Chapter 10: Judith Meets Jake
Judith rode with the Sunday bicycle group. It was still hot and humid in early April, and the fifty-kilometre ride along the coast road was hard work on the morning she first met Jake. She’d been introduced to his muscular buttocks as he bent forward, riding in front of her. The good impression was confirmed when he dismounted his bike and strolled across to a table at the outdoor café at the southern end of the Port Douglas Esplanade, opposite Four Mile Beach.
Over the post-ride breakfast, she made to sit opposite him. ‘Do you mind if I sit here?’
He smiled. Not much involvement of his bright blue eyes. Good teeth. Clean-shaven.
‘Sure. I’m Jake Roper,’ he said.
‘I’m Judith Fairbanks. Just arrived in Cairns?’
His eyebrows shot up. ‘How can you tell?’
She smiled. ‘In Cairns, it’s a pretty safe bet—so many of us are from somewhere else. And you have that wide-eyed look of the newly arrived.’
He laughed. ‘Yes, transferred up from Brisbane. A career move. I’m a Phys Ed teacher.’
‘Do you have family with you?’
‘No, on my own.’
Three younger women fluttered over to the table, bringing their own plastic chairs and making it crowded. Jake turned towards them, smiling broadly.
‘How was the ride?’ he asked.
‘Great.’
‘Hot.’
‘A bit wet.’
They all spoke at once and laughed with high, shrill voices.
‘Have you met Judith? She’s our hero,’ one of them said.
‘How’s that?’ Jake asked, turning towards Judith.
‘She’s the Director of Orthopedic Surgery.’
‘Role model.’
‘In charge.’ They spoke one after the other.
Judith looked down, hiding her pleasure.
Jake whistled. ‘Impressive,’ he said.
When Jake ordered poached eggs and bacon, Judith did the same, rather than her usual fruit salad and yoghurt. She was in no hurry to finish breakfast.
On the way back to Cairns, drenched with sweat, they stopped at Rex Lookout, overlooking the deserted beach to the south. Judith pulled up beside Jake. ‘How are you amusing yourself in your new life? Plenty of girls?’
‘Plenty of work at the high school. I’ve joined a local hockey team, and I’m coaching some kids’ basketball. Girls are only a diversion at the moment.’
Her eyes had held his briefly when they talked; Jake’s wandered elsewhere. She wore no fashionable Lycra, only a neat long-sleeved shirt and three-quarter pants with a cushioned crutch. His eyes ran over her full figure.
‘How about a coffee during the week?’ he suggested.
‘Oh ... OK,’ she said, pulling an ear.
Coffee was at L’Unico in Trinity Beach. A hot sunny day with intermittent heavy showers. They’d both ridden their bikes and welcomed the gentle, cool sea breeze that fanned the shaded outside bar, overlooking the bright sand and deep blue water of the curved, sheltered bay.
Jake was there first and stood to meet her. ‘Did you get wet?’
Judith sat on a high stool next to him. ‘Yes. You’ll get used to it. Keep riding and you’ll dry out. Too hot to wear a coat.’
Jake ordered a cappuccino, Judith an espresso.
‘What have you been reading?’ Judith asked once they’d settled in.
‘Not much. The latest exercise theory, men’s health, that sort of thing.’ He smiled, seeming pleased she had brought up the topic. ‘And a biography of Walter Hagen.’
‘Who’s he?’
‘Old-time golfer.’
‘I don’t play golf,’ Judith said, shutting that topic off and subduing Jake’s enthusiasm somewhat. They were silent as she searched for another topic. ‘What music do you like?’
Jake brightened again. ‘Heavy metal and rap.’
‘What about painting?’
‘I like outdoor stuff: landscapes, that sort of thing. The Heidelberg School. My mother was keen on them. She had a print of a woman in white in the bush with a bloke at a gate in the distance. Good figure—like yours,’ Jake said.
‘Tom Roberts. A Summer Morning Tiff.’
‘Impressive,’ Jake said. ‘I remember another one Mum had; Roberts again, I think. A topless woman. Well endowed.’ He glanced at her breasts, his eyes moving back to her face.
Judith’s cheeks reddened. ‘Most of Tom Roberts’s portraits of women were clothed,’ she said.
‘Must have been his lucky day.’
‘A bit hot out here. Let’s sit inside—it’s air-conditioned.’
She was sweating. Being inside didn’t help.
Eventually, they found a common interest in football and chatted happily for half an hour, Judith still feeling rather hot. When she sat on her bike to ride home, she felt wet between her legs. It wasn’t sweat.
Oh dear, she thought, my body’s way ahead of me. Take care.
The next week, they met for dinner at Mondo’s, on the water in front of the Hilton, taking a small table facing the moored yachts across the inlet. The air was clammy, the breeze off the water only mildly cooling.
Jake leant back with his hands behind his head. ‘Yet another great spot.’
‘I need a drink, please,’ Judith said. ‘Just one. The house red will do.’
Jake bounced up and came back with a Shiraz and a 4X Gold. This time he leant forward. ‘Tell me about yourself.’
She started talking of the joys of working clay and getting her hands wet and muddy as she squeezed up a pot on the wheel.
‘I like to be more physical,’ interrupted Jake.
Judith sighed and continued, ‘It is physical. Sensuous.’
‘There’s nothing as sensuous as holing a ten-metre putt on an undulating green.’
‘I like to create something.’
‘I like to achieve, to stretch myself. Beat my handicap or get a PB.’
‘I like to achieve something too, but creativity is different, more satisfying.’
‘Not for me.’
Judith changed tack. ‘How was your week?’
‘Good. An enthusiastic group of year elevens helps.’
‘Having fun standing on their heads and chasing balls?’
Jake was taken aback. He put his index fingers together and pointed both at her. ‘There’s more to it than that. Some of them get really into the science.’
‘Science?’
Jake’s eyes sparkled visibly in the low light. ‘The physiology of movement, muscle action, fast and slow fibres. Fascinating. The best students even look up the neurology behind eye–hand coordination.’
‘What about biochemistry? Always a tedious subject for me,’ Judith said.
‘You can’t mean that! The citric acid cycle is amazing; how the cells can turn fats into carbohydrates and proteins and back again, depending on need—what could be more interesting than that?’
‘I hadn’t thought about it like that,’ Judith admitted, impressed at his enthusiasm. ‘What about some dinner?’
Judith had crumbed fish, Jake steak, medium rare. They ate silently until Judith asked, ‘Did you do much anatomy?’
Jake half closed his eyes. ‘Not enough. Mainly models and computer images. We were shown some musculoskeletal dissections but couldn’t get our hands on them.’
Judith nodded. ‘We dissected a whole body. Some say it can be disrespectful of the dead, but for most of us, it was a profound and moving experience. It’s hard to explain, but the dead body lying out on a slab increased our respect and reverence for life. Not a religious experience, a spiritual one.’
‘What about cutting into it?’ Jake’s eyes were wide open.
‘That was hard. The boys couldn’t make the first cut. One of us girls did. Confirmed our impression that the macho male is mostly bluff.’
Jake laughed. ‘Why not let me explore some of your anatomy? There must be vibrant life there. Any fast fibres?’
‘Maybe, but we need to use the slow ones for a while yet.’
Jake grinned. ‘Funny girl. What about next weekend?’
‘Not yet, I’m not ready to change gear.’