It was ridiculous that this was playing out from their small house in a valley in a town on an island that had nothing between it and the end of the world. The email had come from Tel Aviv, where an office full of Americans had been transplanted. They lived in apartments and didn’t go out much. Peggy and Greta had seen pictures. It was a sad state of affairs, but all the Americans told themselves and everyone else that they wouldn’t be there for long – it was just a stepping stone. The guy emailing was acutely aware that his stepping stone was crumbling. He didn’t know Peggy and Greta. They’d spoken on the phone and had meetings, but he didn’t care. It was everyone for themselves. Peggy and Greta were further down the food chain than he was. As the afternoon went on it became clear that nothing would really stick to them, but they needed to show they were willing to help. How they acted during this would get around quicker than a fire. How they handled this would determine the work that came in for the next six months. If they wanted to stay, they needed to be interested. No one wanted to play a boring game. It was annoying. But they were handling it. Maybe taking on the app job had been an okay decision. They were making it work. Greta on the phone and messages, and Peggy doing the work in progress that was coming in. It was scary, but they were handling it. They could get it done. It would be fine, and the money was coming in. Peggy was able to deliver the coding before lunch just like she’d said the night before. And then it was three o’clock, and then five o’clock and time to finish up. Everything was sitting in a way that was okay. The guy in Tel Aviv was working through the night, but around two in the afternoon other people started arriving at work and put a fire blanket over his attempt to implicate Peggy and Greta more than they were.

Greta stretched and then so did Peggy and they logged off and stood up and walked into the lounge.

‘Do we have plans?’ asked Greta.

‘I don’t think so.’ Peggy was looking at their phone and the calendar and there was nothing there. ‘Who knows, though?’ she said. ‘Like, really.’

Greta agreed. ‘We could go out?’

Peggy nodded. ‘Yeah. We could walk into town?’

Greta got up to find a cardigan.

‘We’re dressed the same,’ Peggy said.