mean?”

Anthony wasn’t sure. I guessed it meant that only those people who Shane deems friends, of which we are not a part, my friends. Shane started this “my friends” thing some time ago, despite all of our extended group having known each other equally for years. I wondered if Shane was far too “look at me and my fabulous life” to pull off a “private event” really.

Anthony went into say hello to Shane and Tulli, who were hold up in Shane’s room, as per usual, and when he came back, he told us that they had a pair of children’s pull up nappies on the bed, which they tried to hide quickly, about which they said, “I’m sure you don’t want to see that.”

Anthony didn’t.


Sam and I went to the supermarket to get muesli ingredients. Oh, some habits are hard to break. It means I don’t have to think before I fully wake up, muesli and coffee are prepared on auto pilot most mornings.

Shane helped Anthony make his bed. Yes, I know, I should have, being the perfect host, we’ve known each other for twenty five years… and I couldn’t be bothered. I mean to say, who amongst you, actually, enjoy making beds.

Adriana came for dinner too. She regaled us with stories of her most recent trip to Sydney for New Year. Even the telling of the 2 gay boys she went with splitting up during the holiday was hysterical.

Luke cooked a banquet. I kept rolling joints mostly at Anthony’s request, but don’t get me wrong there were plenty of request from me, before we get the look from the chattering classes?

Tulli came out shirtless, with Shane, with some sort of apparatus on each nipple, I’m not really sure what that was about. I didn’t turn far enough around to look closely, as Tulli was standing right next to me, but I was bent over the coffee table rolling up.

I thought Shane said that they had a job on, but that would have only made sense to me and Sam, if that, is in fact, what Shane said. I haven’t told anyone that Tulli is a prostitute, I don’t know why? It seems like such a personal detail to reveal. Still, if Shane did, in fact, say that, he is not hiding the fact.

I’m sure the whole episode is just a part of Shane’s “look at me” mentality.

It was the first time Tulli had met Adriana. So… there you go Adriana. Everyone had on there bemused faces, big eyes, lips squeezed tight, when Shane and Tulli left the room.

Millie arrived with her director, of a film she is about to shoot, looking fabulous. She declined the joint, saying what she had in Federal was the last time she smoked.

She said that I was looking young, but I think that was just nerves from my much altered appearance. To tell you the truth, I was far too stoned by the time Millie got there to make any sense… of any thing.

Millie looked fabulous.