I was so thrilled when it was accepted for publication by a major Australian women’s magazine. I liked the main character so much, I wrote two other short stories about Emily later. It was inspired by going to a dance in a tiny country town the year after we came to Australia. I’d never been to a dance where everyone took along a plate of something to eat and their own drinks as well. When I was a teenager, we used to go to the local dance hall, a paid professional place. There were two of them in my town in those days. But whatever the venue was like, it didn’t stop people having a good time, and it certainly didn’t stop the younger ones from meeting people. As my heroine does . . . Part One The imaginary town of Beeniup, Western Australia (population 1,533). Quite a few years ago, when Emily was seventeen. One hot summer night Emily Baker strolled through town with her best friend Vera, on their way to the church hall. ‘I don’t feel at all like dancing,’ she muttered.
