CHAPTER 156: Social Circle

The house was a mess.  There were barely any clean clothes and no clean nightdresses or pyjamas and she was down to her last pair of thick black tights.  The lawn was overgrown and the house plants dying...this was the reality for a junior female doctor working long shifts at the hospital.  While she was working, the house fell into chaos but Julia wasn't earning enough to hire a full time cleaner.  As she sat there in just her underwear as there were no dressing gowns or robes clean enough to wear, eating food that was on the cusp of its use by date, she felt miserable being in such squalor.  

After eating a breakfast that smelled suspiciously like it had gone off, showeringm then finding a clean outfit to wear and plaiting her hair, she was ready to tackle those chores.  Even then, she had worn a hole in her comfy loafers...yet another expense, yet another thing to do.

The mess outside was like a jungle had sprung up.  Lots of weeds around the bins, piles of grot and detritus all around.  It was fortunate for her that none of the neighbours had complained about the mess.  The home looked like some kind of crazy, cat lady lived there all alone and not a qualified doctor.  If she didn't get on top of this, then she'd probably end up as that crazy cat lady.

As she finished clearly away the last of the stinky weed bushes, her pager went off.

"Oh what now?" she said, exasperated.  She checked to see that it wasn't the hospital who had left a message...it was the Casbah Gallery in San Myshuno:  She had been booked to play a lunchtime recital at the gallery and the pager was reminding her she had to be there at midday; an hour from now.  She just had enough time to check her hair and outfit before grabbing the sheet music and heading on into the city centre.

The piano was all laid out for her in the music room on the second floor.  Julia played piano at various clubs and venues to supplement her income and from an amateur open mic night at the Blue Velvet, she now played there and now here at the Casbah Gallery.

There were a steady stream of onlookers throughout her session and the tips came rolling in.  It was just a lunchtime concert but she had made $100 through tips alone.

Once her recital had finished, she gathered up her sheet music and headed downstairs where she bumped into a familiar face:  Rez Valdes.  Whenever she and Rez met...and it was always by chance...he had been besotted with her.  Normally her heart sank whenever a man put some moves on her but today she wasn't so fussed.  Recently she had met a man called Vincent Bledsoe at work who did stir what little romantic inklings she possessed and whilst not won over by Rez's devotions to her, neither did she instantly recoil from them now.

"Hello Rez" she said.

"Oh, hi Julia.  How's it going?" he replied, nonchalantly.

"Alright.  I just did a lunchtime piano recital upstairs"

"Yeah, I caught the last part of that.  You played well; not that I know much classical stuff."

"I'm glad you liked it..." she said, tentatively.  She was setting herself the task of talking to a guy of her own age without becoming defensive.  "What about you?  How are you today?"

"Me?  Yeah, well, I was jamming outside, you know?  Playing my sound...a mix of Latin influence rock n' roll with a touch of rockabilly, you know what I mean?" he said, coolly.

"Not really, but I must come and see you play sometime" she said, smiling.  Rez remained cool and detached though.

"That'd be cool" he replied.  "I'm building up a bit of a fanbase now..." he said, looking to his left and noticing a teenage girl looking coyly at him.  He gave her a nod and a wave in response.  "Yeah, you gotta have a fanbase" he continued.  Julia could tell his romantic attentions were elsewhere now and she had mixed feelings about that.  Relief that he wasn't pestering her but there was also a sense of jealousy bubbling up within her.

"I wish you good fortune in your musical endeavours" she said, glancing at the besotted teenager by the front doors of the gallery.  "And in other things as well..."

Julia felt it was the right time to go...she thought about being prudent with the money she'd earned at the gallery but then she decided to bank $20 and spend the rest down at the spa...she could do with a spiritual and physical cleanse with the aim of gaining some personal control over her increasingly chaotic life and if there was one thing Julia hated, it was chaos.

Yoga appealed to her; the combination of seemingly simple body movements, achieving peace of mind but contrasted with the discipline and trying to balance oneself...physically and mentally...was a challenge.  Worship and prayers at the synagogue, a big feature of her childhood, were too crowded and layered with intricate social relationships whereas yoga was more personal.  Now she only attended the synagogue when it was a family matter or for important religious days.

There was only Julia and one other lady in the yoga class today and Julia felt self-conscious as she worried that the spotlight would be more on her and that she couldn't fade into the group.  As fortune would have it, the other lady fell down twice whilst Julia managed the routines just about adequately.

After the session Julia was preparing to change and head home when she saw another familiar face...Kerry Fry.  She'd forgotten he worked here as a physiotherapist.

"Kerry!  Hi!" she said, waving to him as she walked down the hall to the massage section of the spa.

"Oh, Julia, hi" he said, looking her up and down.  "Did you have a good session?  I see you look more....toned".  His tone sounded more suggestive.

"Do I really?" she replied, innocently as she ran her hands up and down her waist and hips.  This just made Kerry bite his bottom lip to restrain himself.  He was at work, after all.

"You know, it's been too long since we last hung out...I thought you'd met some guy and were too busy for your old friends these days" he said.

"Me?  With a guy?  What, romantically?  Don't be silly *SNORT*" she said, letting out her trademark snorting laugh.

"Look, I'm busy all this week but how about next week?  You, me...I know this great whole food restaurant we could go to." he asked.

"Yeah, sure...as friends?" she replied.

"Oh yeah, totally cool in a friendly type way" he replied.

"OK, give me a call next week then" 

"You got it!" he said, clicking his tongue and winking at her.

Well that was all very pleasant... thought Julia as she showered and changed into her everyday clothes.  A friendly, platonic date with Kerry would be good as he was always interesting company.  And how nice of him to notice that she was looking fitter; the exercise was clearly paying off.

She went home, put her exercise clothes in the laundry hamper and checked her diary to see what was going on tomorrow at the hospital but to her surprise she saw that she had missed an event for today...a meeting of the League of Decency at Sneedley Burrow.  If she rushed she could make it just in time so she quickly stripped off her clothes and put on her League uniform in a hurry, which wasn't easy to do as it involved garter belts, knee boots and a strict minimal make up code.  Edna and George were sticklers for personal grooming...especially George.  Once Julia was ready she caught a bus for Oasis Springs and made it to the meeting with just minutes to spare.

Today's meeting concerned the publishing and promulgation of "smut, filth and unwholesome literature".  The group had been given the task to seek out books which had gratuitous sex, drug use and violence in them, work out which publishing houses published them in order to launch a campaign to have the offending works banned.

"And how did you do, Julia?" asked Edna.  "Did you find any works of depravity this week?"

"Well, I've been a little bit busy this week..." replied Julia, apologetically.

"Tsk, tsk..." said Edna, a slight tone of disapproval in her voice.  "And I was counting on your intellectual skills in this exercise as well.  But I understand you're a busy doctor with plenty of work on your plate.  Maybe next time, eh?" she said, more as an admonishment than encouragement.

Scott Urban sat next to Julia.  "Don't you worry, Miss Julia, I found a few books that take a negative view about our armed forces.  I could talk you through a few of them to show the mistakes the writers have made and how I think they're commie propaganda."

"That's nice, Scott.  Thanks for the offer of help" replied Julia.

Edna had a way of cutting a person down to size with a passive-aggressive comment.  Julia felt bad for not keeping up with her League commitments even though everyone else seemed to have no problem fulfilling them.  She remained quiet throughout the rest of the meeting and sloped off without anyone really noticing once it had ended.

One last thing that was in her diary...the Humour & Hijinks Festival downtown.  Julia always went to these and she did promise to catch up with her best friend, Francesca as well.  Julia felt that everything today just seemed that little bit hollow and not as fun or as interesting compared with how she felt about playing the piano or her League of Decency meetings.  Even the yoga felt like a band-aid hurriedly placed over a wound instead of healing it.

Julia didn't have time to go home and change out of her League uniform so she rocked up to the event as she was.  Francesca was already there and waiting.

"Julia...wow, that's some get up you've got on there!" said Francesca, looking at Julia in her uniform.

"It's my League of Decency uniform...I didn't have time to go home and change after the meeting"

"Are you here to shut the place down?  You look wild; like an extra from a Matt Helm movie.  Does the outfit come with a whip?" joked Francesca.

"No...why should it?" replied Julia, innocently.

"Never mind" said Francesca.  "Let's have fun"

There were a lot of interesting people at the festival this evening, including a very smartly dressed English gentleman who gave his name as Steed.  He charmed Francesca, and even Julia, with his wit, knowledge and impeccable manners.  However, Julia saw an old and dear friend sitting on her own:  Joelene Scholl.

"Jolene!  Hi!  Oh my goodness, I didn't expect to see you here!" gushed Julia.  "You remember my friend, Francesca?"

"Yes I do!  Julia, give me a hug, it's been such a long time!" replied Jolene, equally happy and surprised to see Julia.  She was immaculately made up and wearing a crushed velvet lilac minidress that flattered her figure.  The three of them sat down to continue their chat.

"I've just got back from Greenwich Village, New York" said Jolene.

"What were you doing there?" asked Julia.

"I was gigging...got me a 4 week regular slot at one of the big clubs down there.  I was supporting Buffalo Springfield" said Jolene.

"Never heard of him" said Julia.

"They're a band from Canada, Julia" said Francesca.

"Ohhhhh" said Julia.

"Well done you!  So the singing career is going well?" asked Francesca.

"Pretty good.  I got an agent now and am back here to check out the music scene here again.  We should do a gig together like old times, Jules"

"I'd like that." replied Julia.

Francesca went to get another round of drinks and that afforded Julia and Jolene to catch up more.

"...so life's pretty good but I miss my old friends" said Joelene.

"It's good to have you back!  Cheers!" said Julia, raising a glass in toast.  Joelene clinked her glass to Jules'.

"And what about you?  Anything interesting going on?" asked Joelene.

"Just work, work and more work really..." said Julia, wistfully.  "...I don't get out much at the moment.  Oh, I did go to a wedding...I think you know the bride, Suzy?"

"Oh Suzy from 'Hey Wow'?  Yeah, she finally tied the knot did she?  Good on her!  You didn't catch the bouquet afterwards?" Joelene said, teasing her friend.

"Certainly not!" said Julia, indignantly.

"Although our Jules has her eye on someone..." said Francesca, who had returned to the table with more drinks.

"I do not!" said Julia.

"Ooh do tell" said Joelene, all ears.

"I certainly won't" replied Julia, turning her nose up at the pair of them.

"He's a doctor..." continued Francesca.

"He's a colleague...NO! DON'T TWIST THAT!  I mean, the person Francesca has erroneously assumed I have a romantic rather than a professional interest in is a doctor who has been working part time at the hospital but I must stress it is just a professional interest"

"For now" replied Francesca, cheekily.

"I have one question..." said Joelene.  "Is he cute?"