Tatted Cowboy Read Free

Healing me.
     
    ***
     
    “Are you nearly ready, love?”
    “Yes, Gran,” I answer, calling out from my bedroom.  I slide my earrings in and give myself a quick once over.
    It’s been two weeks since I moved in with Gran and today she’s taking me to play Bingo with her friends at the Bowling Club.
    It’s not my idea of a good time, but she practically begged me to go and I had given in.  To be honest, I was kind of looking forward to being around people who wouldn’t look at me with pity.
    Twenty minutes later we arrive at the Bowling Club.
    “It looks so different,” I muse, as we make our way up the concrete steps.
    “A lot has changed since you’ve been here,” Gran agrees.
    She’s right.
    A lot has changed.
    I spent the first nine years of my life in Pine Creek.  My dad worked on a farm for those years but then the drought hit and we had to leave town.  We moved to Mount Isa where dad took up a position with a mining company, and even though we managed to travel back a handful of times during the rest of my childhood, it has been fifteen years since I was here last.
    “Here comes Nosey Josie,” Gran mutters under her breath.  I swallow back a giggle as Josie rushes towards us as fast as she can with the aid of her walking stick.
    “Marjorie, so good to see you,” she greets.  Josie’s aged a lot since I last saw her, but she’s still recognizable to me; we used to live next door to her and she hated kids.  She would keep our balls that found their way over the fence and she was always spying on us, clicking her tongue and shaking her head when we did something she deemed inappropriate … like spraying each other with the hose!
    Time has not been kind to her.  Her already pinched features are even more pronounced, deep wrinkles spread over her face and she has a hunch in her posture.
    “Josie,” Gran greets tersely.  “You remember my granddaughter, Laura, don’t you?”
    “Of course,” Josie turns her gaze to me, offering me a forced smile.  “I’m so—” Gran interrupts her by clearing her throat and from the corner of my eye I see the look she shoots her.  It has Josie snapping her mouth shut.  From the look on Josie’s face, I can tell she desperately wants to finish her sentence, but she swallows the words down.  Obviously Josie was going to say something about Gus and Gran didn’t want her to upset me.  I could hug Gran right now.
    “It’s great to see you back in Pine Creek, Laura,” Josie finally offers.
    “Thank you.  It’s great to be back,” I reply genuinely.
    “Oh, look! There’s Maude.  She’s been busting to see you,” Gran says, dragging me away.
    “Hi Maude,” I smile warmly, bending down to give her a hug.  Maude is Gran’s best friend and was like a second grandmother to me when I was growing up.
    “Laura, sweetheart.  Look at you.” She gives me a once over.  “Still as beautiful as ever.”
    “I could say the same to you,” I grin.
    “Still got an attitude, too, I see,” she mutters to Gran, causing me to giggle.
    “Come on, let’s get inside and get good seats.”  Gran leads the way.  After purchasing a book of tickets each and an ink blotter, we find a seat near to the front.
    “Don’t think we’ll go easy on you, Laura.  Just because you’re a guest doesn’t mean I’ll let you leave with a frozen chook so easily,” Josie bites out as she walks past our table.
    I cock my eyebrow at her and smile politely.  “Oh, Josie.  You can keep your frozen chickens.  I’ve got my eyes on that quilt over there.” I point to the gorgeous handmade quilt hanging near the prize table.
    She mutters something under her breath as she walks to her table.
    “Stupid old woman,” Gran shakes her head.
    The lady behind the microphone calls for quiet and begins reading out the numbers.  Twenty minutes later, Josie walks past with a smirk as she claims the first prize.
    Damn, that woman is really getting on my nerves.  I have no idea