Prompt Word: China
Minervie and Chip 39
Minervie found herself aboard a showboat Luana, for a river cruise from Sullivans Wharf down the Brisbane to Australia’s only man-made island.
The bartender aboard the ship was playing with the patrons. Using an Chinese accent, he said, “Free Drink to the first who know … where I was born.”
Three people yelled, “China” all at once, and Minervie, nursing a local whiskey just smiled, while folks tried to guess.
Being the showman, he called her out, “You wear a knowing smile”.
Minervie smiled more broadly, “That would be no fun for the rest of them.”
Escalating more loudly, he announced, “Now at your words, you have to say!”
Minervie sighed, met his volume, “You are as local as they come. Gubbi Gubbi if I’m not completely wrong. Your mother, I think, was born near the sacred daughter, Birburrum. Though, I suspect you were born on the shores of this very river.”
Completely dropping the accent, he said, “How?” as he poured her a second whiskey.
Minervie replied cooly, “I warned you it would be no fun to make me play. I am older than you think, and though I never met you, I am pretty sure I knew your grandfather. A few years after the so-called frontier wars were truly lost and he was working for a rancher to survive and stay near the sacred mountains.”
Link to first post: https://wandering.shop/@vollink/115800376399348994