FIND THE FACE 


By Tessa Harvey


    "He made me have an abortion." Jill blurted out to her sister, grabbing her arm hard. The fingers clenched so tight, Ainslee winced.
    She glanced round the dark city street. A few blokes were staggering away from the nearby pub. One vomited in the gutter. The rancid smell drifted towards them. "Look, get in the car. I'll drop you off."
    "Who made you have an abortion?" Ainslee spat out the last word as though it was something unmentionable and unclean. She indicated to a deserted street, and pulled out drifting along slowly.
    "Ben did, the paramedic."
"Well, so what? You were a fool to get caught."
"I wanted the baby." Jill's voice sounded small and sad. "I like children."
"Well, why didn't you keep it? I would have helped." This was said very grudgingly and both women knew it was a lie.
    Ainslee glanced at her sister's tear-stained face and felt an unusual compassion for her. She looked so much like her, but was weaker in every way. Jill fumbled with the car door. "Thanks Ainslee," she mumbled, "I'll be okay. I just told everyone I had flu."
    Ainslee thought some of the guys would love to teach that bloke a lesson. Jill isn't the first. Wait until he isn't hiding behind his uniform. Nothing too serious - after all, that's my sister.

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FIND THE FACE   By Tessa Harvey     Elfriede strolled from her office down to the Kinder classroom as the last children were leaving. They smiled up at her. "Hello Mrs. Jones," they chorused. She beamed at them and watched as they walked by with the teacher's aide, Rosa. She smiled too, her curly hair bobbing around her face as she bent to help a little girl who had dropped her bright pink lunchbox.      The principal knocked on the the open Kinder classroom door and entered. It was a cheerful room full of interesting colourful posters. There was a basket of small rocks for the children.     Each student owned a stone with their own name written on it in white or black marker.     The teacher was bent over a child's desk, trying to clean up some spilt water. She looked up as the older woman came in and hastily reached for her discarded mask.     "Ainslee!" gasped Elfriede, fumbling behind her for support. "Why are you here? Wha...
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FIND THE FACE  By Tessa Harvey     A tantalising aroma reached Elfriede as she drew close to her home. Bruce came out and gave her a warm hug. "Your turn to cook tomorrow!" he teased, his eyes sparkling with laughter. "Hi Jill," he greeted his young guest. Seeing his wife's puzzled look, his eyebrows rose. "What?" he queried.     "Didn't you say she looked like Ainslee?" answered his wife. "I didn't really meet Ainslee," he answered, "besides, masks hide faces. That's why bandits have used them for so long. In some rough areas, when you buy tights, they ask for your head size!!" The women looked at him. "Er - that was a joke!" The two women looked at each other and smiled.     After a delicious meal of stew and warm bakery bread, followed by fruit and cream, Jill explained how Ainslee was her twin sister, older by half an hour. They had decided not to tell the school. Shamefaced, Jill explained she wa...
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