Elaine was quite tall but not enough to really notice. She was slender and graceful and moved in a way that wouldn't catch a boys attention. But in a way, that another girl would admire.
She had shiny, straight, chestnut brown hair, that was stylishly short and parted to the side.
Her Mum was Filipino and her Dad was Australian. She had that beautiful Eurasian mix, of olive skin, freckles and dark brown, almond eyes.
She did this little nervous thing with her mouth. She was a worrier. It was just her nature and maybe her background.
Her old man was a big drinking, hardworking, Aussie bloke, whose moods swung, like the opinion polls before an election.
He could be a big gentle bear one moment and as prickly as a cactus the next.
Her Mum, bore the brunt of most of it. It wasn't physical abuse but mental.
His words felt like the smart of a slapped face. They singed the air with the ferocity of their fury.
I think it was her sticky, irritating patience, that moved him.
She was very Catholic. Pictures and statues of Jesus and Mother Mary stared at you from every room. She was always muttering to them in Spanish, a complaint or a prayer.
That was her saving grace I suppose, that and Elaine, who would stand up to her father, when his angry, rum-fueled tirades, became too much.
Like a Terrier she would stand in front of him and just stare him down. No words were ever spoken, none were ever needed. He used to say that she could scare a Bulldog out of a Butcher Shop with that stare.
It was Elaine's nature that I loved the most. It was her purity. She was like freshly washed linen, left to dry in the sun all day. She smelt of sunshine and cheap lavender shampoo.
She was a listener, she would listen intently to people and laugh uproariously, at their bad jokes and their funny ways.
She was quiet but not shy, she was innocent but not naïve.
She always carried her lip balm and some tissues and a little purse, in a small bag. She wore simple gold stud earrings and a thin gold necklace, with a gold Aum, that danced around her neck when she ran.
She chewed her nails and only ever wore natural fibers.
She never swore and she was as stubborn as stone.
