CHAPTER 28: THE WATCHING MULLIGANS

CHAPTER 28

THE WATCHING MULLIGANS

There were a dozen women at the CWA hall when I arrived a little before 6 pm. I shook off the feeling I had from talking to Lachie and Jimbo—the same way you shake off a spider web when you walk through it.

Russell Mowbray was there, dragging mats out from under the stage, and a dozen women in tracksuits stood around looking tentative. It seemed Russell had dropped Crystal off and got roped into helping. Norma was there supervising and Crystal was helping set up too. Watching Russell, I was interested to see how he would play it. I caught his eye and he looked awkward. I waved in greeting and he relaxed visibly. He’d probably been feeling bad about his behaviour in the coffee shop. You can walk out abruptly on a coffee date, but in a small town you’re gonna run into each other really soon. Once he finished putting the mats out, he came over to me.

‘Look,’ he said nervously, ‘I’m sorry about walking out on you yesterday.’

He looked so contrite I almost felt like letting him off the hook. It’s so easy to say, Oh that’s okay, I’ll excuse your behaviour, which of course gives them licence to repeat it, so I never do. I’m a head-on kind of person. Gentle, but head-on. ‘Touchy subject, huh?’

His sudden smile crinkled the corners of his deep brown eyes. ‘Oh, you betcha!’ he said. ‘Look, if you could forgive my bad manners and have coffee with me again, I promise I will definitely not walk out.’

And that, folks, was still the best offer I’d had in a while. I considered him for a couple of seconds before answering. Saw hope in his eyes. I said yes. He looked relieved. I ignored a flutter in my stomach.

It was time to start the class. Crystal, in loud leggings and a lime-coloured singlet, was younger than the other women there. The oldest woman looked about sixty. I thought it best to ease them into things, so I got everyone to sit on a mat and do some gentle stretches, not unlike yoga. Any kind of martial arts had the potential to leave every muscle aching if you went in too quickly. In the past, I’d experienced aches in muscles I never knew I had.

As we sat and stretched, the women introduced themselves. I recognised some of them from the CWA talk. I had hoped Joyce Tippet would be among the participants, but she wasn’t.

I took the women through my ideas for the class. ‘Best keep this practical,’ I said. ‘We’ll go through some counter moves for if you’re tackled or grabbed or assaulted.’

‘Like you did with Jack,’ said a woman called Marina, grinning.