Day 114 - Bollywood in Budgee Springs - Chapter 11 (1691 words)

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Bollywood in Budgee Springs

Chapter 11

Ella Riddell is in the Whistle and talking with Julie about the guests, they all settled in and in a very orderly fashion let her know how much they appreciated her hospitality, all in varying degrees of English from fluent through to indecipherable. Ella stayed and helped Julie set up for the evening meal, they had organised a vegetarian curry based on a few recipes that women of MoM had found in various cooks books they had, the internet connection being as slow as it was locally it was easier to troll through the hard copy books than trying to find anything online, or worse attempt to connect to a printer.

“They're very polite people these Indians.” Julie observed, partly to herself and partly to Ella.

“They do seem nice, and that Ash has such a lovely voice, he sounds English not Indian at all.” Ella responded.

“I know, I know, I was not really sure what to expect. They all seem quite nice, I mean I'm not racist but... oh dear... do you know what I mean?” Julie blushed when she realised how it sounded.

“Well, Julie it's not like you've had much of a chance to be racist in a town like Budgee Springs now is it?”

“We're not that multi cultural here, not since they took the last Abo away to prison.” Julie shook her head and Ella frowned at her, wagging her finger, but Julie held up her hands in her own defence. “He was a drunk, a terrible drunk! You know he was... you know how that ended up.”

“Julie Driscoll! Firstly your husband happily served him and took his money when he had it, and secondly his family were lovely people and they were abandoned by this town after … well after the terrible accident.”

“I can't believe you're taking his side, he killed Nell for god's sake, your best friend!”

Ella stopped talking then and focussed on the job at hand. There was too much in this that would lead nowhere good. The death of her best friend, the casual racism of the town that isolated the Aboriginal family, then cauterised the wounds left by the inevitability of tragedy. Charlie, he was so close to her now and they knew but did not acknowledge their feelings for each other, not even now. There was a veneer in the town, one that allowed them to be mostly good but with some basic humanity just out of reach for some people. She wanted to rip that scab off and open it to the world, let it breath and let people see the ugliness seething under it, letting it start to heal.

But she could not tear it away and expose everything else at the same time. It was a complex emotion to love your friends and hate their beliefs, made harder by the closeness of the town and the age of the people there. It had been over twenty years, but to Ella it had not healed when they had the chance to first address it. Could they do that now? Should they even try? She hated herself for thinking it too hard, but it really was something that would make her feel righteous and yet miserable. So she said nothing, while Julie embarrassed about being on the spot, defending her husbands business and dealing with the horror of that night, it was not right and she knew it. It was not right to just ignore the way that Nellie had died, had orphaned Max and widowed Charlie.

They worked in silence for a while longer, the kitchen was brewing the sauces and spices for the dinner that evening, filling the air to the point where it was almost claustrophobic as they worked together. Budgee Springs was not a cold town, not by any description, and the heat and eye watering tastes on the air in the pub added more tension between them, which they ignored and kept working.

“We should start on the tables soon.” Ella wiped at her sweating brow with a paper towel and nodded in agreement, both women unable and unwilling to address the problem in the room, happy to let it disappear into itself.

Julie called out to her husband to start laying out the trestles, the public bar was to become a mess hall of sorts for the crew and the cast that evening, individual catering for the entire workforce was beyond the capability of the town and the supplies that they had. The first night would be catered by Paul and Julie, with Ella and the MoM's member's assistance and then there were crew members who doubled as catering staff and they would take over the breakfast, lunch and dinner orders for the largest remainder of the shoot. There would be a few nights where the Whistle would host a special dinner or two including the final night where a traditional Aussie BBQ would be simulated on a larger scale using vegetarian foods with some meats for those who ate chicken and lamb.

Tonight though it was a dinner on the town, using the things they had and the pulling together to welcome the cast and crew the best way they knew how, with food and drink. As the afternoon wore on and the evening meal drew closer more of the volunteers turned up, coming in through the back entrance of the Whistle avoiding the area out the front in the main street where there was a shoot of some kind. Charlie and his two mates had been spirited away by Ash and Hardeep with huge beaming smiles, Ella suspected they knew exactly how much this was uncomfortable for Charlie and were enjoying themselves immensely at having them in the movie.

Charlie was an honourable man and he kept to his word regardless of where that took him or what it cost him. That was a part of why Ella liked him so much, and why she trusted Max to take care of the town, to trust him with this movie project and to ensure that the town would be well looked after with whatever it was they were filming here. They were just like each other, whether they knew it or not in Ella's eyes and she saw a little of Nellie in her son, the whimsy and the delight in life and it's surprises. Charlie had that in him when he was younger, though never as much as Ella and Nellie had done, for him it was a learned behaviour.

Annie Munro was last to arrive and she was all abuzz and excited about the sets and equipment that was filling the main road. The members of MoM were setting table places, making large long tables for the two or three sittings it would take to get through them all, but also making a head table where the director and the stars would take their meal with the Mayor and his wife. Ella and Charlie would be at that table too and be representing the town tonight, it was the closest thing that Ella and Charlie had ever had to a date in the last few years that they started understanding the unspoken connection that grew between them. They had dinner many times, though always in others company, they sat alone afterwards often nursing a drink and silently enjoying each others time and presence. Charlie was a gentleman and would always walk her home, without exception but it always ended there.

They had never kissed, or embraced beyond the comforting hugs offered at funerals or sadder occasions that warranted it. They felt something for each other and both desired that level for their relationship as unexplored as it was, yet it had the semblance of a magic spell, one that would shatter at the introduction of something as common as a kiss. So they sat near and orbited each other's lives for over five years now, ignoring the gossip when it arose, and watching it die ad everyone saw them being the same Ella and Charlie that they had always been.

Annie came up and took the ladle that Ella had been using to stir one of the giant metal vats of curry with and bustled her out of the kitchen, taking over and demanding that the Madame President take some rest before she fell over. Another woman took over for Julie too, both women suffering a little from age and heat in the kitchen and ready for a rest.

“You should head home and get ready for dinner love, and while you are out...” Annie looked side to side conspiratorially and then lowered her voice “Go find Charlie.” She waggled her eyebrows at the MoM president who raised an eyebrow in return.

“Whatever are you on about Annie Munro?” Ella's voice took on that authoritarian tone, the weariness of the day not diminishing her resolve to not put up with any more nonsense from anyone else today.

“Do you trust me?” Annie's eyes sparkled mischievously

“Um, should I?” Ella was unsure.

“Oh for Pete's sake, just go outside and find your boyfriend, you'll be glad you did.”

“He's not my boyfriend.” Ella answered automatically whenever people had suggested that there was more to her utterly chaste relationship with the town's former Mayor.

“Mm-hmm whatever you say love, whatever you say. Just go and find him and see for yourself.” Annie pushed her gently through the pub and out the back door, motioning to Julie to come with.

The pair of women were pointed around the back end of the delivery entrance to the Whistle and up the little alleyway between the Pub and the west wing of rooms, to the main street. Ella and Julie walked up, wiping the food stains off themselves off and exited the alleyway.

“Oh my.” Ella exclaimed and her hands flew to her mouth as she came to the main street.

Julie was right there with her and was less diplomatic with a “Bugger Me!”