can borrow one of my pairs, ’ she added. Adele left and Rose took the flowers inside and let them to soak up while having her breakfast. Rose usually tried to have some fruit salad with some fish from the tin or smoked and a piece of toast with a layer of avocado spread. It’s delicious and is another thing Rose liked about this part of the world.
Corinne arrived soon after Rose finished her meal. She was in her teaching mood and was carrying a book with her. As she sat at the table she looked at Rose’s flower arrangement. ‘Impressed, ’ Corinne admitted nodding towards the vase. Rose grinned with pleasure but she had to admit that it was the result of Corinne’s teaching.
‘I am a good pupil and you are a good teacher, ’ Rose said.
‘That’s it! That’s sums it all up, ’ Corinne said. ‘That’s why I brought this book with me today, ’ she continued looking at Rose now. ‘Do you remember Antonella? ’ she went on. ‘She will join us in a few minutes. I hope you don’t mind that I invited her. We could go out and have the talk at your favorite café, ’ she added.
‘I hope you don’t expect me to let her have a smoke in my house? ’ Rose said with some amusement recalling the kerfuffle that Antonella’s smoking caused at the police station.
‘Don’t be silly Rose, she also smokes normal cigarettes, ’ Corinne said realizing Rose’s opposition against the use of the weed in her house. Marijuana use was still considered an illegal matter here in Australia and Rose was not keen in breaking the law.
‘How am I going to know what she is going to choose? ’ Rose said then she decided to drop the subject for the moment. I’ll have to improvise if need arises she decided. ‘What’s on your mind? ’ Rose wanted to know.
‘Well, now that I’m feeling back to normal, of course design. Meeting Antonella inspired me to look into the Italian design trends and I liked what I’ve seen. ’
‘Oh, Doamne!’ Rose heard herself saying aloud.
‘Huh? ’ Corinne said looking confused.
‘Mio Dio!’ (my god) Rose trying to explain herself using now an Italian expression.
‘Aha, I know that one. I think I might start learning Italian. It’s such a musical language. Very soft, romantic, ’ Corinne said.
‘Dio mio aiuti’ (God help me) Rose said mockingly.
Corinne laughed and Rose was happy to see that she recovered well after the recent trauma. Antonella arrived soon after and Rose served them with the traditional Turkish coffee. They talked about the weather and food in Italy, Romania and Australia. They exchanged tips on safe travelling and bargains not to be missed. They had a lot of fun and then Corinne showed them her book on Italian design trends in interior decorating, her area of interest.
‘We like the hot, vivacious look with accent fabrics and throw pillows, ’ Antonella said.
‘I noticed also the creative lighting, ’ Corinne pointed.
‘Oh, yes, that too, ’ Antonella said. ‘When I go back home I’ll be renting with my boyfriend, ’ she said ‘We are planning to look for something modern and close to city life, ’ she added. ‘My boyfriend is a chef and I worked in hospitality before but I think I’ll try to find something in hotel business such as a receptionist position perhaps. I want to be able to travel and meet interesting people, ’ Antonella added.
‘Ha, like us, ’ Corinne said and winked. They all laughed recalling the circumstances of their first encounter.
‘No previous police problems, ’ Antonella reassured them and they believed her. She was too young to have a long criminal history they thought. After Rose’s friends left she lingered a bit in the garden and then she decided to do more cleaning through the cupboards. She was dead set to have a gander at the linen one as she thought that she saw some flying moths around a few days ago and she knew from previous experience there destructive potential. As Rose’s activity was motivated by the desire to eradicate a possible matter of infestation she employed from the beginning a radical approach by removing all content out of the cupboard. It made sense to her to be thorough and her grandma would have recognized in that some of her past teaching. Then Rose dusted herself off and she replaced the lining paper with a new and scented one to be sure that the insects were not going to spread through the house or settle back in the comfy cupboard Rose decided to move all the contents in the courtyard and sort the staff there.
Rose was half way through the task she imposed on herself, with a growing pile of soon- to- be- discarded things on her left and keep- it- for- now pile on her right when she came across a black case. While giving the stuff a good shake to disengage the moths and other possible insects that might have crawled into the linen, the black case tumbled down from its secret spot. It was plastic and light and had no locks on it. Inside was a pair of binoculars and strange enough another old coin. Rose dusted them off and she put them aside thinking that they were going to be useful to her while bird watching with Adele. No need to spend more money she thought.
Rose ended up by throwing away half of the bed linen after discovering the nest of moths and the damage they have caused. A musty odor was also noticeable and Rose was not sure if she was able to remove that completely. It was time for new bed linen!
Rose recalled that her grandma used dried lavender between the linen sheets and would spray the bedding in use with a solution of diluted lavender oil. Rose needed to buy some. Rose saw lavender in her garden earlier today, however it was not dry and she had no idea how to get it prepared for the role of natural pesticide. And fast! Certainly from her point of view dashing up the road and buying it seemed more enticing.
Rose wondered what other insects her house was hosting and decided to buy some moisture absorbents and commercial insecticide to spray outside the house as a protective barrier. She’ll try to make sure they are all environmentally friendly, she reassured herself.
Looking around she had a few moments to think. The look was dated and the scent readily available was of stale air. The space was screaming for refurbishment. More money to spend? Let’s be practical Rose, she gave herself a little pep talk! Try first cleaning and then incense and maybe some aromatherapy for the fabrics and a moisture absorbent. Sounded like a plan and Rose was confident that her beloved grandma would have been proud of the way she was applying into practice her problem solving skills.
Rose decided that she was facing sanitation irregularities and the way to go about it was to follow the basic rules for getting the bedroom habitable again. Fresh garden flowers and good ventilation: opening the windows daily would also help although will bring more work for her. Luckily she didn’t have 10 rooms as she would definitely need some assistance. Better start to find a gardener straight away!
As Rose was pondering on that subject she decided to give herself another coffee to congratulate herself on the achievements for the day. The cupboard was clean and the rubbish was waiting by the door. One step at a time, she reminded herself. The world was not built in one day was her grandma’s favorite saying when Rose was in a hurry to get something.
Rose missed her dear grandma so much these days. She wondered what she was up to. When not playing cards with her friend Mrs. Potage and Ioana she is busy with Tarot readings to whoever was interested. Not much energy these days for galloping the valley on Tarot, the old black and white appaloosa stallion. Last time Rose talked to Letitia she gave her a cooking recipe involving a special preparation of sausages. ‘
Whatever meat you decide to go for, ’ Letitia recommended, ‘is going to be ten times better if you add pepperoni, capsicum, pineapple and oregano. You’ve always liked it when I cooked it for you, ’ Letitia assured Rose. ‘Why don’t you try it on the new man in your life? ’ she added.
‘Of course, as an ad once said, I also believe that the pork meat is the best so pork it!’Rose was not really sure what she was talking about so she let it drop with a short OK. Rose was someone who could manage without meat for days without even noticing.
The black case in front of her brought he
r back to the present. She was intrigued. Something to explore without restrictions and without the risk of being labeled nosy, as happened often before.
As Rose opened the plastic case she admired the molded interior that seemed of superior quality and offered an attractive display for the 3 objects that sat there. Besides the binoculars, which occupied almost the entire space, and the coin she could see now clearly that there was another space that was filled by an USB flash drive. It was small and black like the case which explains why Rose did not notice it the first time she opened the case. She wondered why it was kept there and she decided to check it out. Rose was on her way to the computer when the front door bell rang so she corrected her route and she opened the door with the USB in one hand. It was James.
‘Busy? ’ he said looking at her hand.
‘Not really, ’ Rose said. ‘What’s up? ’ she wanted to know.
‘Well, won’t you invite me inside? ’ he said grinning.
‘In what capacity? ’ Rose said and enjoyed seeing him puzzled. She was bluffing but she remembered that last time she saw him was at the Police station so she wanted to mess with him a bit. ‘Police officer? Convicted citizen? Bridge lover? ’ she offered him options now grinning sheepishly and for a fraction of a second Rose