of the knock ‘ems and the electric zap of the Dodge ‘Em cars.
She kept her head down focused on the ground beneath her walking sticks. People got out of her way. The stronger muscles in her arms kept her moving along at a rapid pace, keeping her weak legs and feet lightly scraping over the ground as the crutches balanced her body’s weight. Kendra shuffled down the driveway to the fence of the aquarium.
Carefully positioning her crutches to avoid the potholes cratering in to the worn and aged bitumen. Distant laughter and music from the Fair faded as she staggered further away and the banging and scraping sounds of skateboards riding and falling over the old pools in the Aquarium finally drowned other sounds.
The hard concrete walls of the old entrance crept up on her and with them, and unexpected threesome of skateboarders appeared from behind the broken turnstiles.
- Hey watch out, Spaz.
Kendra stopped in her tracks.
- This is our park!
Kendra clutched at the poles in her hands and remained silent.
- What’s the matter with you?
Kendra slowly backed away from the gang.
- Nothing....
One of the boys loomed in front of her.
- You better watch where you’re going….
Slamming his skateboard across the rusted turnstile shattering the sound of the wrought iron into the night air.
- You’re not going in there.
Kendra poked a crutch closer to the entrance.
- I’m just taking a short cut home.
He grabbed his skateboard and stood in Kendra’s path.
- No way, Girl! You stay here.
Kendra lifted one of her poles into the air in defiance.
The balance of her body’s weight fell onto her other arm and crutch, her tackle box dangling from her hand. She positioned the tip at the chest of the ringleader skater.
- I just want to get home.
As the skater started answering, she suddenly flung the tackle box into the air over the iron entrance into the empty wading pool.
The teenagers couldn’t help but watch where the box might land, jumping slightly at the crash of its landing.
While their gaze was diverted, Kendra quickly lowered the crutch, shifted her weight onto it and took a quick angle to her left, away from the skaters.
She used the crutches like limbs, speeding over the uneven surface of the gravel lane, clambering swiftly into the darkness of the beach’s edge.
Her legs dangled between the poles, swinging behind her as her body deftly navigated the scrub, away from the menace of the skater boys.
The way she would take longer to reach the shoreline on the opposite gateway to the aquarium but Kendra could retrieve her tackle box later, even if the skaters had found it and stolen the small amount of cash she had stored in it from her street market sales.
The crutches dug into the dirt and sand. Kendra’s vision faded in the dark away from the carpark lights but as her retina expanded extra light refracted from the moon’s reflection on the waves, illuminating the coastline in front of her.
The cliff track winding down to the derelict aquarium made itself clear to her new night vision and she raced towards it with a beating heart.
Emily - Chapter 6
The hum of a mosquito and an image of tangled purple hair woke Emily, still in the deck chair.
The girl had gone home with friends but she felt the smooth edge of a black business card in her back pocket. Something tapped against the kitchen window downstairs that made Leo rip with a series of growly barks that forced Emily to sit up straight.
A faint light hung over the ocean but she couldn't make out what time it was. She heard a woman’s voice, quietly calling.
- Em, are you awake? Are you alright?
She saw the fading shadow of the woman’s body hovering near her front door. It was Melanie whispering through a gap in the kitchen louvre. Emily creaked out of her chair, knocking over the empty beer bottle with a hammering crash.
Leo grumbled loudly and sprung up from his basket near the back door.
- Shhh. Leo be quiet, go back to your bed. Melanie, is that you?
Emily clambered down the decking's ladder and into the back door, patting Leo on his nose, as he calmed and curled in for the night.
- Yes, it’s me. I tried you on the computer...
Emily fumbled with the latch and let Melanie and the night air in the door.
- Heckle and Jeckle.
Emily motioned to the fish bowl.
- What?
- I had dinner with my goldfish.
- I don’t mind; you can have dinner with whoever you like.
Melanie’s eyes narrowed.
She ran a hand over her sandy, fair hair and curled it behind her ear. She glided inside Emily’s home placing a bottle of red wine on a coffee table and relaxed on the lounge chair as though it was her second home.
- What time is it?
She demanded of Emily
Emily flicked a lamp on and grabbed at her diving watch from her desk.
- Nearly 11.30?
The lamp highlighted Melanie's hair.
- Melanie why did you come all the way over here?
- Emily, I told you, he’s away for a few days and I’m lonely.
- You can't stay the night.
Emily backed away from her visitor towards the door as Melanie stepped towards the lounge chair.
- Why don't you want me to stay?
Emily checked the front door and made sure it was locked.
- Because we shouldn’t and I don’t think I want to anymore.
- Emily, he’s away for another three days. No one knows I’m here.
- But I … do.
Emily smiled at Melanie.
She thought of the other times Max had been away and they had a whole week to be together, not just at work, but long nights of shutting out the loneliness.
Emily broke the silence.
- I really love you. But I don’t like ME very much at the moment.
She ran her hand over her face, straightening her frayed hair and looking to the ground to avoid appreciating Melanie’s curvy silhouette against the lamp light.
Melanie stepped toward Emily until she could smell the warm scent of her sweat and something else. A fragrance; an oily sweetness.
- Have you been with someone tonight? Some new girlfriend?
She gripped Emily’s arm as it moved up to cover her face.
- Who would I be with? I told you, I had dinner with my gold fish – and