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once you’ve used it, please don’t even think of giving it back … not in any shape or form!”
    Jo is really funny. She makes me laugh! I was quite surprised that she was here on a Monday, but according to Ali she has now moved in on a permanent basis.
    “The lease ran out on her flat and she needed somewhere in a hurry.”
    I said, “How do you know?”
    Ali said, “Auntie Jay told me.”
    When did Ali get to speak to Auntie Jay? She is so sneaky! I don’t know half the things she gets up to.
    The cheese on toast was really tasty. Though I say it myself, and I suppose it may sound a bit like boasting, I believe I may be rather a good cook! For afters we had fresh fruit, which at first made Tash turn her nose up. She said it was
“Boring.”
But I reminded her that we are supposed to eat “a rainbow a day,” and I told her to make sure she recorded it in her Food Diary.
    “And put whose week it is for cooking!”
    Tash promised that she would. She’s feeling happier now as we’ve bought spare batteries for the radio.
    Wednesday
    Last night in bed me and Tash had a long and intense discussion about Auntie Jay. We think that she and her friend Jo might be
a couple.
In fact we think that they almost certainly are. After all, they are both in their thirties and neither of them are married. And Jo is quite a manly sort of woman. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way! I really like her, and we are the hugest fans of Auntie Jay. She is so bright and sassy, and a truly inspiring person to have as your aunt. We don’t in the least mind if she is gay! We are not fussed about it. We are very relaxed about anything to do with s. e. x. There is this teacher at school, Ms Meadows, that we are as sure as can be has had a sex change operation. But that’s all right! We are quite cool about it. We think it’s interesting and should like to know more.

    We are not saying anything about Auntie Jay to Ali as Ali is still so naïve, in spite of being almost fourteen. We wouldn’t want to shock her.
    This evening, Fat Man ate his lobster. We had spaghetti. Ho hum! I say no more.
    Thursday
    Bumped into Gosh – Gus! – on our way back from school. Me and Tash, that is. We walked up the road with him and Tash prattled – it’s the only word for it! She
prattled –
about the party. Sometimes at school she gets told off for talking too much, and really I am not surprised. She’s like a mouth on a stick! Poor Gus couldn’t get a word in edgeways, and neither could I. I do hope she hasn’t scared him off. There are some boys where it wouldn’t matter, as they are convinced they are God’s gift and that all girls fancy them like crazy, but Gus is not like that. He’s really quiet, so that you do have to make a bit of an effort. You do have to be just a
little
bit forward. That, however, is not to say that you should go way over the top, which is what Tash was doing.

    I have said this to her. In spite of being such hugely best friends, we never hesitate to criticise. We take it all in good part! I was not in the least put out the other day, for instance, when Tash told me that “You have a most peculiar walk!” She said she had never noticed itbefore, but “You lean
backwards
.” And she showed me what I looked like, and it made me feel so self-conscious! She said, “I hope you didn’t mind, but I thought you ought to know.” And I thanked her for drawing it to my attention, and said that I felt grateful to her, because this is what friends ought to do.

    I am now trying very hard
not
to lean backwards, and Tash says it’s already much better. She has told me that if ever she starts to walk funny, “Or like if my breath smells, or something,” I am to be sure to tell her immediately. So I told her about being too forward and she said rather sniffily that that was “a matter of opinion.” She said that some boys like girls to take the initiative. I said, “Oh! Is that what you were doing?” Personally I would