Peggy found an avocado in the fruit bowl. They’d put it in a paper bag with a kiwifruit to ripen it. It was so hard when they got it. Each week a box of fruit and vegetables was delivered. Fruit and vegetables that were on special or hadn’t sold during the week. But sometimes there were nice things in it, like the avocado. Even though it was hard the avocado was a nice, unexpected thing. Peggy took it out of the paper bag, and it was softer now. She put some toast in the toaster and ran a sharp knife around the stone of the avocado. It didn’t look too bad inside. It had some brown patches, but it wasn’t too bad. The toaster popped and she spread half the avocado on the two pieces then cut up a tomato and put the slices on top and ground some salt over it all. Greta, out of the shower, picked up the plate and Peggy went to have a shower. When she came out Greta had made her a new plate of avocado and tomato toast that was almost identical to the first.

Greta was sitting in a chair in the spare room, one foot up on the chair, reading, pushing the arrow on the keyboard down, down as she read. It was a news site they liked, an independent news site. Peggy pulled up a chair beside her. The chairs touched and Greta shuffled over so Peggy could sit partially on the same seat. They took turns scrolling through articles. Not talking, just reading. Peggy was finished eating and Greta closed the site and they checked one of the message boards. There were a couple of newsletters and they read those and then Peggy stretched and swallowed and looked around the flat. They stood up and Peggy filled the sink and washed her plate and then Greta washed her plate and they put everything away and made the bed.