Dawn Painter

Alice was covered in white paint. She was wearing a pair of old blue dungarees with only a thin black singlet underneath. No bra. She had even gotten some paint on her nose. The dawn approached. The sky, dark blue with an orange hue peaking.

Nadia stood by the door. She surprised Alice.

”Ahhh!” Alice nearly fell over. Nadia reached out to grab her. Some of the white paint got on her hand.

”Sorry… didn’t mean to scare you…” Nadia smiled, “What happened to the door?”

”It’s okay,” Alice said, “Ah, some teenage punks graffitied the shit out the door…”

Nadia sat down and offered Alice a cigarette. They smoked together. Before The Pony, Nadia had never touched a cigarette in her life and now she was on five a day.

Alice examined Nadia’s hand. It was red. Painful.

“Looks bad… You can’t go to the hospital… We have a family doctor that can come and see you—“ Alice said.

”It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt that much,” Nadia said.

There was an awkward silence. Then they both started talking at once.

”Nadia —“

”Alice —“

”No, you go first…” Nadia said.

Alice took a deep breath.

”These past two months have been amazing. You are my friend Nadia. I don’t want to see you get hurt — my life is associated with bad people, so—“ Alice said.

”I want to stay at The Pony,” Nadia said firmly.

“Are you sure?” Alice said.

”Yes,” Nadia said, she leaned in to kiss Alice on the cheek, “Thank you for saving me.”

Alice blushed red, “No worries…”