Slur: The Riverhill Trilogy: Book 1 Read Free Page A

elegant, and Rita, who was just a year older than
Julie, smaller, brasher and louder in every sense of the word. Julie, although
slim, was also curvaceous and well proportioned. Her features were sharp but
nonetheless attractive.
    She usually opted for the
sexy but sophisticated look, and tonight she was wearing a shortish pale blue
skirt with a matching fitted jacket, which bore the popular shoulder pads of
the eighties. She wore the customary white stiletto heels and had a white
leather handbag to match. Her make-up was subtle and served to define her
striking features, and her blond hair was naturally wavy.
    As they rounded the corner
at the top of the street, Rita opened up the conversation, by talking about her
day at work, which was at a food factory.
    ‘Me and Debby were talking
to Charlie at work today. He’s a card! He told us this joke…What’s white and
slides across the dance-floor?’ Then, pausing for effect, she added, ‘Come dancing,’
the double entendre being a reference to a popular TV dancing show around that
time. ‘Well, that was it! We couldn’t stop laughing after that. The slightest
thing set us off.’
    They both laughed at this
and Julie replied, unwittingly. ‘Oh I wish I worked somewhere like that Rita.
It sounds as though you have a great time.’
    ‘Why not?’ Rita replied enthusiastically.
‘I can let you know when there’s any vacancies. You should get a good reference
from your place and you’ll soon learn the ropes. There’s not much to it really
and I can put in a good word for you so it won’t matter if you haven’t got any
experience.’
    Julie was a bit taken aback
by this as deep down she saw herself as being a bit above factory work, but she
didn’t quite know how to put her thoughts into words without offending her
longstanding friend. So she replied with caution.
    ‘I’d love to, but I don’t
want to waste my qualifications.’
    ‘Come off it Julie, what’s a
couple of ‘O’ levels? Besides, if you decide you don’t like it at the factory,
you can always go back to office work. Anyway, you’re a bloody receptionist for
Christ’s sake. You’re hardly gonna qualify for the High Achievers Award, are
you? I mean to say, I earn more than you do.’
    Julie resented Rita’s views
concerning her choice of career, but tried not to show it. Despite her
resentment, she appreciated Rita’s open and frank manner, which she had been
grateful for in the past, so she maintained a cautious approach.
    ‘It’s what it can lead to
that matters. I could do a course in computers or something.’
    ‘Like as if. You’re too busy
enjoying yourself to stick a college course. Besides, I could do a course in
computers, come to that.'
    Julie didn’t wish this to
escalate into a full-blown argument but felt that she must assert herself, so
she replied, ‘You haven’t got the ‘O’ levels or the office experience.’ Then,
realising that she was now becoming a bit confrontational, she tried to lighten
the conversation by joking, ‘Anyway, the talents always a bonus.’
    Rita, however, was not so
easy to pacify. ‘Come off it. All men who work in offices are bloody wimps! You
can’t beat a bloke with a good trade. That’s what my dad says and it’s true.’
    ‘What’s the use of a good
trade if there’s no work around for them?’
    ‘Oh that’s just temporary.
They’ll be all right now we’re getting over the recession. It’s all down to
that bleedin’ Maggie Thatcher anyway.’
    ‘Well while all your blokes
with a trade are still busy looking for work, there’s blokes being promoted at
our place.’
    ‘Yes blokes, exactly! Anyway,
Vinny’s a builder isn’t he and there’s nowt wrong with him?’
    Knowing the mood that Rita
was in, Julie guessed at what was to follow, and she was reluctant to discuss
the subject of her boyfriend Vinny.
    ‘Yes, he’s all right, I
suppose.’
    ‘But?’ prompted Rita.
    ‘Well, I just wish he had a
bit more ambition,