Some people are so broadminded

Press, 28 May 1984, Page 14

Some people are so broadminded

Stephanie was a vegetarian, lesbian, hypochondriac, drug addict. She liked to talk about it All of it That’s why Harold and Pro asked her to dinner. Everyone adored David because he talked to plants. He was Deep and in touch with Earth’s Bio-Rhythms. So they asked him, too. Fiona was somewhere between her third and fourth relationship. She didn't believe in marriage. Not since her second husband shot through. These were broadminded people who had lived. The sort you usually meet at Harold and Pro’s. Everyone silently agreed Peter was peculiar. You could see it in their eyes every time be said anything — which wasn’t often. The cut of his trousers was far from fashionable. Did anyone still wear blue check shirts? Conversation swept around world problems, dipped in and out of politics, and rested tentatively, like a butterfly, on the personal habits of an Amazon tribe. Peter seemed unimpressed. Perhaps he was not able to appreciate the tolerance and understanding of life you get when you’ve crossed the Sahara east to west the way David had. The atmosphere was generous and expansive by the time we had worked through our pieta bread and humus, zucchini casserole, and wheatgerm cake. We were hovering around the perimeters of astrology when Pru started serving decaffeinated coffee. “You’ll never guess what

Helen Brown

sign I am,” Stephanie said smugly. “You look like a typical Leo to me,” said Harold. “I know, everyone says that,” Stephanie said. “It’s the ginger hair and growly voice.” “Earth, fire, air, or water?” David probed. “Not telling,” said Stephanie. “Are you a home-loving Cancer?” asked Fiona. “No way!” “You must be in a cusp,” said Pru. “Aquarius-Pisces, Aries-Taurus?” Fiona shook her head. She was getting tiresome. The others were bursting to have their turn at guess-my-sign. Harold fidgeted with the table cloth. “It all depends on the place and time of birth,” he said. “Are you sure your information is correct?” “I checked with the hospital,” said Stephanie. “Did you go to a decent astrologer?”

“One of the best” “Sagittarius?” “No.” “flemini?” “No.” “Go on!” David said, restlessly. “Tell us.” “Capricorn!” Stephanie said triumphantly. “Oh, the goat,* said Pro. “I should have guessed.” Peter moved forward on his seat but the others were already trying to guess David’s sign. David blossomed at being the centre of attention. “I’m very ambitious,” he said, slitting his eyes and lowering his head modestly. Just when it looked as if Peter would never find a space to hop on the astrological merry-go-round, he drew a deep breath and said loudly — “Speaking as a Christian It was as if someone had thrown a boulder into a pond. “What???” Peter blushed. “I mean, as someone who goes to church ...” he said with less certainty. A ring of pale, horrified faces looked back at him. “You mean you believe in all that God stuff?” Pru said. “Hocus pocus, maledominated voodoo!” Stephanie snarled. David poured himself a drink in an effort to recover. “Look, Peter,” he said. “IPs just that in this day and age, we find it hard to believe anyone still goes along with that superstitious nonsense.”