Chapter 15

Hey! I’m a university graduate. College is supposed to be a time of learning and experimentation.

It’s a time away from and out from under the thumb. Only I lived at home ... until daddy got pissed and moved away. After that I still lived at home ... but the thumb was gone. Alice was my only leveler. And she was in high school.

Home did restrict visitation ... but I have a very nice tent and there are parks ... and recreation ... spots all over the state. The biggest hinderance to recreation was the mine ... I had to fucking work!

And we all know where that led.

Morning came ... so did I. He wasn’t left out. Time to go back to work.

A nice shower ... he washed me, I washed him and that led exactly where you would expect ... another shower. I watched him tie his old school tie. I itched to slap his hands away but ... he’d had the practice down pat. All I could was watch.

Check out ... a grin from the morning shift ... I grinned back.

“Breakfast?” I inquired.

“How adventurous are you?”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Lithgow Asian ... jump on the 859 to Lithgow Rd, left, shopping center. The Mans House. Great.”

Brekkie ... first time for stirfry veggies with gravy biscuit, potatoes, two rashers, coffee ... it was great ... but it’ll do what all food does. It all comes out in the end.

That green Valkyrie made short work of the easy parts ... diplomatic immunity took care of the rough spots. Mostly the ‘boys in blue’ were checking on me.

“Miss Austin,” said the one who came up to the side window.

“Hello,” I said.

“Are you all right?”

“Better than fine, Johnny.”

Of course, I know them ... they’re keeping an eye on me, sometime in the future, I might object ... but right now? I’m pleased they keep me as safe as I want to be.

“And you, sir?” he asked the gentleman.

“Fine, officer,” he said as he passed across his brass bound blue and gold ‘Diplomatic Passport.’ Blue is the ‘New Colour’ for British Books.

Johnny took it, looked inside and passed it back. He handed it to me and I handed it to Arthur Mountbatten-Windsor ... after I looked.

Of course I looked, this was a little more than a college hookup. Charles Sturt students seldom wear Savile Row.

“Thank you, Johnny, I appreciate it.”

We were off.

Lithgow to Bowen’s Hills and home ... well ... not home ... but I keep a hat there ... and a little black dress.

“Thank you,” Artie said.

“My pleasure,” I said.

“I can tell Godmama that you’re back in production?”

“Yep. I had a great time Artie.”

“Me too,” he said.

Gone.

To no one in particular I said, “Back to work.”