Along the High Street of Norwich there is a small book shop, not one such as W.H.Smith or Waterstone's, but more of the kind that they used to be when they first started out. It only has a small frontage and caters for the more astute connoisseur of first editions and those hard to find tomes of obscure writers as well as providing the service of finding out of print books.
It was here that Tracey Smith works as a salesperson as well as the arbiter between the two owners that were middle aged and live above the shop. The fact that they are gay didn't faze Tracey in the slightest and these disputes were so trivial that she laughed at them as she tried to resolve their differences.
She constantly brought them down to earth with her home spun philosophy and in spite of their sexual orientation, loved them both. They were good employers and knew their books from A to Z and were most affable to clients who came to the store. It was only when these were missing did they bitch at one another and it amazed Tracey how they had stayed together so long.
It had been somewhat difficult when she had applied for the vacancy of a sales clerk to convince them to hire her. Both had wanted a male clerk and said it quite bluntly, but then she was quick to point out that they would then forever be arguing as to who was going to take him to bed first. So the simplest thing was to employ her and as she was female, give them some credence in the High Street. The logic of her argument was accepted and she had got the job. That was two years ago.
She was a happy vivacious girl of twenty two, brown hair, brown eyes in a pretty face. Five foot six and tended to be a slight thicker round the waist that she had wished, but her bust compensated for this as well as having a nice pair of legs with trim ankles. Having worked there for so long, she was able to discern the nature of the person who came into the shop and she instantly knew whether to turn on her charm or call one of the two owners to deal with them. This was a bonus as far as these two gays concerned with her astuteness and clucked over her like two mother hens with their chick.
Tracey was happy working for these two ageing queens but it had its downside for not many heterosexual men visited the shop, though she did have a boy friend, one Mark Patterson. She had originally come from Lowestoft where work just didn't seem to be available and that was why she was living and working in Norwich. She currently lived in a bed-sit that wasn't really a place to entertain any boyfriends plus the fact that it took half of her earnings just to stay there.
This was to be changed when she finally got to know Diane Gardner. She worked further up the High Street in a Dental surgery as a receptionist, not well paid, but at least it was a steady job as everywhere, jobs were now at a premium. Well those that didn't involve you getting filthy or dishpan hands.
She was a mousey blond of twenty one years of age and not, it must be said, as pretty as Tracey. Her figure was passable only because her bust was slightly more oversize than it should have been for one of her height.
She lived at home with her mother and sister, and it was a serious canker to her. It was only a two bed roomed terraced house and she had to share the double bed in the second bedroom with her sister Margaret and was far better looking and only two years older than Diane who had just had her twenty first birthday. It was Margaret that got the boy friend's and would persist in bringing them home and when mother went to bed, would snog with them on the parlour sofa. This drove Diane mad as she either had to sit there and watch or go to bed on her own.
Many times Margaret had asked her to sleep downstairs on that small sofa so that she could take her current boyfriend to their bed. But Diane stuck to her guns here and suffered all the abuse from Margaret when she refused to have her sister have a man in her bed. Diane wasn't a virgin, but she would be damned if she'd let her sister have fun in her, albeit, shared bed while she slept on the sofa. So all was not well in that household with this being the main problem in Diane's life.
The surgery where she worked didn't officially open till nine in the morning, though she had to be there by eight thirty at the latest, and so would stop at a coffee shop on the High Street every morning to have a bracer as she called it before starting her working day. The bookshop also didn't open till nine, though Tracey only needed to be there at that time, but she too stopped off for coffee some times before getting to the shop.
It was only a nodding acquaintance at the start as they would see each other on most days of the week. Then came the good mornings to one another and before long, they would say a few more words as they queued up to be served. Eventually it got round to the point that they found that they both took lunch at the same time and so started to meet for lunch in a pub just down the road in the High Street. It was convenient for them by being about halfway between their two places of work. So within six months they were on giggling terms as it were over their half pint of beer and a sandwich.
Diane was envious of this new friend Tracey, so friendly and outgoing. Charming and witty and having the poise of independence as well as looking prettier than she was. She was also in awe of her for having the strength of character to move away from home and stand on her own two feet, though Tracey didn't have a good word to say about where she was living at the time. A nightmare, she called it. No male visitors and such like. It played havoc with one's love life she told Diane, who at that time, had only known two boys, and that being of a short duration.
It was Diane's wish that she could move away from home and have her own flat that inspired the idea that she and Tracey should move in together. Tracey herself was fed up with the rules and regulations of her bed-sit and would like to be in a flat where she could come and go as she pleased and entertain her boy friend in style.
'Why don't we move into a flat together. Two bedrooms with a lounge, it would be perfect. With two of us paying the rent it would probably be cheaper than what I'm paying now. How much do you give your mum every week?' she asked.
'Half of what I get from the surgery,' Diane replied, warming to this idea that Tracey had put on the table. 'Do you think we could do it together?'
'I'm sure of it. There's plenty of vacant flats round the town and I'm sure we could find one that would fit our budget. That is if you are up for it?'
Diane was and told her that she would be delighted if they could do this together. It would mean freedom from her sister's constant nagging about having to share the same bed every night when she should have a man beside her instead of a sister.
So they spent the next week during their lunch hour to visit estate agents that were letting flats. The following week they followed up and began viewing certain properties that fitted their agreed budget. It was during the second week that they found one that was both suitable and affordable and agreed to take it.
For Tracey it was no problem in giving notice to quit her room though it was a different matter for Diane. Her mother didn't want her to leave, no doubt thinking of the money that she was getting from her. But her sister was delighted and it was her who pushed their mother into accepting the fact that Diane was about to fly the nest.
So the very next week, Tracey and Diane signed the lease on this flat that they had chosen. They even splashed out on a taxi to collect both their cases of clothes and such like from both habitats to convey them to their new home. As both the bedrooms were of the same size, it didn't matter which one had which, but it still took them three months to get other things sorted out.
The bathroom was the first problem by it having only one shelf that wasn't big enough to accommodate all that they both needed, so separate racks were bought. The one on the left of the basin was for Tracey and the one on the right was Diane's. It can't be said that they were really arguments but there were problems when it came to cooking their evening dinners. Though they pooled a certain amount of money each into a pot from which came the food money, it was the actual cooking and subsequent washing up that caused some friction. But like everything else, it worked itself out in time, though Diane finished up doing most of the cooking side of things while Tracey did make serious attempts to keep the flat clean and tidy. Well this was in her own interests because it wasn't long before Mark began coming round for dinner once a week.
For this event, Tracey herself helped out in the kitchen to prepare the meal and she'd even bought a bottle of wine for the occasion, though Diane knew that it would be her doing the washing up, though she was surprised about this later in that first evening.
Mark duly arrived with a bottle of wine in each hand and quickly embraced Tracey with a big kiss and much to Diane's surprise, did the same to her.
