Back in Brisbane, the other flat that was empty downstairs is now occupied with two New Zealand barmaids from a city pub. Ben is head-over-heal in love with one of them. They spend every spare moment together.
 |
| My favorite Martian TV Show teaches me English |
Just as well I have friends upstairs. Jennifer comes down nearly every night after studying to teach me English. Mainly written English. The spoken word I learn from TV shows such as ‘My Favorite Martian’ and ‘My Three Sons’, shows that are on after I get home from work at night.
After a few months, the barmaids next door decide Brisbane is too much of a country town and they leave for Sydney. Ben is heartbroken. He mopes around at night after night for a few weeks and eventually decides there is nothing stopping him in Brisbane. He wants to move to Sydney too to look for his lost love.
I ask him, have you got her address? No, but I’ll find her, he says. But Sydney is a big place, No worries, I’ll find her, he insists. No matter how much I try to persuade him from heading south, he is determined he needs to find his barmaid.
We split everything we own, half the sheets, blankets, knives, forks and spoons and he is packed to the brim the day he takes a bus to Sydney. I am sad to see him go and I feel alone in a large two-bedroom flat.
No comments:
Post a Comment