The peace of the upstairs room at Boston Tea Party is diisturbed by the group, three boys and a girl, on the sofa and chairs opposite. It is the volume and the emphatic "listen to me" tone of their voices that disturbs the peace. She talks mostly to the boy diagonally opposite her, the boy with quietest voice, who leans forwards, makes eye contact and dominates her attention.
The others try to compete, speaking loudly, quickly, trying to divert her gaze with a explosions of laughter at their own jokes. Eventually the losing pair learn to operate as a team, one engaging her favourite in conversation whilst the other tackles her. But that is a game with a winner and a loser unless they share her attention. Since, presumably, the object of the exercise is to hold her, team spirit is not likely to survive long. Soon the favourite breaks free and her attention returns to him.
She does not ignore the others. Her head turns occasionally to include them, but her gaze never strays long. She finds excuses to lean forward, first to show him her mobile phone, then later to reposition herself more comfortably on the sofa, each time revealing a bra-less decoletage.
The boy on her left says something directly to her and is punished when saying no, she turns her head momentarily to the other also ran for support. "You are lower than him" she conveys unspoken and thus the pecking order is established.
She becomes more energetic, gesturing with her hands, writhing a little on the sofa and in re-enacting some scene finds another excuse to lean momentarily towards her favourite. The others fall silent, bored. One plays with his drinking straw and then his hair as she does most of the talking.
The matter was settled. Whilst it was the quietest voice that got the girl, it was the girls voice that was loudest, most strident and most demanding of attention, until that is, she got what she wanted.
Posted by bwm at September 14, 2003 04:42 PM