Kylie had looked and looked, every time she went out her front door, every weekend, in every bar and under every bar stool, for the man who would be her husband. Yes, in a mining town like Mount Isa there was a glut and an oversupply of the male of the species on offer but even though the odds were good, the goods were odd. And so was Kylie to be quite honest. She was definitely a little bit different and as such not in very high demand so she fled what she thought was a ‘suitable for her’ man drought and headed 1000 kilometres east, to Townsville. Maybe someone there would appreciate her humour and crazy personality? But whatever her prospects, she had spent long enough looking in the wrong places for this mystery man. She had searched high and low, at times very low, in fact. Leaving no rock unturned, after all, it was a mining region. She had looked out at Lake Moondarra, at the Gregory River, at the Mount Isa Rodeo, the Quamby Rodeo, the Saxby Round Up, the Kynuna Surf Carnival, the McKinlay Races, the Julia Creek Dirt ‘n’ Dust, the Cloncurry Races, the Mount Isa Races, the Boulia Camel Races, and the Pentland Races. Yes, she had tried all the BnS events on offer – Bachelor and Spinster Balls – and always wondered why ‘bachelor’ sounds sexy and appealing whereas ‘spinster’ sounds dried up and on the shelf? Kylie had no luck at the infamous Cloncurry BnS, the Hughenden BnS, the Charters Towers BnS, the Mount Isa BnS, the Camooweal BnS. Nor did she find anyone at various friends’ weddings, or closer to home at the Irish Club, the Barkly Hotel, Boydies, Switches, The Kave, Diamond Lils or The Snake Pit. The Argent was boarded up by the time she hit the legal drinking age so it didn’t make the list. None of her many, many daytime occupations yielded any spoils and she even perved on a couple of her older brothers’ mates. But she found no leads, nothing, nuddah, zip, zero, diddly squat. There was no one she was especially interested in and they sure as shit weren’t interested in the long haul requirement of hanging out and being cool with her for the best part of forever. To say the least, she was bloody exhausted but she was out of options. So, when the opportunity presented itself, Kylie decided it was high time to act like a banana, and split.
The thought of leaving all her life-long girlfriends saddened her immensely. Though at the time, the selection of girlfriend social activities on offer was lacking, with dwindling choices of places to go to have a coffee, or lunch together. The 24-hour cafe at the Shell Roadhouse in Grace Street had just closed down and the only real option to have a cappuccino with girlfriends was at Polkies Cafe in the middle of Kmart Plaza Shopping Centre. This meant sitting within twenty very small centimetres of the person at the next table who was never a stranger. Consequently, although you weren’t meeting them for a coffee, you were afraid that anything you did speak of would be broadcast on the grapevine within five steps of them leaving their warm empty coffee cup on the table. There was a Truck Stop on the Barkly Highway near the old Drive In with a 24-hour cafe but it wasn’t a place you would meet a girlfriend for coffee. Therefore, the mindset of ‘meeting for coffee’ had not yet evolved in her world, instead she would meet them, with their boyfriends at the Irish Club or another bar, or another after dark social occasion, which was great but it always involved alcohol. This mindset was also in part a fault of her own as she lived at home and didn’t invite her friends over for instant coffee or a tea bag and Tim Tam. In Kylie’s mind, the idea of ‘let’s meet for coffee’ was very New York and she was hoping to appreciate in her new life. It seemed a very grown up concept to her despite being in her mid twenties and not having done it except while on holidays to Brisbane or Melbourne.
“Wow, A Baby, you leave in a week!” Kylie’s Dad said to her as he cooked her a monsterpiece. A monsterpiece was the term used to describe a dish her dad Roger cooked which was a masterpiece of food containing at least twelve different types of vegetables on one very stacked plate, everything tasting delicious, and every pot had been used.
“I know,” said Kylie, stifling her emotions and staring blankly at the kitchen wall.
“When do all your things get picked up to get taken to Towns-bull Town?”
“Hey hum.” She cleared her throat through the tears that came with saying it out loud, “Tomorrow morning.”
“Wow, A Baby, your room will finally be clean!” her father laughed his signatory high-pitched, jovial laugh. “I forget what the floor colour is? Do you know?”
“Yeah. You won’t have to put up with my mess ever again Rargee.” She could hardly finish her sentence before the tears in her eyes welled up and made her throat wet. If she didn’t stop herself now she would be too upset to be able to taste or desire the glorious meal her father had just spent hours cooking.
“Oh Love, it’s alright,” her mum said walking into the room and hugging her as she stood up to find some tissues. “This day was always going to have to come.”
“What, my nose being so full of snot and my eyes being puffy and welled up from tears from leaving this crazy place?” she tried to laugh.
“Oh Baby, this cwazy place and this cwazy family will always be here for you to come back and visit,” said her dad, joining in the group hug. He knew the time to comfort her with a warm heart and human touch was to be cherished, as in one week, the family unit would never be as one again and any time spent with her would forever be on the clock.
“I know, that’s what I’m going to miss. You crazy buggars. No one understands me like you do. It’s your fault I’m so bloody different,” she cried.
“Oh sweetheart, you have no idea what a blessing it is that you are so different. That’s what people are drawn to,” her mum said.
“You’re biased because I was born out of your vagina,” Kylie said trying to keep her answers light. “You harboured me for nine long months, confined me to a womb, a bit like when I was a teenager and grounded.”
“You certainly made yourself comfortable in there, you wouldn’t budge! I thought you were going to live in there for another term.”
“Probably knew that I’d have to get up before the crack of noon on the outside world,” Kylie said laughing
“Come on A Baby, eat your monsterpiece before it gets cold,” said her dad, serving her and her mother and sitting down at the table with them with a plate for himself too.
“Oh no!” Kylie said suddenly.
“What is it A Baby?”
“I just remembered that I can’t even cook! This is like, literally the last supper for me!” she said.
“You bet, I cooked enough to feed us all, for the rest of the week! My job is done!” he said laughing.
“Come on, let’s eat and just enjoy this time together,” her Mum said softly.
As they ate and enjoyed the delicious vegetarian feast before them, they reflected on the fun times they’d had as a family and the many, many laughs they had shared together. Behind the laughter, each one felt their heart breaking at the thought of Kylie finally leaving the nest while at the same time recognising that the time they had been able to spend together was priceless.
The moving van arrived at nine am sharp the next morning and Kylie’s furniture and boxed up possessions were loaded into the back of the sea container with minimal fuss. The amount of clothing, shoes and handbags that she had boxed up was triple that of actual furniture and other items and the removalists commented that this was quite common when moving ladies who had spent many years with shopping as their hobby. Kylie’s mum took photos of her room before and after the removalists had come and also of Kylie standing beside the van as it was leaving their driveway. As sad as it was to witness, it was a huge moment in her daughter’s life and she felt that by documenting it, they would both be able to accept the shift and see the change for what it was, the start of another chapter in Kylie’s life. Her time at home was now over.
To escape the emptiness of her now stark room, her mum said, “C’mon Kylie, let’s go for a drive out to the lake. Take your togs, we might go for a swim.”