Claudie-A. Claudie-B.

*(an account of those couple of days in Sydney after I said goodbye to my new best friend at the international airport, and was left to fill the hours... And how a few colorful characters helped to distract me.)
* * *

Claudia's kitties were the center of attention, the topic of conversation, a photo opportunity, and fun names to call out. Beeeeea! Oooooo! Claudia was her name (or Claudie, Claude, Claudie-B, disco-kitty to her friends). And she was a fun little kitty at that, with a club-sized disco ball in her living room hanging just above the spinning decks, which cranked out disco classics, and sometimes George Michael.

Claudie-B and Bea and Ooo lived on the lookout, and peeked over waves crashing up to the rocks on Bondi. Claudia returned movies that bored her to sleep, and got her money back. Last time I saw her she was on a roll with these zzz-films, and we all sat around and wondered if they at the video shop were beginning to suspect foulplay - but she really hadn't liked any of them.

Claudia's man was from the cold- down south, and worked in movie graphics. He had his name on some well known credits, and somewhere there was a dancing muffin man who called him Dad- or maybe it was he who called the muffin man Son. I saw a him on the TV, while the two of us sat on the sofa.

"Good looking muffin man," I said. "Thanks," he said.

Claudia's friend was a House-mixing DJ-boy with a baby face and a Bondage-Fairy tee-shirt that Claude had given him. He stayed up for days at a time with the guy from the cold- down south, and they'd put away gallons of top-shelf bloody marys and keep Claudia's decks spinning all day. And Claudie said they were naughty.

The Bondage Fairy had a little "trouble" on the side that he was hanging onto with "that look" in his eye, but after seventy-something sleepless hours and some kind of Russian vodka, he confided in us that he'd like to put "Trouble" in the hot-seat and press the eject button- an idea he later forgot completely, but laughed a little when we brought it up again.

Claudia let me crash on her couch the night before I left the big city, and the velvety black kitties slept with me. It was still dark when my wake-up call came, and Claudie got up to hug me goodbye. It was a cold walk down the long hill where I caught a taxi to the bus station and took the bus back north.

I saw them all one last time a few weeks later when it was my turn to leave from the Sydney International airport. That morning, sweet Claudia B. was up early again in her robe, and she stood outside her front door and waved to me all the way down the hill.


Written by Rachael Sage Payne ©

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