17c起草社区

SHE gleans from the thrilling gay paper that is sometimes in stock at Doonside newsagency that Newtown is the place to go. To look for lesbians, anyway.

But that paper is hard to trust. It鈥檚 always months old, somehow damp and costs $5 even though it says it鈥檚 free on the cover. 鈥淛ust how long does it take to make its way from Darlinghurst to Doonside?鈥� she thinks, whenever she manages to hook a limp copy from the pile of strange papers at the farthest end of the shelf. Foreign newspapers and anarchy ones too. You have to go down through them one by one, like a deep-sea diver, to get to your own particular perversion.

The point is that she skips school and takes the train to Strathfield (better than Redfern, her cousin advises because anything could happen to you at Redfern), then changes for one headed to Newtown, tingling with anticipation… all based on some possibilities from an out-of-date fag rag.

She rolls the words 鈥渇ag rag鈥� around again in her mind, savouring the sound. Fag is a pretty shit word, she thinks but one of the impossibly cool gay writers used it in an article. He flung fag rag out with the kind of cool queerness she hopes to emulate on her fact-finding mission to lesbian central today.

She has no idea where to look once she gets there. There鈥檚 a club called Top Gun but that鈥檚 only on Fridays and only at night. She has to be home by 5pm or the parentals will start freaking out and calling the cops. Anita Cobby happened just yesterday for them. They鈥檇 probably be more upset to find that she鈥檇 been on the train by herself than they would by the reason.

She thinks she just needs to find somewhere to sit and calm her galloping heart. She doesn鈥檛 see any lesbians yet on the street. Not any that look like the ones in the club pictures. Short hair, t-shirts and jeans. Work boots. Leather jackets. She is on the lookout for the uniform and spots it finally, proudly worn by a grey-templed beauty wiping down the counter in a shabby caf茅.

She鈥檚 never been inside in a caf茅, only read about them in books. This one looks like it could have been lifted from the pages of any quirky story. Caf茅 on the Road to St Peters, it鈥檚 called. She wonders why. Isn鈥檛 this King St? She hopes she isn鈥檛 in the wrong place. How will she ever know if she鈥檚 a lesbian unless she can find some and see how it feels? The caf茅 looks welcoming, with big couches, wonky tables, mismatched chairs and piles of books everywhere.

Her feet carry her across the road without much input from her body. A good thing, since her skin is tingling, her stomach is dropping and she can barely hear the traffic over the buzzing inside her head.

As she steps across the threshold, she sees a trusty pile of gay papers by the front door (these ones crisp and newly minted) and thuds back into reality. This is the place, she knows it. The place where she can find out what lesbian feels like.

That surety doesn鈥檛 help her immediate problem of what to do in a caf茅. Sit down and wait like a restaurant, or approach the counter like it鈥檚 the local fish and chips?

The woman, her first lesbian, solves the problem.

鈥淲ould you like a coffee?鈥�

鈥淵es please.鈥�

鈥淟补迟迟别?鈥�

Fuck. What鈥檚 a latte? She says the only coffee she鈥檚 ever heard of characters ordering in a book.

鈥淓蝉辫谤别蝉蝉辞.鈥�

鈥淎 real coffee, huh? Well, take a seat and I鈥檒l bring it over. Or did you want a takeaway?鈥�

鈥淣o, no, I want to stay.鈥�

鈥淵ou can stay all day, honey. There鈥檚 no rush.鈥�

She takes in the woman鈥檚 smile, her invitation, the thick heavy rings weighing down her fingers as her hands fly across the machine, and decides she will stay all day.

The coffee, when it comes, is something of a shock. A thick little puddle of mud at the bottom of a cup sized for a dollhouse. The electric jolt she feels when her fingers brush against those belonging to the lesbian from the counter is a shock as well. But certainly not a surprise.

This story first appeared in the 2015 OutStanding Short Story Competition, and was a highly commended piece. The competition will return in 2016.听For details, visit听 or become a fan on听.

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