Kylie nodded in agreement. “Yeah I know what you mean. My mum has a pianola at home and has played the piano all her life. She goes to the old people’s home in Mt Isa and plays for them sometimes, and they crowd around her and have a great old time.”
“Does your Mum live here?” Jenna asked.
“Nooooo,” Kylie said. “She’s still in the Isa but she is coming to visit this weekend for a few weeks. I should bring her down here and ask her to tinkle the ivories for them.”
Jenna stopped, faced Kylie, grabbed both her elbows and said, “Oh they would LOVE that, really, they would really love that.”
“Hmmmm,” Kylie said thinking out aloud. “Okay, well Mum arrives on Sunday, do you think we could come down on Tuesday and let her play the piano for the oldies for an hour or so? Would that suit their schedule?”
“Yeah! That would be fantastic. I’ll let them know on Monday that we have a special surprise for them after dinner on Tuesday. How about starting at 6.30 pm, everyone will have just finished eating and you’ll capture them before they head off to watch TV or go back to their rooms.”
“Great. I think they will LOVE it. I hope they will love it. I can’t see why they wouldn’t. I’ll stop doubting myself. I’m full of ideas, I just feel doubtful sometimes about how they will pan out but I can’t see this sucking. I’ll just write that time down in my diary so I don’t forget. Start playing at 6.30 pm Tuesday. No worries,” Kylie said.
“It’ll be great!” said Jenna.
“Okay, well I’d better split. This milk is getting warm,” Kylie said.
“Hey, I finish work in 10 minutes, did you want to have a coffee? At my place? I live just around the corner?” Jenna asked.
Surprised, Kylie said, “Which corner? The corner at the lights? Is that where you hang out? On the corner? I thought your skirt was a lil bit too short!”
“Up Gregory Street towards Castle Hill, really it’s about 300 metres from here, saves me heaps on fuel,” Jenna said quite proudly.
“I’ll bet it does, you’d be on Foot Falcon all the time.”
“What?”
“You know, Foot Falcon! Your feet are the transport!” Kylie said pointing to her feet.
“Ohhhh, I get it. Foot Falcon. But what if I’m a Holden girl? What is it then?” Jenna inquired.
Without even thinking, Kylie blurted out, “Hoof Holden!”
They both smiled and Kylie told Jenna she would wait for her outside.
Ten minutes later, Jenna and Kylie walked around the corner to Jenna’s place. She put the kettle on and they talked for an hour before Jenna realised what the time was and said, “Shit, are you hungry?”
“I’m hungry, but not for shit. If I was going to eat shit I’d go home and burn something for mine self,” Kylie said, confessing her lack of kitchen prowess.
“Really? Wow, I love cooking. Stay and I’ll cook you dinner?” Jenna asked, hoping Kylie would say yes.
Without any hesitation, Kylie replied, “Sold!” A night off cooking was a gift.
“Great! Do you like steak? ”Jenna asked while looking in the freezer.
“Nup,” Kylie replied.
“Fish?” she asked while fumbling through the cold shelves.
“Nup.”
“Chicken?” she asked but by now she had turned to Kylie as she waited for her response.
“Nup!”
“Are you a vegetarian Kylie?” Jenna asked smiling.
“No I’m a Vege-Aquarian! I eat prawns and oysters.”
“Ha, I’ve never heard of a vege-aquarian before. How about a vegie stir fry?”
“Great!” Kylie said.
“Done,” Jenna said opening the fridge and pulling out vegetables from the cold drawer.
They talked while Jenna cooked then they sat and ate and talked, then they washed up while they talked some more. Then Kylie looked at the time and announced, “Baby it’s late! And it’s a school night! I’ve gotta act like a tree and leave.” She thanked Jenna for a really nice meal, a lovely chat and a great evening.
Kylie waved goodbye and walked five hundred metres home with her milk. She thought about the irony of it taking an out of outrigging scenario for her to get to know Jenna, even though she had sat behind her for two months at training and listened to both her and Jess calling Huts. She had purposely joined a sport to meet people but noticed the habit was for girls to go to training to train then head home straight afterwards with very little interaction in between. How can you get to know people that bugger off straight after a one hour session of being quiet in a canoe, Kylie wondered. She was just glad to have made some ground with Jenna and knew it could only get better from here on in.
Closing the gate, she bounded up the twenty-two stairs to her little flat. She opened her door with a smile and said softly to herself, “Wow, what a lovely surprise end to a sad drive home today.....I think I’ve found a friend.” Kylie jogged her happy jog on the spot and then all the way to the shower as she chanted to herself, “Yay for Ky-lie, Yay for Ky-lie!”
Before going to bed she made a note to herself to ask her mum to bring some pianola rolls with her when she came to visit so that she could keep them at her place and continue to play them for the oldies once her mum returned to Mount Isa after her holiday. Her mother owned hundreds of them so Kylie thought she could swap them every trip she made and hopefully bring a bit of joy to the oldies one night a week.
That night Kylie turned the light off with a smile on her face.
Happy Hour
As requested, when Kylie’s mum drove from Mount Isa to Townsville to visit her, she brought with her three boxes of pianola rolls to leave at Kylie’s place. Kylie’s mum had agreed whole heartedly to play the piano at the old people’s home so Jenna had arranged for the residents to assemble in the dining hall at 6.30 pm on Tuesday.
Kylie saw Jenna and introduced her to her mother. “Jenna this is my mum, Jen” she said.
“Oh that will be easy to remember,” Jenna said.
“Yes, it will.” Kylie’s mum smiled. “Hi Jenna how are you?”
“Good thank you. Everyone is so excited about tonight. They haven’t heard a song out of this since Lil passed away six months ago,” Jenna said.
“Oh.” Kylie’s mum nodded. Jen was much shyer than her daughter. She sat down at the piano and began working her way up through the notes to see how in tune the keys were.
“Oh, by the way, they only tuned it the same week that Lil died,” Jenna said.
“Okay,” said Jen.
Jenna addressed the group of residents. Some were still finishing their dinner and others had made their way to sit around the edge of the dance floor. “Okay everyone, tonight we have a lovely surprise for you all the way from Mount Isa. Jen is on holidays visiting her daughter Kylie and has come in to play the piano for you.”
There was chatter in the room and eyes were wide with excitement.