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was dreadfully down – I took her out for a latte and, while we were there, some idiot rammed my car and left a filthy great mark down the side. And they had the damn cheek to leave a note under my windshield saying it was my fault for taking up two car parks in the first place! I ask you – have you ever driven one of those four-wheel drives like mine?’
    ‘No, I can’t say that I –’
    ‘Of course you haven’t. But they do need a dreadful lot of room. Any fool can see that, but two car parks? I ask you – do I look like an idiot?’
    ‘I can’t really –’
    ‘Of course I don’t. Then we get into the car and naturally I’m fuming – so I reverse out and there’s a scrunching noise and you wouldn’t believe it. Somehow Charlotte left her retainer under the back tyre! Five hundred dollars! I ask you, can you believe that?’
    ‘Actually, no. What was it – gold-plated?’
    ‘Unbelievable. So then the poor child was even more distressed and I had to buy her a new chemistry set to make it up to her and of course she’s much too advanced for those kits they sell in the ordinary toy shops. So we had to go all the way in to Box Hill to this speciality store. And the lady couldn’t believe Charlotte was only eleven years old. But that’s not why I’m ringing.’
    ‘It’s not?’ Jill stretched the phone cord out so that she could reach the medicine cabinet and find some desperately needed Panadol. ‘Then, what’s up?’
    ‘What’s up ? What’s –’
    ‘Shit!’ Jill yelled. ‘Corinne, we’ve been through this!’
    ‘You said it again!’ Cricket shrieked happily. ‘You said –’
    ‘No!’ Jill turned to face her daughter and in one fluid motion dropped the Panadol and picked up the black marker and waved it in the air menacingly. ‘Don’t even think about it!’
    ‘Don’t even think about what ? And what are you yelling at me for? The one thing I don’t need after the day I’ve had is one of your moods!’
    ‘I’m going to tell Daddy what you said!’ Cricket folded her arms across her chest and looked narrowly at her mother. ‘I am!’
    ‘So?’ Jill looked just as narrowly back. ‘Do I look worried?’
    ‘Well! If it weren’t for the fact that I need to talk to you, I’d hang up right now,’ Corrine said tersely, ‘and I wouldn’t be ringing back for quite some time!’
    ‘Not you , Corinne!’
    ‘Yes, me – what, do you think I can’t live without ringing you up?’
    ‘And he’ll be really croth, he will.’
    ‘Because I ask you, do you –’
    ‘Stop!’ Jill dropped the marker and put her hand up. ‘Stop! Both of you!’
    ‘ Both of us?’
    ‘Yes – both of you!’ Jill took a deep breath and then lowered her hand, and her voice. ‘Corinne, just a moment, please. Cricket, do your drawing and we’ll talk when I get off the phone – and no more interruptions no matter what, do you understand?’
    ‘But you –’
    ‘I said: do – you – understand?’ Jill enunciated each of the words slowly and waited until her daughter reluctantly nodded her head before turning her attention back to her sister. ‘Sorry, Corinne, you were getting caught between two conversations. I was talking to Cricket at the same time.’
    ‘Oh, I see,’ Corinne said slowly, sounding slightly mollified.
    ‘So, what can I do for you?’ Jill watched Cricket clamber down from the chair and send one last glare in her mother’sdirection before leaving the room, the tin of pencils tucked firmly under her arm.
    ‘Well, it’s about tomorrow.’
    ‘Tomorrow?’ Jill stopped with her hand halfway to the Panadol packet and felt a sudden surge of hope for the future. ‘Don’t tell me you’re cancelling?’
    ‘How did you know?’
    ‘You are ?’
    ‘I am.’
    ‘What happened?’ Jill could feel her headache dissipating as she spoke. ‘I mean, you’ve never cancelled!’
    ‘I know,’ said Corinne regretfully, ‘and, I can tell you, I feel absolutely sick about it. But it’s