"I just thought you'd like to get out of there for a while" Shelly said as she and Sacha walked down the footpath to the local supermarket. "Here" she said, "slow down a bit. No need to hurry. Let her chill out for a bit."

"Yeah, thanks" Sacha said. "I didn't know what you were on about at first. I didn't know why you were trying to get me to come with you."

"You looked like you were about to blow" Shelly told her. "You both did. You with being pissed off and Hannah with being . . . crazy, bleugh." She fanned her fingers out in an expanding gesture from the side of her head.

"I've never seen her like that before" Sacha said, and she sounded a little worried, a little amazed. "I've seen her drunk, and stoned, and I've seen her being reckless and not giving a shit about what anyone else thinks. But I've never seen her so obsessive about everything. So - I dunno, micro-managerial."

"I think she's really feeling that money" Shelly said. "Which, I mean, really, it's nothing, it's four hundred dollars, right? But she's committed herself to this party, and to making it the biggest best most expensive party she's ever thrown, and she's told everyone about it, and - it's like her little kingdom, that house. Sorry Sacha, I know it's your place too, but really that's how she feels about it."

"She's been living there longer than me" Sacha said magnanimously. "A lot longer. It's fair enough."

"Well whether it is or not she's feeling the pressure."

"Do you think it's smart, her spending all the money?" Sacha asked.

Shelly considered the question. "Well what else are you gonna do with money?"

"Save it?"

"Save it to spend it? Why not spend it now?"

"Rainy day?" Sacha suggested.

The idea seemed amusing to Shelly. "You know, I love her Sacha, but I think even if Hannah had a rainy day she wouldn't recognise it."

Sacha heard every word acutely, but she let them go without further comment, as if she was watching them drift up into the sky and away. Besides, they were almost at the shops now, and there'd be more prosaic things to focus on.