BooksBarbecue
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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

She was late to work and flustered by the time she got there. She passed the whiteboard and Peggy/Greta was halfway down the leaderboard. No one had made any calls yet; the number of calls column was wiped clean. All the names were where everyone had ended up on Friday. She walked to her desk and went to put her bag on the desk and some things fell out on the floor. A packet of cashew nuts, a tampon and their wallet. She leaned over to pick everything up and the zip on her wallet wasn’t shut and change and cards fell all over the floor from the height she’d lifted them to. She bent to pick them up and then Donna’s feet were beside her.

‘Hi,’ Donna was holding two cups of coffee.

She nodded at Donna.

‘Tough morning?’ Donna held out one of the coffees.

‘Oh.’ She looked around the office like she was trying to remember, so she looked like she was answering honestly. ‘Oh. No. All good.’ She took the cup from Donna and drank it.

‘Cool.’ Donna looked over at her desk. Duncan was standing beside it. ‘Oh. Gotta go.’ Donna was gone, and it seemed like it was going to be that easy. She worked all morning, not looking up. She had morning tea with Niall and June, and they talked about things and it looked like very little was different except her, and that didn’t seem to have made a ripple on anything. She had lunch at her desk. It was busy, easy, and then before she knew it it was five o’clock and she could go home. And it was going to be this easy.

At home she went straight to the bedroom door. She stood and swung it open and shut, watching as it went, trying to look behind it as she swung it. Then she remembered the computer and realised she still had a day’s work to do. She sat in front of it and logged in and it was fine, there were no messages, just a whole bunch of comments to read and release. The login would work anywhere and she wondered if maybe she could log in at the call centre. She started reading the comments. The script was there but it wasn’t working – she shut it down and started it up again and it still didn’t work. ‘Fuck,’ she said, and started reading the comments – skim-reading them for keywords then reading them more deeply after that. She settled into the work and after an hour or so she got up and made some noodles.