Minnie surveyed the room and nodded to herself. The simple task of sorting through the chaos had calmed her anxious mind, and putting Automat up made the room feel like home. She climbed onto her freshly built bed, sat cross-legged against the wall and opened her laptop. She typed Lucy Donohue’s name into Google – she wanted to see whether people were still commenting on her article. There were a few tweets about it on Twitter, lots of people asking if they could be Lucy’s next dinner date. Minnie groaned – of all the things she had to do, why was she spending time googling Lucy Donohue? She needed to get some fresh air. Downstairs, the house was empty; both her parents worked on Saturdays. She scrolled through the new list on her phone and moved number nine and ten to the top; Buy cat food and help Bev resolve existential crisis – achievable goals.

Minnie got the Tube down to a shop near Old Street station. She remembered seeing it when they’d driven past on the delivery round. It was a printing shop and in the window hung a sign saying, ‘We personalise anything’. She handed the man behind the counter a USB stick and a plain matte-plastic bottle she had saved. It was an unusual request. She wanted to put a picture of Bev and a few words about her on a shampoo bottle. It was a silly gesture but maybe it would ease Bev’s existential fears about being outlasted by a shampoo bottle. The man said it could be ready in an hour if she didn’t mind waiting. Minnie had nothing to rush home for, so she decided to spend the time meandering the streets watching other, more interesting people going about their lives.

Minnie enjoyed speculating about strangers in the street; where they might be going, and who they were going to meet. She passed a tall woman in tiny shorts and silver tights with huge Afro hair and bright blue eye shadow. She wore a T-shirt that said ‘Queen’ in gold glitter. Minnie watched heads turn in the street as the woman sashayed past.