"Come on Rona" said Sacha, "You can't leave me hanging like this. It's no good saying your editor will call me next week. Just tell me now: what's the column about?"

"Well aren't you curious!"

"Rona . . ." said Sacha wearily.

"Oh all right, all right." Rona drew a breath. "Well, let me start by saying that I think it's a pretty stupid idea, but you'd be good at it. Oh, I mean not like that! I mean, I think you'd be able to make it interesting."

"Keep digging, Rona, the hole's not big enough yet."

"Okay okay okay. Basically it's a blog review. Si wants you to do a weekly blog review."

"Rona, I don't have an internet connection. Hell, I don't have a computer."

"The mag has a couple. Just book one of 'em. Si will put on priority. It's his pet project, after all."

"And what, may I ask, would this column be called?"

Rona grimaced and told her what Si had suggested. There was a hiss of static from the other end of the line. Eventually Sacha spoke again:

"While I might be prepared to write this column" she said carefully, "there is no way in hell that I'm putting my name to anything called the 'Leet Beat'."

"Yeah" replied Rona, "that's more or less what I told him. He kind of has his heart set on it, though. Have you ever read the mag?"

"No, it's not really my kind of thing."

"Right, well you can read it when you start writing for it. Si will be too excited to care. But remember when you do start reading it: any headline that's a pun, Si wrote it. Any that's not a pun, I wrote."

"Right. So I'll be wanting to come to you for my headlines, then."

"Damn right! In fact I could use you as a deterrent to keep the others from bothering me all the time!"

"Now what the bloody hell do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, mate, nothing. I'm just joking. Kinda."

Sacha did actually know that. She'd got used to treating large parts of Rona's conversation like white noise. It had become almost endearing, somehow.

There was a beeping sound on the line. "Is that at your end or at mine?" asked Rona. "I think somebody's on the other line."

"It's at my end" replied Sacha. "I'd better see who it is, it might be someone with a job for me. A real job." She paused, and realised that despite her protests she was actually a little intrigued about writing for Rona's magazine. "Give your editor my number, then" she said. "Tell him to call me if he's serious."

"Will do!" and with that Rona hung up.

Immediately Sacha's 'phone started ringing and she picked it up. "Hello?"

There were some beeps indicating that the call was coming from interstate, and then a loud exclamation of "Hiya, sis!"