Not being one to climb trees, Isabella thought it would be hilarious to perch herself in the branches to do a spot of bird watching. She commented later that she wished that she had camouflaged herself as each time a blue wren came close, it stared her in the eyes for a second, only to fly away as if it had never been. Note to self…. camouflage is key.
It was a day like no other. Isabella had spent the morning mowing the lawn only to discover that she never had enough petrol to finish that last square meter of grass. So instead of getting more petrol, she meditated under her favourite granite boulder. Grass will keep growing – it is the way of the world… for now.
She really didn’t want cereal for breakfast but Isabella knew that she had to keep herself in shape as another photo shoot was looming. Thank God for the double shot long black. It was going to be hard to convince her tummy that the oatmeal was really the desired crispy potato rosti, poached egg and ‘crack a tooth on the rind’ smokey bacon. Hollandaise sauce on the side was stretching her imagination a little too much this time.
Isabella, again attempting to deny her hippie roots, found herself hiding under the ground cover only to discover the wild purple orchids were in bloom and were in fact the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. This miniature world before her made her contemplate not only her own existence but that of the human race. After a moment of her existential realisation, Isabella ran to the house remembering that there was a bottle of sparkling chilling in the freezer. Another disaster averted.
Curled up in front of the fire, it was only a matter of time before that other bottle of wine was consumed and a second ordered. Surrounded by lots of cushions, Isabella knew where she was sleeping the night.
The restaurant had barely opened its doors (5.45pm) and already Isabella had ordered her entree, main and dessert. Waiting for her wine order she realised that she enjoyed eating at a time best befitting a seniors happy hour. She wondered if there was a happy hour discount. Ha ha – those fools who eat at normal hours had nothing on her ‘eat like an old person’ scheme. And yes, tap water would be fine – another ‘bottled water scam’ averted.
The rendezvous place was agreed upon but Isabella had a strange inkling that mr mystery man had stood her up again. Living without a mobile phone was proving to be more difficult than she had anticipated. Maybe she had the wrong park. Maybe the wrong time. Maybe he had been in an accident. Isabella settled on the fact that maybe mr mystery man was just a turd and she should just move on. Turns out he was just a turd. She moved on.
Many years had passed since Isabella watched her hippie parents chaining themselves to trees. Now missing them dearly – they worked crazy long hours as visual merchandisers in a major department store in the big city – Isabella couldn’t help finally hugging this tree with her body and soul. She never understood her parents in the old days, but she was even more puzzled by them now that they had sold themselves to the corporate world. Isabella realised that their work had set her free.
A huge storm was approaching and we knew we were going to have to finish the photo shoot prematurely. Last time Isabella was caught in a storm she was hit in the head by golf-ball-sized hail stones. She made it a condition of her contract that from the moment she heard thunder she would either cease the session or she would wear the safety helmet she hid in her overnight bag.
As an only child & being home-schooled , Isabella never really grasped the concept of hide & seek. Even now in her 20s she believed that if she couldn’t see you then you couldn’t see her. It made for a very fast game. She later told the story about when her mother had forgotten that they were playing & she was ‘hiding’ for hours and hours. It was fun until the sun went down & she couldn’t find her way back to the house. From that day on she vowed only to play the game during daylight hours.
On the Granite Belt 