Eric came back from Queensland the next week and he couldn't understand why Rona and Miranda kept giggling to each-other when they looked at him.

"Did you have a good holiday?" Miranda asked. "Look at you, you're all tanned!"

Eric rubbed the top of his shaved head. "Lucky not to be burned" he remarked. "That sun up there, I just can't get used to it."

"So you went outside, then?" Rona chuckled.

"Yeah . . ." Eric said uncertainly. "Why wouldn't I?" He didn't like this questioning: he didn't trust it. It seemed that Rona and Miranda knew something; he didn't want people to know things about him, not unless he decided to tell them himself, and he very rarely did.

"Maybe Queensland can come down here to visit us some time" Miranda said, and Rona shot her a look that tried to tell her that she was pressing too hard.

"I don't really know what that means" Eric said. He knew that if he asked her what she meant, things would start to come out into the open. He was hoping very much that they'd stay shut away. "Man, I'm starving" he said, even though he wasn't: he'd bought some sandwiches on the 'plane. It was an indulgence, they'd cost almost seven dollars, but he really had been hungry then.

"You should come and sit down and have something to eat" Miranda said. "Tell us all about Queensland."

"Actually I'm kinda tired, too" Eric said, "so maybe I'll just get something and take it into my room."

"Yeah, let him rest Miranda" Rona said. She could see Eric's discomfort: she could sense that Miranda's curiosity was rising, and she knew that if it was her she wouldn't want to be subject to that. "He's had a long flight."