The Search by Margaret Clark Page B

talking to a guy she didn’t know, although she suspected he’d been one of the dope-smokers and heavy drinkers at the party the night before. He was wearing a sarong, but, on closer inspection, Flick could see it was actually a sheet wrapped round his waist. He was dripping wet. She guessed that he’d jumped out of bed, staggered down to the beach and flung himself in the sea totally nude, to sober up.
    ‘Ah, the gorgeous Flick with my food,’ said Nathan. ‘Coming over to my van tonight, darling?’
    ‘Hell will freeze over first.’
    The two guys laughed as she walked off.
    ‘She’s playing hard to get,’ said Nathan, attacking his food with gusto. ‘Coming on to me one minute and playing coy the next.’
    ‘Oh, in ya boot,’ Flick called back over her shoulder, as a little red car came zooming up and stopped with a screech of brakes and a swirl of dust.
    Roxie had arrived!
    She swung herself jauntily out of the car andsauntered into the store, dark hair swinging round her shoulders, and her black shift dress split almost to her hips, revealing long sleek legs.
    ‘Hi, Mum. I’m here.’ She gave Kay a kiss.
    ‘Ugh, you smell like stale beer!’
    ‘Yeah, well I was out last night.’
    ‘You shouldn’t be driving when you’ve been drinking!’ Kay was furious.
    ‘Lighten up, Mum. I’m here, aren’t I?’ Roxie gave a delicate yawn. ‘Don’t s’pose you could make me some brekky?’
    ‘Greasies?’ asked Flick before she could stop herself. ‘Nathan swears by them to cure a hangover.’
    ‘I don’t serve anything greasy in this store!’ Kay fizzled like bacon sizzling on a hotplate.
    ‘Nathan’s here? Good. I’ll have a black coffee and a bottle of Feeling Seedy. Oh, and some toast with Vegemite.’
    Roxie swanned outside to sit with Nathan and his mate, without waiting to be introduced. Flick grimaced at Liz. If this was the famous Roxie she seemed to be one big pain in the neck! Liz served customers with their Saturday morning papers — thick, bulky and half a forest each — and the usual milk and bread, while Kay made her daughter’s breakfast.
    ‘You can give her this Berroca and a couple ofaspirins too,’ said Kay grimly as she shoved the toast through the servery with the pills on a dish. ‘I need her to work, not mess about. Today is going to be really busy.’
    Just as she said that, Angela came purring through the door sporting platform sneakers, a short black mini that just covered her butt, purple bra-top and a scratch down one side of her face which she’d unsuccessfully tried to cover with make-up.
    ‘Where the hell do you think you’re going, dressed like that?’ snapped Kay, as Angela sashayed round the counter and the customers’ eyes boggled.
    ‘Here. To work.’
    ‘I said sneakers .’
    ‘These are sneakers!’
    Kay sighed. The shop was rapidly filling and she had only two competent assistants at the moment. Roxie would take an hour to fire up, minimum, and Angela was a good worker if she was given jobs that she liked. Kay was no fool. She’d seen Angela in action. Right now, she couldn’t afford to have her quit.
    ‘Okay, but tomorrow wear flat sneakers, a T-shirt and either shorts or a longer skirt. Now, put on your apron and get to work, please.’
    Liz looked at Flick. ‘Did you see the scratch? Oh, I didn’t tell you, my brother called in late at the partyand two girls were bitch-fighting so full-on that Cyril had to hose them down. I wonder who —’
    ‘Girls! There’re customers waiting!’ Kay’s sharp voice sliced through the conversation.
    ‘Oh. Yeah. Sorry.’
    Flick grabbed the toast and coffee and, pausing only to get a bottle of Feeling Seedy from the fridge, she trundled it all out to Roxie, who was flirting happily with Nathan and his mate.
    ‘Number twenty-eight?’ she said sweetly, plonking down the food in front of Roxie but looking at Nathan as she said it.
    ‘I didn’t think we did numbers with brekkies,’ said Roxie.
    ‘Oh,