to go to the toilet. At the door Rose was confronted by a person afflicted and optically challenged and clumsy individual who begged for money. As she reached for the small purse she kept by the door with some small change for such occasions, the man suddenly pushed her in the room and followed her in with a threatening stance. Rose yelled a ‘Get out of my house, ’ while falling on her back.
In the toilet, Adele was washing her hands when Rose’s distressed voice reached to her. She looked around for something that she could use as a weapon; the paper roll stick, the toilet brush, a towel, soap and hand cream. Unlikely to scare him off, she thought, then she saw the spray can and she was off. She was time poor.
The next minute she was standing by Rose’s side as if dropped from the thin air and she skillfully delivered a strong puff of spray into the stranger’s eyes. It was delivered at short range straight into the man’s face and found him unprepared. He was evidently taken by surprise by her presence in the house and likely shaken by the painful experience as he left the house in a hurry, after initially making a painful contact with the door. Some of his glasses were left behind.
‘Thanks Adele. What did you use? ’ Rose said collecting herself from the dust.
‘Well I could only find this spray in your bathroom, ’ she said showing Rose the spray for the insect control that she mainly used for the big spiders invading her house after the storms.
‘Oh, ’ Rose gasped in horror as she could understand now the yelling that he left out before running for the door.
‘Yeah, ’ Adele said dryly. ‘I could have used hair spray if you had one, ’ she added with a wink at Rose. ‘That will teach him a lesson, ’ she added and after a moment: ‘Should we report this to the police? ’
‘Probably, ’ Rose said in a small voice and massaging her bruised bum. ’They already know me but I’m not sure if that’s an advantage, ’ she added with an embarrassed giggle. They called the police and reported the incident as an attempted burglary and they were then asked to provide the details of how they defended themselves and if they used weapons.
‘We used a spray, ’ Rose said.
‘Ma’am are you saying that you are in the possession of a pepper spray? ’ the officer asked.
‘No. ’
‘Please explain ma’am. Did you hit him with the can of spray? ’ the officer asked and Rose wondered if she could sense a bit of amusement in his voice. She thought that Adele might have contemplated that way of action as she noticed a bit of hesitancy in Adele’s behavior when she initially arrived on the scene to her rescue.
‘We sprayed him with a spray for bugs as that was what we could find around, ’ Rose explained.
‘Fair dinkum, ’ the officer said with a sigh. The coffee was cold by the time they finished reporting and the intruder was far away, they suspected.
‘We should keep the spray near the door, ’ Adele suggested.
‘The spray might not be enough if it’s only one of us present, ’ Rose said. ‘I was lucky to have you here today, ’ she added.
‘What about a pepper spray or a tazer? ’ Adele asked.
‘I don’t think that they are legal in Australia, ’ Rose said.
‘How do you protect yourself in Transylvania? ’ Adele wanted to know.
‘I don’t know. I have never been attacked before. I think my grandma’s spells keep people away, ’ Rose said halfheartedly.
‘So they really believe in that, huh? I suppose its Dracula’s country, ’ she added. Rose said nothing just looked at Adele with a raised questioning eyebrow that said ‘Really? ’
‘Well put, ’ Adele said. Then Rose experienced the magical bulb of inspiration: ‘Maybe I should put a door sign with some tarot cards, ’ she asked herself aloud.
‘You might be onto something there, ’ Adele admitted. ‘We have to come up with a solution, ’ she said.
‘We could pay for a 24 surveillance monitoring of the block, ’ Rose blabbered out thinking about her uncle’s option. Not that it seemed to work in a situation like this, she thought.
‘Might be too expensive but worth looking into it, ’ Adele admitted. ‘Let’s organize a body corporate meeting, ’ Adele added. ‘Is tomorrow evening convenient for you? ’ she wanted a commitment from Rose.
‘Perfect, ’ Rose said. Adele went home and Rose blocked her door and went to call her grandma. In Transylvania was only morning.
‘Grandma are you still good with tarot cards? ’ Rose asked her after a brief talk and finding that she was doing well. ‘That’s an interesting question Rose. You’ve never been interested in them before. Do you remember when I was trying to teach you about them? ’ Letitia said.
‘No grandma. It must’ve been long time ago, ’ Rose said.
‘Well you were 10 years old the same like I was when I was taught by my mother. It’s something of a family tradition, ’ she finished.
‘I’d love to learn it grandma, but right now I need it for myself, ’ Rose said to her and she went on explaining the situation to her.
‘Aha, ’ Letitia said. ‘I’ll look into it, ’ she promised.
‘What should I do meantime? Rose asked.
‘Isn’t there a man in your life as we speak? ’ Letitia asked.
‘Not a regular one, ’ Rose admitted to her.
‘Does not need to be a regular, ’ she pointed out. ‘Does he know? ’ she asked me.
‘No and no, ’ Rose answered a bit embarrassed now.
‘Would he be able to help if hypothetically you asked him and he was available? ’
‘Probably, ’ Rose admitted.
‘Bingo, ’ Letitia said. ‘You don’t need to consult the tarot cards for this one, ’ she said laughing.
‘You are right, grandma, ’ Rose said and she went to bed.
During the night Rose had a dream about a little girl who was lost. She was holding a bunch of bridge deck cards and was trying to read a map but on the map were only a few words written: GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR INTUITION. Then she followed the rainbow to a super-tall skyscraper and when the doors opened James came out smiling. Rose woke up with a jolt of happiness and went back to sleep when she noticed that was only 03. 00 am.
At 05. 00 am the noise of a fire alarm woke Rose up again and two minutes later the veils of a police car in the drive way increased the noise to uncomfortable levels. My neighbors were having difficulties, Rose concluded and she got up to help. Before Rose could reach the door she could hear the sound of an Ambulance joining the other noises outside. My God what was happening? She asked herself and started to panic. As she expected everyone was outside. Luckily they were a block of villas and only 6 in a row so there were not many people living there. Rose joined them trying to find out what was really going on and Adele told her that Mrs. Capeletti from number 3 had been hurt while trying to fend off an intruder. Apparently while letting her cat out she was attacked by a stranger.
‘Luckily she always carries the fire alarm with her, ’ said Adele.
‘Fire alarm? ’ Rose repeated trying to understand.
‘Isn’t that clever of her? ’Adele said with admiration. A fire alarm was a brilliant idea Rose thought but the risk of radiation was a bit off putting for her. Of course you could have a remote control and activate it from the distance. Mrs. Capeletti was taken to hospital and they all went back to their houses.
Fate versus faith
By then it was almost 05:00 am and too late to return to bed, so Rose decided to start her day with the usual exercises and follow up shower, dressing and coffee. As she was starting to get the benefit of the morning coffee and got more alert she decided to spruce up the living room and kitchen. Rose cared a lot about her everyday life!
She started by vacuuming the floors and washing the windows. The curtains went into the washing machine next. She took out the two small rugs and gave them a good shake. One of the rugs was a dense, thick pile, multicolored and machine-woven wool that was soft and look
ed expensive but probably wasn’t. The other one was a durable, soil-resistant wool surface flat woven brown with a net pattern in white.
Well that’s what was written on the label so Rose decided that they are strong enough for a whip. She liked cotton because it’s natural and renewable. She recalled seeing her grandma taking the rugs out to give them a good shake and then beating the dust and dirt out of them while hung over some railing. Sometimes she beat the carpets in the snow.
While returning the rugs to the room Rose thought that they looked more fresh and vibrant. Rug revitalization? Definitely the room looked much cozier with them. When she finished with the rugs Rose found another old cooper coin similar with the one found the other day in the kitchen. Rose added it to her collection.
By the time Rose finished with the carpets it was almost midmorning and she was tired so she seized the opportunity to have another cup of coffee. The kitchen had to wait for another day, she thought. But I’ll change the water for the flowers, dust up the surfaces and go shopping for some funky – looking cushion covers and new curtains, she decided. Rose believed that a bold statement was needed but she wanted to make sure that they were also practical and durable.
Her friend was right about the curtains. They almost disintegrated in Rose’s hands today when she removed them for washing. Their time in the window was gone. Rose was planning to replace them with a pair of snowy white linen ones. It was also obvious that she needed a block out