A Drawing, For Paige. Joan Is Nobody, And Every Word Here Is Mine.
An Esmeralda
Joan
Sixty · Preston, Melbourne
What She Told Esmeralda
Where would you like to wake up?
Preston, near my sister. Somewhere I can hear a tram and still hear birds.
What would make a house feel like home?
Room for the sewing machine, and a back step to sit on.
What are your days like?
Out most days at the library, and I like the house quiet when I get back.
Somebody the same, or somebody who balances you?
Somebody steadier than me, I think. I am out enough for the two of us.
When a difficulty comes up, how do you sort it out?
Say it kindly, say it early, and then let it go.
What do you love doing at home?
Sewing, and the crossword, and Sunday lunch that goes on too long.
Coming With Her
Betty, who is a spaniel and thirteen, and sleeps through most of it.
Where She Is Looking
Preston, Thornbury, Reservoir. A room in a house, or a house to share with one other woman.
What She Can Pay
Around $260 a week, and she has never once been late.
What Joan Shows
Hers, line by line.
Her first name Shown
Her photograph Shown
Where she is looking Shown
Her surname Kept
Her street Kept
What is hard right now Kept
One act takes her out of every search at once, and every word she has written stays exactly where it is. She is never scored, and she is never ranked.
Her Own Room
Waiting for Joan
She answered the first six on Sunday. There is no bar, no score, and no list of what she has left undone.