The Hidden Diary of Ophelia Ridley

10

15 June 1988

Dear Diary,

Work at the ice cream parlor is never boring. Edith and I work the same shift so she picks me up before hand. I like the way she drives up the drive at Norwood blasting Queen and honking her horn. The Mer-witch nearly fainted when Edith stuck her pierced tongue out at her the first time. 

Marvin, the boss, is okay. He's usually there for the first half hour of our shift before he leaves, putting a bit too much faith in our abilities to run the shop, especially since Edith doesn't really believe in the suggested serving size of sprinkles (our supply was dwindling compared to how many customers actually came) and has the tendency to cuss out people if they took too long to order. It wasn't a big deal, reasoned Edith, because we were the only ice cream parlor in town so it wasn't like we had competition. 

Yesterday, we were greeted in the store, not by Marvin, but by a petite brunette woman in sunglasses chewing bubble gum. She looked familiar to me but I couldn't quite place her.

"I'm Susan." She introduced herself. "Marvin's sister, co-owner here." 

"I didn't know Marvin co-owned this place." I said. 

"Yeah, I hate ice-cream. I'm lactose intolerant." She said and as if to prove it, took a sample spoon of Rocky Road and popped it into her mouth, before grimacing. "Jesus, that's not gonna sit well with me."  a knock at the door indicated potential customers even though we were 15 minutes from opening. "We're not open yet!" Susan called "Read the bloody schedule!" 

I could tell Edith instantly liked Susan because of how she used the Lord's name in vain and didn't care about offending customers. 

"So what brings you here this morning instead of Marvin?" Edith asked curiously. Marvin  was an unpleasant man in his mid thirties who wore an excess of plaid and had never before mentioned co-owning this shop or having a sister at all, especially not Susan who looked at least ten years younger and ten times cooler. 

"Ugh, Marvin got bronchitis so he's incapacitated for a while. I don't like coming in but he was worried about inventory so I told him I'd stop by." She rolled her eyes, as if she couldn't believe she agreed to this. "I mean, I've got nothing better to do, so I'll just sit here, I guess." 

Susan sat in the corner of the shop for most of the morning, alternating between watching us and reading a magazine she kept stowed in her purse.  Occasionally, she would check  her make-up in a compact mirror, mashing her pink painted lips together and batting her blue colored eyelashes. Her neon green nails flipped the pages of her magazine carelessly, her sunglasses perched on the top of her perm. She was a beautiful woman clearly in touch with the latest fashion trends and I envied her beauty. 

When we closed for lunch, Susan offered to buy us fish and chips from a place down the street. We ate lunch at a picnic table under some trees and Susan told us a bit about herself. She was 24 years old, and had finished school in Los Angeles, California, two years prior. After she graduated, she had begun exploring the world- going from continent to continent, attending music and beer festivals. She paid for it with her half of proceeds from the ice cream shop their parents had left to Marvin and her when they died. 

I was immediately enamored by her. She was a real-life adventurer, living the life I dreamed of. She was cool and sophisticated and when Edith and I asked questions, she didn't make us feel silly or immature. She talked to us like adults, and offered us cigarettes after lunch. 

"We're in a band." Edith told her, expertly puffing and exhaling the smoke through her nose. 

"Really? That's cool. What's your vibe?" Susan asked me. 

"Our vibe?" I asked, attempting to breathe in my cigarette and failing, ending up coughing unattractively. 

"We play top hits," Edith quickly chimed in. " You know, mostly pop. Stuff to dance to. We play at the warehouse mostly, and people love it."

"Really." Susan said, thoughtfully. "You know, I have a party coming up in a few days. Nothing much, just a group of friends but we could always use some fresh beats."

Edith and I glanced at each other in disbelief. Was it possible that the coolest person we had ever met wanted us to play music at her party? 

"We'll have a stage set up in the backyard and after you play some songs you can just hang out. There'll be drinks and stuff and if you're good I'll pay you." 

While I wasn't quite sure what drinks "and stuff" meant, I knew that we would not pass up this opportunity to hang out like adults and make some extra money. 

Susan wrote her number down  and the party information for us and then decided to go home, claiming she had a hot date with her boyfriend. 

"I can't believe that just happened." I told Edith as we walked back to the shop.

"You know what, O? We may be getting out of this town sooner than we thought." 

My, Diary, I hope that's right.

-Ophelia ♡