Someone else told a joke and despite themselves Peggy and Greta laughed – it was frightening, this weird noise coming out of them. Laughing with people rather than at them. It shocked them. They were about to raise their eyebrows at each other, about to look at each other in a way that said, ‘Fuck these bitches.’ But instead they were caught off guard by the laugh which came out of them.

Whenever they heard the ‘What’s the difference between an alcoholic and an addict’ joke, they never laughed. They’d stolen Laura’s wallet. She’d gone to the toilet in a crowded bar and asked them to watch her jacket. They stole it and Peggy went through it while Greta kept an eye out for Laura coming back. Laura had just been paid – in cash. There was two hundred dollars, sorted, separated by folded pieces of paper that said Rent, Food, Power. They weren’t sure what to do with the pieces of paper, so they took those too and put the wallet back in Laura’s jacket pocket. A few days later, Laura rang. Not for ‘Where the fuck is my money?’ Just for ‘How’s it going? Are you going out tonight?’ But she mentioned the money. ‘Man,’ she said. ‘I spent all my money the other night. What a fucking loser.’ And then, ‘Maybe some of it must have fallen out when I was paying for something.’ Peggy and Greta said they weren’t sure and ‘I guess these things happen’ and ‘We’ll buy you a drink tonight.’ And it was settled. They burnt the pieces of paper in the kitchen sink while they drank some of the vodka they’d bought with Laura’s cash.

‘Tell that one,’ Peggy said. And they laughed their wry, fuck-you laugh and tried to forget about the other laugh. They were half in, at best. No one in their right mind wanted to fully commit to this. Not when you had to close your eyes and think about Shay and Laura and Tyra. Not then. Peggy and Greta had done nothing to deserve a laugh like that. They’d walked home from the potluck angry. It was dark. They wished they hadn’t gone. When they got home, the phone rang. They picked it up and for a second there was someone on the other end and then they hung up.

Dell came into the room. Peggy still had the phone in her hand and they were both looking at it.

‘No one there?’ Dell asked. She was drying her hair.

Peggy and Greta shook their heads.

‘Weird,’ Dell said. ‘Has that been happening a bit?’

Peggy and Greta thought about it, and maybe it had.

‘Do you think it’s Tyra?’

They hadn’t thought about Tyra for a month or so, thought they didn’t need to worry about Tyra.

‘Weird,’ Dell said.

Peggy and Greta hung the phone up.