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Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Dedication
  4. Dedication2
  5. 1994
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 2006
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. 35
  42. 36
  43. 37
  44. 2018
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. 42
  50. 43
  51. 44
  52. 45
  53. 46
  54. 47
  55. 48
  56. 49
  57. Acknowledgements

‘Did you watch The Office?’ Peggy asked her.

Heidi shook her head. She didn’t even like The Office. But they were all just closing things down now. Making sure it was shut away.

They said goodbye to Heidi and walked home. A lot of people were out shopping. Not for any particular reason – just because they’d woken up and thought to themselves all at once, ‘I’m going to go shopping today.’ Everyone wanted something. The sun was quite warm. Greta and Peggy looked weirder in sunglasses, but they needed them because it was very bright. Sometimes young guys would call out of the windows of passing cars. ‘Agent Smith,’ they’d yell. And it would be excruciating, and everyone would look and sometimes Peggy or Greta would knee-jerk take their sunglasses off so that when people turned round, they wouldn’t be able to find what the boys were shouting at. But today they wanted to wear their sunglasses. They wore their sunglasses and they didn’t need to explain it.

25

25

Three of the people from the meetings were having a party. They were all turning thirty. One of them handed Peggy and Greta an invitation at coffee after a mid-week meeting.

‘Will you come?’ she said. Peggy and Greta were looking at the invitation.

‘Yeah,’ Peggy said, and they both smiled and nodded. ‘Can we bring anything?’

‘Maybe a plate of food?’ she said. ‘Maybe something to drink? It’s BYO. Some people might be “drinking” drinking but there’ll be lots of sober people there.’

‘Cool,’ Peggy said. ‘Cool.’ It was always nice to know what to expect. They were often surprised, even now, the events that people didn’t drink at. They’d gone to Niall’s kid’s third birthday fully expecting to spend at least some of the time saying ‘No, thanks’ to offers of wine. ‘They’ll probably have champagne,’ Peggy had said as they were doing their make-up in the mirror before they left, and Greta agreed. It didn’t matter overly, but it was nice to be emotionally prepared. But no one drank at the third birthday party. Everyone was watching the kids and looking after the kids and standing around in groups talking about the kids with glasses of soft drink and cups of coffee. These days, no one asked much after ‘No, thanks’. People didn’t drink for all sorts of reasons. Peggy and Greta weren’t sure when it had changed, but it had. They often talked with Heidi about it. Ten years ago, you almost had to present a certificate. People took offence if you said you weren’t drinking. Heidi suspected it was amplified by the fact they were hanging around with different people now, but even she agreed it seemed to have changed.