Our bathroom had dark-blue wallpaper with birds and flowers on it, like the wallpaper in an English country house. The paintwork was putty-coloured, with a putty-coloured bath shelf that Dad had built for Mum. As well as room for Mum’s mug of Nescafé, it had a sloping holder with a lip to hold her book, or the latest issue of the Bulletin. Once I was having a bubble bath with a jar of hard-boiled sweets on the shelf, and Dad called me a little sybarite. In the bathroom cupboard was a wide-mouthed orange plastic jug. Its lip was shaped like an upper lip, with a cupid’s bow. This is the jug Mum would use to wash our hair, and as I write that, I can see my sister’s fine, straight hair being washed with it, hanging down her back while I sit in the bath behind. I used to like to force the jug under the bath water, filled with air, then let the air out in huge, transparent bubbles.
This story is from the June 25 - July 1, 2022 edition of New Zealand Listener.
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This story is from the June 25 - July 1, 2022 edition of New Zealand Listener.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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