Leaving HOME
Can you please write me a reference?’ Jessica asks. ‘I don’t have any renting experience, and the agent wants a letter saying I’m a good tenant.’
Her words take me by surprise. A reference?
I look up from the computer. ‘Does this mean you’ll wash the frying pan? Then I might say the nice things you want.’
The one she used yesterday to make a Thai stir-fry is still sitting on the sink. Since the dishwasher broke last week, she hasn’t lifted a finger. This is one dirty frying pan too many.
She’s sitting at the kitchen table with her boyfriend’s laptop. Still in her pyjamas.
Through my eyes she looks too young to be facing the trials of renting a share house. It’s only a year since she finished senior school.
And she’s recovering from glandular fever. Most days she needs an afternoon rest. Will her housemates make allowances for that the way I’ve done?
Somehow I doubt
