The Perfect House

Chapter 10: meeting Mrs Stein

In the morning, the four friends went off together; the boys trying to provide Florina with some protection and support. Preston held Florina's hand because they could see that Mrs Stein was in her front garden. They weren't surprised when she called out to them.

"Hello there, I thought I should introduce myself. I'm Mrs Stein, Mrs Castell probably mentioned me. My sister and her husband own the house that you are in."

"How do you do, Mrs Stein, I'm Harold."

"Roberto, Mrs Stein."

"And I'm Preston and this is my partner, Florina."

"Oh, what a beautiful name. It suits you, my dear."

"Thank you."

"Though I suppose you get called Flori a lot."

"Yes, but I don't mind," Florina smiled pleasantly.

"And I like your beret, dear. It's really cute."

"Yes, I think it is too."

"Well, I'm sure we'll see a fair bit more of each other, but I won't hold you up now. Nice to have met you all."

As they walked away, "Shit, Pres, she's going to be friendly, and particularly with me, it looks like. Damn it."

"You were cool, babe. Don't worry, you'll handle it."

They were through the grilled gate in the fence, Florina looked around and was just about to change over when a car pulled up and parked in the street near the gate. A young man jumped out, grabbed a bag and ran up to the gate.

Florina hid behind Bobba, not sure whether to try and change quickly or wait. She waited. The new arrival let himself in through the gate, nodded to the four of them and charged up the path.

"Hmmm," mused Harold, "that's something we didn't think about. I bet that the street there is used as a sort of unofficial parking area for those in the know about the back gate."

Florina dropped her hands, shaking her head, "Just how many more bloody surprises are there going to be?"

"Hang in there, Flor, hang in there."

Florian only stayed at the uni for an hour or so. He borrowed some books from the library and headed back to the house. There was no one around near the back gate and he was able to do his change fairly easily.

Up in her bedroom, Florina looked at herself in her big mirror. "I really love this yellow beret, but I think I'm going to stand out too much with it on (laugh). And that's probably why Irene suggested I get the dark blue one in the same style as well. I'd better stick to wearing the blue one when I know that I'm going to need to do changeovers."

Another laugh, "Anyway, I'm here by myself, so I'm going leave my cute yellow one on for a while."

Sitting at the dining table engrossed in the books she'd borrowed, Florina heard Bobba and Preston arrive back.

"Hi Flori, have you had lunch yet?"

"What? No."

"Come on, babe, it's nearly one o'clock."

"God, I didn't realise the time."