"Okay so you have changed," Rona conceded, "but there are different types of change. There's a type of change where - when sometimes a person -" She stopped and sighed, almost inaudibly, a little internalised sigh, a sigh at the million small insurmountable difficulties of a day. She gathered her thoughts until she was clear about what she wanted to say. "Sometimes a person changes, but it's not change really but growth. And you can see that they've changed, but they haven't changed who they are. They're the same person they always were, only more so. They've grown, that's all, is what I'm trying to say I guess."

"Uh-huh." Hannah was suddenly thinking about her brother, her brother who'd once looked up to her when they were young enough to need people to look up to, but who was so cold towards her now. Or was she cold towards him? Which had come first?

"And that's good change" Rona said. "That's the change where, when you see it in someone, you're happy for them. You're so pleased. It's all you want." She paused again. "It's getting older, I guess" she went on. "And people talk about getting older and they say how horrible it is, and they try not to do it or whatever, but it's not horrible. It's awesome. It's great. It's beautiful. Because you get to watch your friends getting older, too."

"If you're lucky."

"Most of us are lucky" Rona said. "In Australia? You and me? Come on, we're doing all right here."

"All the same, shit happens."

"Sure but usually it doesn't. So let's focus on that. Let's not focus on shit. Shit's shit, forget about it."

"Okay" Hannah agreed. "But just promise me something."

"What?"

"Cut that sappy shit out, okay? You're making me blush."

Rona gaped in pretend shock. Then she found her voice again: "What, you thought I was talking about you?" she teased. "I was talking about, like, this friend of mine. You haven't grown at all, you're still the same old cow you always were."

"That's more like it" Hannah grinned, and she ordered them each another drink.