Read There Should Be More Dancing for Free Online Page B

until I die.’
    Charmaine put the biro on the piece of paper next to the dotted line and said, ‘Well, I might not have to sit here for very long then.’ She crossed her arms and legs.
    Next door, Mrs Bist’s walls groaned and folded in on each other. The roof collapsed on top, then the chimney imploded and bricks crashed down onto the metal heap.
    â€˜That’ll send the rats scurrying,’ Margery said, lifting her feet and searching the floor for small furry creatures. Charmaine leapt up, snatched the piece of paper from the table and ran out of the house.
    Margery remained where she was, calmly finishing her cup of tea, running her tongue across her teeth to remove the dust.
    Judith was powdering her sliced grapefruit with artificial sweetener when Pudding strolled into the kitchen, tall and glossy in her school uniform, a backpack over her shoulder. Her mother was dressed in a plain, black shift, her hair loose and wavy. Pudding pressed her earplugs into her ears, picked up a banana, tub of yoghurt and a slice of toast with Vegemite waiting for her on the bench, kissed her mother’s cheeks, ‘You look very stylish today, mother,’ and wandered out the back door, eating her toast.
    Judith said, ‘Love you, Pudding,’ and sat to eat her grapefruit. She spread a paper napkin on her lap, pushed back her sleeves, washed two Fatbuster diet tablets down with sweetened black coffee and said, ‘Day one, Judith. You can do this, just last three weeks without eating anything fattening and then you’re off and running. Just get obsessed! You are fat , Judith. You must get rid of the flab.’ She jabbed a wedge of grapefruit with her fork and popped it into her mouth, chewing slowly, making every bitter mouthful last.
    Then she curled and teased her hair, spraying it into a firm round helmet over her head. She spread thick, creamy make-up over herface, glued on her eyelashes and ringed her eyes with black kohl, then she pinned a gold brooch to her frock, strung three gold chains around her neck, put three gold rings on three separate fingers and clipped on a pair of gold-mounted, cutglass earrings. Then she sat down at her computer, two rice crackers and two diet mints beside the desk. She logged on. The computer screen read, ‘Welcome to the Diploma of Counselling. Please select your subject.’
    Barry arrived bringing currents of cologne, jangling his keys. ‘So, as we discussed –’
    â€˜Yes, Barry, as always, I’ll do my best for you but you know Marge. She’s not the most approachable or cooperative person on the planet, never has been.’
    She clicked ‘Parenting and Family Care’.
    The front door opened. Barry called, ‘See ya.’
    â€˜Will you be home for tea?’ But Barry was gone and the screen had captured her interest. She studied the words, pondering what they meant. ‘Aspects of child temperament and parenting style most likely to be associated with observed behavioural problems caused by possible combinations, including negative reactions with low parental warmth, low inductive reasoning, can cause low inhibition. Behavioural problems include evidence of the child hurting others, damaging objects, disobeying instructions and having temper tantrums . . .’
    She highlighted the words and moved the cursor to ‘Copy’ then pasted it in the document titled ‘Judith’s Diary, A Lifetime of Negative Enrichment’ then read the words aloud: ‘ Negative reactions with low parental warmth and low inductive reasoning, and low inhibition, behavioural problem measures include evidence of the child hurting others, damaging objects, disobeying instructions . . . ’ ‘My God,’ she cried. ‘This is my life!’
    Sitting with her hands loose in her lap, the flurry travelling around the screen, the memories came. She was standing behind her mother,her shoulders high above in a blue