‘Well,’ he said, ‘no one gets off lightly – my dog is dead, my bicycle is destroyed, my life is a bit messed up, to put it mildly. But that’s marriage, isn’t it?’ He nodded as if in sincere agreement with himself. ‘You?’

‘I got the car in the divorce.’

He smirked. ‘Kids?’

She made a zero figure with her thumb and wedding-ring finger. ‘So,’ she asked and dipped her finger into the surface of her drink, ‘have you been doing anything?’

‘This,’ he said, pointing back and forth between them. ‘A lot of this, interacting with new people.’

‘Same.’

There had been a series of bad dates recently. There was the man with a face of deep crevices and dents who, up close, looked rather like the moon. There was another who rested his slithery hand on hers while trying to sell her life insurance. No matter how many times Angela thought That’s not happening again, it happened. It happened and it happened. It was all over quickly, but it happened. Dating was not the worst of it though.

Angela cleared her throat. ‘I did something else.’ She closed her eyes, as if preparing for confession. ‘I stole a cat.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘There has been a cat hanging around the school grounds and, today, I bundled it up under my coat and took it home. It did not belong to me in any way,’ she grinned, ‘but now it does.’

‘Why?’

‘Firstly, it had a great look. If sunglasses were an option for this cat, he would have been wearing them. I have always been weak for that sort of coolness. Also my principal told me if it was still there by the end of the week, he was going to cook and eat it.’

‘Jesus Christ, that’s disgusting.’

‘It is,’ Angela said, ‘but that’s him all over. It’s his nature. He’d do it because the world’s ending and he can. I would use the word “lunatic” to describe him. First day, he separated all us female teachers into two groups. He didn’t say it but I could see his mind working: the women he wanted to sleep with, and the women he considered good teachers.’

‘Which group were you in?’

‘Neither.’ Angela gestured for a second drink. ‘But you should have heard the arguments in the staff room: he wants to lick me up and down, he wants to mentor me. I eat lunch in my car a lot.’ Angela was suddenly passionate. ‘You know, there is a lot I will tolerate in this life, and a lot I have tolerated, but the cooking and eating of a cat to prove you’re a tough guy is not a pursuit I will entertain.’ She looked down at her napkin, surprised by her sudden outburst.

‘Have you named the cat?’

‘Screechy.’