Witches’ Froth

“You will have to say you’re single,” the girl on the ferry says. “They won’t employ married women. It’s against the law, or something. And don’t give a false name. It’s the government, don’t forget. They’ll check. They check everyone who works there. Especially the wops.”

Ronnie thinks she’s talking nonsense. If they check everything about her, they’ll know she’s married. And there was nothing in the newspaper advertisement she read on the ferry saying single women only should apply. She changes her mind about signing the employment contract under her maiden name. But she has removed her wedding band and stored it in the little box where she keeps her earrings. You can still see where the ring had been, a band of pale skin around a suntanned finger.

The girl on the ferry has been staying the summer with an aunt in Hobart. She gives Ronnie the name of a rooming house in Port Melbourne, which is cheap and close to the factories, so long as she…