2001 series 2
2.1 hackles up
He asked if she'd ever heard of The Fenn. Her thoughts flew straight to one dark smoky club of many years before. She thought of the man she went there with. She didn't want to answer his question.
"Where are they playing?" she asked.
"Have you ever heard of The Fenn?" he insisted.
"Where are they playing?" she repeated.
So he told her.
She can't tell him that she doesn't want to tell him she knows the band. She can't. It's an old problem. Some things she just can't share.
2.2 alike
Bec was like Vi, only Vi had moved away and made herself inaccessible. Bec was younger and did not have children.
Later there would be Jayne, more like Bec than Vi, only Jayne was younger than Bec and her kidneys were still under warranty.
2.3 residue
She drinks tea because it's cheap and it's hot. It's harder to stay warm than she ever thought possible. It's warmer outside than in the house, even with the heater on, and it's the middle of winter.
She drinks a lot of tea. She prefers ordinary black tea but can't always get it. With all the varieties of tea available she thinks it should be easy to get regular black tea but this hasn't been the case of late.
She has many tea mugs. She has favourites from time-to-time. She'll use the same one for months then not again for years. She has too many mugs.
The mug she's using now is plain beige ceramic with a blue enamel rim. She's put fifteen teabags in it in the last few days. She's eyed the residue with distaste, a rich brown coating inside the mug reminiscent of milk chocolate melting in the sun, then shrugged and put another teabag in the mug, boiled the kettle again.
It's impossible to wash up while the typewriter's perched on the edge of the sink.
2.6 guests
Frank's going away for the sake of his health. He needs someone to look after Penny. Em volunteers, eager, keen to play dress-ups with someone new.
At the last minute he calls: "Could you mind Jen and Ben as well? Just for a while. I'll send for them later."
Em takes them, glad to have them. They curl up in the hall and other than the first night when she's startled to see them silhouetted on the windowsill, they don't bother her at all.
2.10 popular
She's young and popular. She's up there in the top ten every week.
She's a young mother. Her baby is beautiful. Her baby likes to smile for the camera.
She likes to wear makeup. She can look quite Jean Harlow when she puts her mind to it.
She writes about visiting her husband's mother, about the friction that creates.
She writes about trips she takes around the city, describing the sights she's seen.
Next thing you know she's writing about recreational indulgences and her preferred means of intercourse.
She's young and popular, but it can't last.
2.11 bloodstain
There's a mark on the carpet the size of a bread plate. It's like someone has stood there dripping some substance, trying to fake a mortal wound.
It appears darkest at mid-morning and she'll stand in the doorway looking at it, thinking about all the sheets she's bled on.