Round 15.

15.

Rosie works in the local supermarket.

The supermarket isn’t far from where she lives so she uses her bike and cycles to work. She leaves it in the bike rack, which is next to the super market trolley rank.

She doesn’t lock it.

Rosie is young, young enough to not yet know what she wants to do with her life – she works in the supermarket by day, at night she dances at the local gym.

Jim, her boyfriend, moved out last year; he sells cheese in the local market so she still sees him.

They are not friends anymore.

Right now Rosie is alone, she is quite happy with that  - as Jim was a pain in the arse most of the time.

And he stank of blue cheese.

Some of the cheese Jim sells comes from the local farm where Fred lives with a lot of sheep.

The cheese is sheep’s cheese.

Fred learnt how to make cheese in his twenties, when he lived for a while on the Island of Haiti.

He has an adopted daughter who lives in the city; she has a child of her own now even though she herself is one.

Her mother helps out.

Fred never sees either.

He sees Rosie a lot, because the supermarket sells some of his cheese too; he is in the supermarket at the moment.

He is standing at the back near the sausages - negotiating a sale with the Dairy Purchaser.

He can see Rosie’s reflection in the security mirror hanging in the aisle over the bananas.

The Dairy Purchaser, D.P. for short, is Derek.

Derek Peters.

His initials are a coincidence.

By another coincidence he is married to Fred’s sister Jackie who runs the canoe concession in the summer.

In the winter she works at the Post Office.

The Post office is opposite the supermarket.

Standing by the doorway of the post office, Isabel lights a cigarette.

Isabella, her full name, promised to give up smoking but her boyfriend Johnny skipped town last week without saying goodbye and she’s feeling angry.

She thinks the cigarette will calm her.

She tried vapour sticks for a bit but she found the whole thing too complicated, she prefers to roll her own.

She inhales deeply and looks up; her eyes are brown.

She sees Rosie’s bike outside the supermarket, and  - maybe because she is angry, maybe because Johnny was such and idiot or maybe just because her period is about to start – she steps across the road, takes the bike and rides home.

She didn’t think twice.

It would be nice if Rosie discovered this at the same time that Fred concluded his negotiations with D.P. and was then able to offer Rosie a lift home.

Fred has a van.

The van smells of sheep and not a little of cheese, which would probably be enough for Rosie to forget any romantic thoughts she might have had, or Fred tried to encourage, but none of this happens.

When Rosie steps outside and discovers that her bike has been stolen Fred is still deep in detail concerning litres of milk and whether it is pasteurised or not.

Rosie laughs.

And walks home.

   (ALL ABOUT ROUNDS)

yeah, yeah, i know - the ed.