Dell was in the kitchen when they came in. She had a small notebook open on the bench and was stirring a cup of tea with one hand and holding the notebook open with the other.

‘Heidi called,’ Dell said.

‘Oh.’ Greta reached up high beside Dell to get a cup.

‘She doesn’t want us messing with her stuff.’

Greta and Peggy looked at each other.

‘Did it work?’ Greta said.

‘Maybe she just guessed,’ Dell said.

Peggy and Greta shrugged. It was hard to tell, because it was a pretty easy guess. With them being them and Heidi being her. Wherever she was, Heidi would know that eventually they’d be fucking with her stuff. There was a joke going around. What’s the difference between an alcoholic and a drug addict? An alcoholic will steal your wallet and a drug addict will steal your wallet and then help you look for it. None of them could be trusted. They all knew that. They were living in a weird code where they knew none of them could be trusted and that if any of them didn’t rip the others off on any given day it was exceptional. But they were getting better. Dell and Heidi liked to steal things. Every day Dell would have to go to where Carol worked in the mall and show her what she’d stolen, and Carol would make her take it back. It was a new, better way of living, but it was going to take some bedding-in.

‘How was the gig?’ Dell asked.

‘Don’t ask,’ Peggy said.

‘Trouble?’ Dell took a tentative sip of tea – it was too hot.

Peggy nodded. Greta was eating raw cereal, straight from the box.

‘Was there violence?’ Dell asked.

‘You know us,’ Peggy said.

Dell nodded. ‘Fuck.’

‘Fuck,’ they said and looked out the kitchen window onto the neighbour’s wall.