A grey woman appeared, like a hesitant wraith,

ingesting pathogens, projectile vomiting smoke,

exuding noxious acridity - coughing, hard and dry -

through a haze of ‘on special this week’ perfume.

She sat at a rain-speckled table of the sidewalk café,

not quite protected from the weather by the awning.

Slowly sipping an insipid latte she tried to remember,

to feel again the gentle embrace of the Adriatic sun.

Her eyes half closed and wishing for a warm jacket,

and for the steaming meal someone at a nearby table

was toying with, talking over but not really eating,

she lit a new cancer stick from the stump of the old.

Bowral NSW © Dermott Ryder

End Note: Bowral in Wingecarribee Shire NSW, with a population approaching 12,000 is the largest town in the Southern Highlands of New South Sales. It is the most active business and entertainment enclave in the Highlands. It has in the past served as a rural retreat for the privileged movers and shakers of Sydney. Many historic estates and manor houses mark the district as the leafy home of the comfortably rich.

Bowral hosts an annual Tulip-Time Festival held in September. This event and an abundance of other attractions, including a shrine to a dead cricketer and numerous street cafes, brings in the latte quaffing, banana bread munching lowly tourists and their greatly appreciated, if grimy, dollars.

Valediction - Bowral NSW © Dermott Ryder