“Welcome to another month, Nina,” Timmy greeted me as he passed through the automatic doors of the library, “and welcome to another season. Winter has arrived.”
“Yes, it has,” I agreed.
I stepped out from behind the counter and ambled over to where the chairs were stacked in the corner. Together, Timmy and I unpacked them.
“You know that I don’t really like winter,” he reminded.
“I do,” I confirmed. “I can’t imagine how hard that would be.”
“Don’t tell me how hard my life is, Nina,” Timmy begged, putting down the chair and standing up straight. “Please don’t.”
I drew my eyebrows together and folded my arms in front of my chest. The buzz of the automatic doors parting attracted both of our attentions, preventing me from having to respond. Jamie passed through the doorway and entered the library, loosening his woollen scarf in response to the warmer climate inside.
“Hello,” he greeted us.
“Hi,” I replied, with a wave and a smile.
I flicked a brief glance back towards Timmy. Breathing out, he relaxed his arms and ambled away, scratching the back of his neck.
“How are you?” I asked.
“Not bad,” Jamie replied. “You?”
“Same,” I answered.
We went through the motions of a fairly standard meeting, catching up with each other.
“Obviously, next week is the State of Origin,” Timmy reminded us, as the meeting on Wednesday night was drawing to a close. “Are we still going to have our meeting or not? What do you all reckon?”
“It depends on Todd, really,” Debbie quipped. “Are you going to play by the rules?”
She eyeballed him.
“Well, I am playing by the rules,” Todd insisted. “I was born in Queensland, I support Queensland, despite the fact that I live here now.”
“Fair enough,” Debbie permitted, patting him on the shoulder. “We’ll let you in if we all come.”
“I mean, it’s optional to come, of course, but I think that we should,” Aaron agreed. “I mean, I think that we should at least hold the meeting. There’s a tele here, right, isn’t there, Nina?”
“Yes, there is, it’s the one which we used last time,” I confirmed. “It’s in the storeroom. It doesn’t really get that much of a workout, it would be good to get it out again.”
The younger sister of missing Sydney man Mitchell del Reyan, Nina del Reyan lives on Dharug land in western Sydney. She has recently commenced a teaching degree at Macquarie University. Nina loves her family and friends and is deeply committed to finding answers and justice for the families of missing people.
Abbey Sim is the founder of Huldah Media. She is a creative writing, law and theology student who lives on the lands of the Dharug people in Sydney, Australia. Abbey desires to explore themes of hope, love and longing through her storytelling. She is the author of 'Shadow' and 'From the Wild'.
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