During her childhood Audrey was never quite sure what to make of her parents. One moment they’d be fine, the next a dark doom would descend upon the house and she and her brother were subjected to a brooding, moody uncertainty. At times her father would take her brother out like they were best mates, and Audrey felt sorry she was not a boy, and at other times her brother would whine to their mother about not seeing him for days.
School was, at least, time away from her parents. She was diligent and organised with her school work: it was the only thing within her control. Being shy, she spent most of her time in the library escaping into the fantasy world of books.
In the middle of high school she met Yolanda, the middle of three sisters in a middle-class family, and Audrey found someone who was as confused at the mystery of boys and as short on smart replies to spiteful people as was she. Yolanda hardly ever went to Audrey’s because Yolanda’s family had a pool in their backyard. The girls spent their time swimming and sunning and reading and chatting.
When she wasn’t with Yolanda or doing her homework, Audrey took refuge in her bedroom, writing stories about a girl named Hannah whose parents were always getting into trouble, requiring Hannah to use her superpowers of ruthless self-discipline, acute problem solving and diligent reasoning to save the situation. Audrey listened to Hannah a great deal.
For Year 12, Audrey and Yolanda chose the same subjects. Audrey was a whiz at English, Yolanda at Maths, so with each other’s help they began the year well. It was just after the first break that Audrey’s mother left to be with her truckie boyfriend.
Audrey’s father hadn’t been in the least surprised by the news. The marriage, built initially on shaky ground, had died a jaundiced death before Audrey was even born. But Audrey hadn’t known any different, and it would’ve been a great shock to her to consider that once upon a time her mother and father were wildly attracted to one another. All she’d known was that her mother and father avoided each other, slept in different rooms, and shared only a roster for cooking tea.
On her mother’s twenty-first birthday at her father’s twenty-first party the two decided to rid themselves of their irksome virginity in the backseat of her car after the speeches. Neither had any contraceptive preparation for this event but as it was a once-off they believed the chances of pregnancy were slim. Their surprise some weeks later caught them off guard. Making the best of it, Audrey’s mother gave up her exciting new job at an advertising agency (where she worked long hours for a good starting salary) to give birth to a son and be the little-woman-at-home (where she worked even longer hours for no pay at all).
With the birth of his first born just six months after trotting his bride down the aisle, Audrey’s father became unexpectedly unwilling to do any housework. He’d previously pitched in with the flush of newly-wedded bliss, but now that he was the sole breadwinner it seemed only fair to leave it all up to his “unemployed” wife. She, of course, became increasingly resentful, taking to sarcasm and fury as a remedy.
Three years later, after an argument had resulted in sex but no resolution, she decided to leave. She was still garnering her bravery and packing her things when she found another baby was on the way. And so Audrey was born into a second-chance marriage. As these things often go, it ended in her parents seeking love elsewhere.
Joni Page 