Shimmer

I text Ella and arrange to meet her

at the end of the pier.

She sits down beside me

on the hardwood landing.

Our legs dangle over the edge

as we watch the shimmer of bait fish below us.

Ella reaches for my hand

and I look at the ring on her finger:

a single stone of jade on a silver band.

I touch its smooth surface.

‘My grandmother’s,’ Ella says.

Clouds scud across the horizon

and a jet takes off from Balarang Bay

wheeling north towards Sydney.

‘I’ve never been on a plane,’ I say.

Ella smiles and kisses my cheek.

‘It’s like the world is in freeze-frame,’ she says,

‘and you’re above it all, watching.’

The wheels of the plane

contract into the fuselage

and a single light blinks on the wing.

Mr Huth strolls along the sand,

carrying a rod and an esky.

He puffs on a pipe

and the acrid smoke

drifts towards us.

‘My parents won’t be home for hours,’ Ella says.

She stands and pulls me to my feet.

We walk off the pier.

‘I like your parents,

even though I’ve never met them,’ I say.

‘You almost met Dad.’ Ella grins.

I remember stumbling around her bedroom

trying to get dressed,

my stomach churning,

my knees shaking.

‘Are you sure your parents won’t be home for hours?’

Ella laughs.

‘Positive!’