Teresa hugged her tightly. ‘Imelda, it was brilliant,’ she exclaimed. ‘Look, there’s Nell McCafferty,’ she pointed to the renowned journalist who had come up with the idea of going up North to buy contraceptives. ‘She told us exactly what to do and what to ask for. We had a list. All I’d ever heard of were French Letters and the jelly. There’s something called the coil, and the diaphragm that you stick inside you, but you need a prescription for them. God, she’s afraid of no one,’ Teresa said admiringly.

‘I know. I’d be a bit afraid of her myself,’ Imelda grinned, watching the pint-sized Boadicea surrounded by her cheering comrades in arms.

‘And that’s Máirín Johnston—’

‘She was great on the Late Late, she wouldn’t let the men away with anything.’ Imelda was excited to be amongst all these famous activists who were changing the lives of women in Ireland.

‘The customs officer asked Máirín had she anything to declare and she waved the jelly at him and said, “Jelly! And you’re not getting it. It’s mine.” And when he argued, she said, “No, you’re not getting it.” And he didn’t know what to say to her. He was mortified.’ Teresa grinned. ‘Come on, let’s walk up to the Capital and have something to eat, and we can get the number nineteen or the thirteen, whichever comes first, afterwards.’

Sitting opposite her friend in the dim interior of their favourite restaurant, Imelda felt far from her days of squelching across the fields to school in her wellies. Here she was, up in the capital, protesting with the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement – unbeknownst to her mother-in-law, who was minding the children for the day – lunching in a fancy restaurant, and being highly entertained by her best friend’s description of the groundbreaking journey that had taken place earlier.

‘Imagine, though, that we could have been arrested, faced a large fine and social disgrace for breaking the law and bringing back contraceptives from the North. It’s outrageous, Imelda. It truly is,’ Teresa said indignantly, lighting up a cigarette, after offering one to her friend. ‘The Church and State have worked hand in glove to keep women down.’

‘I know. There’s a real change happening, isn’t there?’ Imelda sat back in her red chair and exhaled a thin stream of smoke.

‘It nearly all came unstuck though.’ Teresa sat back, relaxed now. ‘Nell asked for the pill and the coil and the chemist said, “Where’s your prescription?” And Nell’s looking at him like he’s got two heads. Sure, getting a prescription for those things here would be like finding gold dust—’

‘Oh no! After going to all that trouble of taking the train up to Belfast. What did you all do?’ Imelda exclaimed.