A few moments later, Mum turned off South Road, slowed down and pulled over to the curb.

‘Phoebe, girls, I’m afraid you’re going to have to get there yourselves,’ she told us.

I frowned. ‘What about you, Mum?’

Mum reached for her bag, took out her purse and handed me a couple of twenty-dollar notes. ‘I’m going to drop the car at a mechanic. I’ll meet you there later.’

‘Really?’ I asked, not even sure if a crash repairer would be open after five on a Friday night.

Katie and Jane scrambled out of the back seat. I thought about asking Mum how much she’d had to drink, my pulse racing. Whenever Dad asked Mum about drinking it always ended in a fight.

‘Mum, have you had too much to drink?’ I asked cautiously.

Mum looked at me and screwed up her face. ‘You’re making a big deal about nothing, Phoebe. I only had one drink at the meeting.’

I studied her face. ‘Are you sure, Mum?’

‘I’m sure it was only one, sweetie. Get a taxi or a bus, whatever, and I’ll see you soon.’

As I closed the door to the jeep and watched Mum drive off, I noticed the left wheel guard was pushed in, scraping against the front wheel. My chest felt tight and a wave of worry washed over me. It was like I couldn’t see or hear anything around me. All I could think about was what trouble Mum was going to get into again.

‘What the hell was that all about?’ Katie asked me.

I shrugged.

Katie continued: ‘Parents can be weird, and that’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. Who drives off after hitting someone?’

‘Do you think your mum might not have paid her car registration or something?’ Jane asked.

‘As if,’ I responded.

‘Maybe she had a few drinks and thought she was over the limit?’ Jane said.

That made me really irritated, but I didn’t want to let on, so I changed the topic. ‘We really need to get going if we’re going to make it to the game in time.’

Jane looked at Google Maps. ‘There’s no bus for twenty minutes and we’re still a couple of kilometres away.’

Katie glanced up from her phone. ‘And no Ubers are available in this area. We will make the game in time, right?’

Although it was summer, it was way too hot and way too humid even for Adelaide. All I wanted was to enjoy a night out with my friends, but the wailing of a siren in the distance threw me to thinking about Mum. I was worried and I was sweating, hoping she was okay.

The traffic was starting to jam the street. Get off your arse, Phoebe, I told myself, repeating Mum’s mantra. Nothing comes to those who wait. ‘Let’s go,’ I said to Jane and Katie. We started walking in the direction of the stadium, hoping to find somewhere we could hail a taxi along the way.