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Beach Walker: Chapter 6
An Odd Pair
After that, Leonard and I began to meet regularly. It was surely the oddest start to a friendship, and our friendship may have been one of the odder kind.
He liked good coffee but couldn’t be persuaded to set foot in the beachfront café — or any noisy, busy building. It reminded him of being ‘inside’, though that was many years before.
So, I’d meet him on the Ocean Grove beachfront at the appointed time with two double-shot lattes from the kiosk. We’d find a quiet bench, or spread my sarong and sit on the grassy terrace.
We must have looked an unlikely pair: the plump, well-dressed black woman and the skinny, scruffy white man — engaged in animated conversation punctuated by the occasional shriek of laughter (me) or hoarse chuckle (Leonard). I’d see folk walk by with a funny little smirk on their faces. We became a regular fixture, and I fancy that while some thought us odd, others found us rather sweet. A few times a passer-by would speak to us. Leonard would clam up and stare at the ground until they went away.
When the moment was opportune, I let slip that I’d once worked for Community Corrections in New South Wales, even worked in a prison. Leonard grunted: ‘Thought so … You’re bloody bossy enough,’ which he softened with a cheeky little grin and a glance to make sure I hadn’t…
