AUT Master of Creative Writing Thesis Exegesis - Scholarly ...

AUT Master of Creative Writing 2008
Shorty © Michael Botur 2009
‘What about free range eggs? Liberation, dog. Can yous eat eggs
where you come from?'
'Papatoe?'
‘Oh right yeah, lol, your ad said. Hindu though, eh. I’m vegetarian, me.
Parents brought us up like that but I would've been anyway. Spiritual,
dog, spiritual.’
Danny checked out her legs, the bruises on the shins, good working
class legs. There were gold rings on her toes. Dust was glued to her
jandals with syrup. Bleach splotches had dappled her feet. She wore a
pink skirt with dancing elephants on it. There were frayed threads which
could have been festive trunks or tails. The belt around her waspish
midriff was two feet of indigo-coloured rope, suppressing her hips.
‘Kay, it's up to the powers that be,’ Danny began, jabbing the butt of
Jyoti’s pen towards the Manager’s office, 'to sort out your contract as fair,
seeing as your probo month’s up. Manager might even come out and
help ya’s. She started out as a cleaner, didn’t have a partner to help out,
neither.' He tossed the pen at Jyoti.
‘But I speaking to you on the phone about this and you are saying you
are the man with the... ' Jyoti shook her fingers, trying to find Danny's
words. 'You are saying you are the man with the plan?'
‘For sure, yup, and your budget's under my discretion which is choice,
makes admin more interesting. What we gotta do is look at your guys’s
responsibilities. Your pay, too. Got your invoice there?’
Jyoti handed over her invoice, folded into sixteenths and discoloured
with sweat from her palms. She sucked on her finger, where the contract
had hurt her. Danny crossed his feet, knocking over his coffee mug. It
was hard to maintain eye contact as the puddle spread, but he managed.
‘Don’t worry, the cleaners’ll get that.’ He took the invoice from her
hand, tried to shake it open with a flick of his wrist. He had to unfold it
manually. He nodded at the numbers, then placed the invoice in the
coffee puddle and patted it til it turned brown. ‘Just so you know D, I’m on
your side typa thing, don’t let yourselves get stiffed. Like this Whitewash,
this contractor– ’
‘They are listing for franchise busy-ness.’
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