‘I don’t know about war and I don’t know about rape,’ Diane said. ‘And you make a good point. This is what I think – it isn’t what you need to think and it isn’t what everyone in the meetings thinks, this is just what I think. Life isn’t god. Life is life. God is what gives us the power to get through life. Terrible things happen. Not as part of any plan. There’s no reason for terrible things to happen, but every now and then there’s the tiniest bit of grace that gets us through. No one’s more deserving and no one’s less deserving, and we can’t make ourselves more deserving or less deserving. It’s not that kind of thing. All we can do is make ourselves available to that grace. If we get too caught up in ourselves, in what should happen to us, or what we deserve, we might miss it. The grace – it’s quiet. And if we miss it, life is much harder to get through.’

Everyone was quiet. Peggy and Greta felt a sense of letting something go but they were still holding the phone. A wave of something ran through them from head to toe. It was like they’d been carrying something for a long time and set it down.

‘Chop wood. Carry water,’ Diane said. She said it a lot. Peggy and Greta never asked what it meant. They wanted her to think they knew what it meant.

‘What does that mean?’ Peggy asked.

‘Do the work in front of us,’ Diane said. ‘That’s when we’re the most useful to the most people. When we’re useful, we’re not worrying about ourselves and we’re less likely to miss it.’ Diane yawned. It was late. ‘Good luck with the meeting,’ she said. ‘I have to go.’

They all said goodnight and Greta and Peggy said thank you and Diane hung up.

The excitement and anticipation for the Workbridge appointment had made way for something else. A peacefulness right now. Peggy and Greta brushed their teeth and washed their face and went to bed and slept.