It wasn’t too much to carry, not between the four of them, and they had plenty of time to walk to the meeting. They crossed the busy road and walked down the street flanked by factories and other industrial places. The meeting was in the offices of a problem-gambling charity. It used to be in a school, but the school was being done up.

‘Incredibly,’ Peggy said as they walked, ‘we didn’t get anything that needs refrigerating.’

‘We did really well for our first time,’ Greta said, and they all agreed.

They all had their sunglasses on now. The sun was low, and because of the long flat plain the sun shone straight at them. They were walking into it. Maybe they looked like movie stars or gangsters. Grocery-shopping renegades. Quiche-baking outlaws.

When they got to the building there were still a few people outside smoking who smiled and waved at them. People in the meetings tried not to look away from them because, really, it could have been any of them. One guy, Billy, waved with the hand he was holding a cigarette in.

‘Been shopping?’ he said. They all nodded. ‘Did you go down there?’ He pointed behind himself so that the smoke from the cigarette drew a line over his shoulder. They all nodded. ‘Good on you,’ he said. ‘It’s way cheaper.’ He looked happy for them. Like they’d won something.

Billy was three years sober. Greta and Peggy liked him. He seemed kind, not too kind though. He seemed like a ‘good sort’. Even Diane said so – Billy was a good guy. He was a mechanic. He’d been a mechanic before he got sober, but now he was a better mechanic. They all walked past Billy and the others who were smoking. They still had their sunglasses on because none of them had any hands free. They were greeted like vanquishing heroes returned from the hunt. ‘Look at you,’ some of the older women said. ‘Supermarket shopping.’ People in the meetings were always happy when other people in the meetings got better and, just like they thought it would be, buying food from the supermarket was a sign of getting better.

They sat down and Heidi asked Kadie if, afterwards, she could give them all a ride home and their shopping. Kadie nodded enthusiastically. People in the meetings loved giving people rides home. Yes. For sure. Yes. The boot was empty, they could put the bags in the boot. She just had to do the dishes. Heidi said they could all help with the dishes, and Peggy and Dell and Greta all nodded and said, ‘Yeah, totally.’