LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

no, that’s terrible!’ Jane’s hands paused over her knitting. ‘Both of you?’

      Ellie shook her head.

      ‘Bastards.’ That was Pixie.

      ‘Well, it’s not completely bad news,’ I said, hoping that was true. ‘Looking on the bright side, it’ll free me up to do other things … like maybe work more on the Curvy Girls Club?’

      ‘Well of course, sweetheart, you can, but can you afford not to work that day? I mean not getting paid for doing it. I know doing the organising is a lot of work.’

      ‘Well, that’s the thing. Maybe I could get paid for doing it.’ I took a deep breath. ‘I’ve been thinking and it is a lot of work to put the events together. So maybe it’s reasonable to charge a small booking fee – just a few quid to cover overheads. Rob designed the website and is running it for free. If we had a bit of money coming in then we could afford to pay for the time everyone puts into the club.’

      I watched my friends’ faces as they mulled this over. A little smile played around Ellie’s lips. She already knew of my proposal, of course. I’d told her as soon as I’d thought of it.

      ‘Then it would be a business?’ Jane asked, sounding uncertain.

      ‘Do we want it to be a business?’ asked Pixie.

      I shook my head. ‘I don’t, not really. But it does seem to be getting more popular, and I’m excited about where it could go. It’s been so fun, but I also feel like it’s important. I suppose we could just plan events as and when we’ve got time … It’s just that we’ve started something now. I really want to keep it going.’

      ‘Me too,’ Pixie said. ‘These past few months have been great. Every time we go out I feel like I find a little piece of myself again. I can’t remember when I was so chuffed with my life. Sometimes I even forget about that bloody man at home. That’s worth more than a couple of quid to me.’

      We laughed at her statement, but I recognised the sad honesty in it. ‘Is he still trying to get into your knickers?’

      She nodded. ‘I don’t know what’s gotten into him lately. He’s bloody keen for someone who constantly tells me how fat and ugly I am. Last night he called me a … and I quote, a “shit-filled pig”. He was angry that we ate tea without him. As if I’d starve myself or the children just because he’s two hours late back from the pub. But he’s a walking contradiction. One minute he’s saying things like that, pointing out the fat rolls on my tummy or jiggling the backs of my arms, and the next he’s pointing his erection at me and telling me how much he loves me.’

      ‘Pixie, you can’t let him do that to you!’ Ellie said. ‘I mean making you feel bad about your weight, not the other thing.’

      ‘He’s not hurting me.’

      ‘Maybe not physically,’ I said. ‘But mentally he is. Ellie’s right. You can’t let him do that.’

      She sighed. ‘I pick my battles, love. He’d never dare lay a hand on me or the children. Believe me, that would be going too far.’ She chuckled. ‘And now I think I’ve got a way to keep him from laying anything on me …’ Her eyes glinted as she dug her mobile phone from her bag and scrolled through a few screens. ‘Look what I’ve just bought!’

      ‘Oh my god,’ Jane said, as we all looked at the photo. ‘Are you planning to wear that?’

      ‘I got three of them. They arrived in the post today. I’m going to try one tonight. Sexy, eh?’ She grinned wickedly.

      Pixie seemed to be suggesting wearing a puke-green, thick terrycloth onesie around the house as birth control. The one she showed us had a hood and feet and zipped up the front. She was right. I didn’t imagine Trevor would unzip that unless she was going into cardiac arrest.

      ‘I hope it works,’ Ellie said. ‘But you really should think about leaving, Pixie.’

      ‘I do, every waking moment, love, but I’d need to find work or the children and I won’t be able to live. Right, thank you for depressing me.’

      ‘Sorry!’ we all said.

      She smiled. ‘That’s all right. I know you’re just watching out for me. Now, where were we, before you convinced me to share my fashion advice with you?’

      Pixie often snapped shut as quickly as she opened up, so I wasn’t surprised to hear her change the subject.

      ‘Charging for events,’ I said. ‘I did the maths. If we’d charged two quid for each event we’ve had so far, we’d have over six hundred quid now.’

      ‘That is interesting,’ Pixie said. ‘It actually could be a business if we wanted it to be.’

      ‘Assuming people will pay,’ Jane said.

      ‘Assuming people will pay,’ echoed Pixie. ‘We could also expand the events.’

      ‘That’s what we’re saying, sweetheart.’

      ‘No, I mean we could expand the range of events we host. They don’t all have to be things we want to do ourselves. If it’s an official club now, and a business, shouldn’t we think of things that will be popular even though they may not be our cup of tea?’

      I nodded. ‘Like what?’

      She thought for a moment. ‘What about speed-dating?’

      My face told her my thoughts on that.

      ‘Why not? A lot of the people coming are single. They might like it. We could call it something fun, like Find a Chubby Hubby.’

      ‘Wasn’t that a brand of ice cream?’ Jane wondered.

      ‘Right. Copyright issues. How about Fat Friends?’ she proposed. ‘I don’t know, something fun.’

      I definitely didn’t like that idea. ‘That was a TV programme … besides, there’s nothing fun about Fat Friends. It’s insulting.’

      ‘Oh, get off your high horse. We’re fat. We’re friends. It does what it says on the tin.’

      ‘All right,’ Ellie said. ‘We don’t have to decide right now. The important thing is that we agree we’ll charge a fee, right? So we can grow the Curvy Girls Club. The sky’s the limit, ladies.’

      Everyone nodded and I felt like I’d just watched our child take her first step. How had this become so important to me? Sappy Katie.

      We’d just sat down to dinner a week later at Pixie’s favourite pizza place when Jane dropped her bombshell on us.

      ‘I can’t wait any longer,’ she said. ‘Look!’ She yanked a copy of the Evening Standard from her cavernous bag, dragging out most of her knitting in the process.

      London’s ‘biggest’ social club?

       There’s a new kid on the block in London’s entertainment industry, and it’s not for everyone. A group of fed-up slimmers have come together to launch the Curvy Girls Club, an entertainment resource for the larger lady.

      The long article went on to describe how we’d started and some of the events we’d done so far.

      ‘Ooh look, we’re named!’ Ellie wriggled. ‘I had no idea we were going to get into the newspaper!’ She said it like our names had appeared written in the night sky. ‘And Katie, you’re quoted!’

      I pulled the paper closer.

      ‘I hope you don’t mind, sweetheart. They wanted a quote and I remembered what you said at Slimming Zone. It seemed perfect so …’

      I read the line twice. The point is to learn to be happy the way we are, says co-founder Katie Winterbottom, instead of constantly worrying about how we’d like to look.

      ‘You

Скачать книгу