Goodbye Lullaby. Jan Murray
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the powdered mustard with some gin, creating a messy paste. Looking up from her work, ‘My guess is you caught that horrible boy’s vile little seed in your belly and if we don’t do something about it straight away, it will start sprouting body parts. Right? But relax, already. I’m here for you, aren’t I? We’re gonna make all that bad stuff go away. Everything’s gonna be just dandy. Leave it to Dr Jude and her brilliant vanishing cream. Here, let's rub this goo on your belly.’ She slopped the yellow mixture onto Miki’s tummy.
Miki did as she was told, massaging the paste into her skin.
~~~
Ten minutes later they were still sitting facing each other in the bath, not caring that the water had gone cold on them, as they drained the dregs of the gin into their tumblers.
‘To all the bastards.' Jude jabbed a finger at Miki’s belly. 'Including you, ol’ sport.’ Taking Miki into her arms, she hugged her, and doing what she had been doing for the past hour, surreptitiously spilled her cocktail into the bath behind Miki's back. Someone had to be in control. ‘Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.’ It was her best Hollywood voice. ‘Of all the low-down, dirty rotten gin joints in the world, she hadda wander into mine.’
Not even the shadow of a smile from Miki. She could only imagine how awful this must be for her friend. If this didn’t work … well, it was too hideous to think about.
‘What happens, now?’ said Miki, slurring her words. Her arm hung over the side of the tub. The glass tumbled from her hand. ‘Jude?’
‘C’mon. Outside. Liven up, Mik! Two for the high jump.’
Jude stepped out of the bath, being careful to avoid the broken glass. Naked, she darted from the room.
'Jude? What happens now?'
Jude returned to the bathroom with a dustpan and broom and cleared away the broken glass. 'What happens now is that we help the mustard and gin along a bit. C'mon.' She grabbed Miki by the arm and dragged her out of the bath, down the hall and into the dining room.
Checking that the blinds were fully drawn, she dumped a heap of pillows and cushions on the floor at one end of the rosewood dining table and placed a chair on top of the table.
‘If this doesn’t kill, it’ll cure. Up you go,’ she ordered.
‘Go away!’ Miki was lying on the carpet in a foetal position.
‘C’mon, get up Wonder Woman!’ She dragged Miki to her feet. ‘Watch this.’ She climbed onto the table and up onto the dining chair. Leaning over, suspended for the moment as if balancing at the edge of a cliff, she belly-flopped onto the huge pile of pillows. Grabbing one of the cushions, she swiped Miki hard across the midriff. ‘Take that … and that. Now you get up there, go on!’
She helped Miki climb up onto the tower of furniture.
'You can do it. Flop!'
Miki stalled for an instant and then, her eyes glued on Jude's, tilted her body and went limp.
She fell, landing hard on her belly. With a grin on her face, she looked up at Jude ‘Like that?’
‘Yep. Good work! Now, again!’
After several belly-flops, both girls giggling and chasing each other around the room with pillows, Miki stumbled down the hall, returning from Jude's bedroom with an armful of fluffy toys, some they had shared since the cradle.
‘Catch!’ yelled Miki as she tossed Little Pink Teddy high in the air.
Jude had to leap up to grab it. Miki always did that, tossed things above her head for her to catch, as if they were on the field and playing for opposing teams. Good for Mik, she had kept growing and was showing no sign of stopping any time soon. Unlike herself. She had stalled at five foot two. She sometimes thought that was why Miki did it. To lord her height over her. Poppy said good things came in small packages but she was still holding out for some extra inches.
The big golliwog in the red and white stripes was the next toy Miki threw at her. She caught old Bo-Bo and aimed it at Miki’s belly. ‘Take that, you little bastard!’ she giggled.
‘This is fun!’ yelled a drunken Miki as they began a tug-o’-war over Baby Betty, one arm each and tugging hard. Miki, tugging the hardest––Jude not so much––fell flat on her back clutching the doll. ‘I won!’ She held the Baby Betty tight to her chest, rolling onto her belly with it and then back again onto her back, giggling, cradling the doll and sporting a triumphal grin.
Jude felt a sudden chill. The clouds had just blocked the sun.
They both looked down at the doll Miki held in her arms.
Miki flung it away from her, across the other side of the room.
They were sober now, naked and sober.
‘What’s going to happen to me?’ Miki whimpered. ‘Jude?’
They heard a key go in the lock. They froze.
‘Judith?’ came the voice from the veranda porch. ‘Judith, can you hear me?'
They clung to each other.
'I know you are in there. Why is this door deadlocked? Judith, Miki? What are you doing in there?’
It was Poppy!
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