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

Dell finished her sandwich and drank from the glass of water Greta had brought her. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘I better get back to work.’ And she laughed, but Greta and Peggy didn’t.

They saw her to the door and at the open door they all hugged and said goodbye.

It was a beautiful day. Peggy and Greta hadn’t noticed it because they’d been inside for it all. As Dell walked home up the driveway they stood with their back to the sun, and it warmed them. Their clothes felt light without the phone and the notebook, but they had each other now. Maybe they didn’t need the phone.

‘Are you awake?’ Peggy said.

‘Is there snow there?’ said Greta.

48

48

Greta cleaned up the lunch dishes and put away the food. Peggy was reading through the messages that had come through in response to the messages Greta had sent about the data breach – which wasn’t a breach, but the app working exactly as it was supposed to. Was it their fault that people didn’t read the terms and conditions? Yes, they said to each other as Greta sat down beside Peggy to work, yes, it was completely their fault. They had made the app knowing that no one would read the terms and conditions.

An email alert came up at the bottom of both their screens. It was short, so they could read all of it, and it said, It looks like the app collects data from the user’s friends. If that’s true, that’s terrible. And Peggy stopped working and looked at Greta and Greta looked at her. The person who’d sent the email knew exactly what the app was doing, because their boss had asked Peggy and Greta to make it work that way. Someone was watching the emails. The email wasn’t for Peggy and Greta’s benefit, the email was for someone else to see. They were trying to pass the blame on to Greta and Peggy. Peggy and Greta knew how they were supposed to react, but they weren’t willing to take the blame. Greta replied with nothing in the body of the email and attached the requirements document. It was a million miles from the act of aggression Dell was advocating, but it was also a long distance from lying down and being walked all over.