Hannah was woken the next morning by what she thought was an alarm clock - which didn't make sense, because she was certain hadn't set her alarm clock - but which turned out, after it had rung persistently enough to wake her up a little more, to be Rona calling her on her mobile.

"Have you picked up this week's Word yet?" Rona asked excitedly when Hannah finally answered the 'phone.

"What?" Things were taking a while to coalesce in Hannah's sleep-ridden mind.

"The mag, Hannah. It hit the streets hours ago! Sacha's column . . .?"

Hannah blinked her eyes and looked at her watch. The face of the watch slowly resolved itself, revealing to her that it was 12:34. "Oh . . ." Hannah opened her mouth in a long, unstifled yawn. "No" she said, "I felt like sleeping in."

Rona's voice suddenly turned from enthusiasm to contrition. "Oh fuck, I didn't wake you up did I?"

Hannah shook her head. "It's okay, I had to get up some time anyway." With this reassurance, Rona explained that she and Sacha were on Brunswick Street, having a drink to celebrate. "Sounds like my kind of breakfast" muttered Hannah a little grimly, and forty-five minutes later she was walking from the tram stop on Nicholson Street to join them.

After three days of frequent rain the clouds had cleared and sunlight was sparkling on the wet streets of Melbourne. It was a cool, wintery kind of sun, but all the same with the right clothing sitting outside with a bottle of wine was a pleasant experience. It was in just such a situation that Hannah found Rona and Sacha at one of the numerous cafés of Brunswick Street, surrounded by a gaggle of like-minded people. Rona was wearing a black hooded jumper, hood down but her shoulders hunched against a wind that occasionally blew down the pavement. Apart from a light scarf, Sacha was making few concessions to the season.

"It's not that warm, is it?" asked Hannah when she saw her.

Sacha looked thoughtfully up at the sky. "15 degrees?" she guessed. "It's not that cold."

Rona looked at Hannah and nodded her head to indicate Sacha. "Canberra" she said by way of explanation.

"Oh, that's right."

Hannah asked a passing waiter for a glass, and poured herself some wine. "Family visit last night" she explained to Rona.

"Oh, poor thing . . ." said Rona soothingly, patting her hand.

"You know" said Sacha, "People in this town really do drink a hell of a lot."

"You mean people in Canberra don't?" asked Hannah, a slight note of defensiveness creeping into her voice despite herself. Sacha looked at her and held her eyes firmly for a moment, the thick black frames of her glasses intensifying her gaze, but she remained tight-lipped.

Uncharacteristically, Hannah broke her eyes away first. "Anyway" she said in a sudden and complete change of mood, "Where's this here column then? I wanna see what the work of an authentic Canberra genius looks like!"

Rona grinned and burrowed into her bag to pull out a copy of the magazine. Sacha smiled a small smile with pursed lips, and dropped her head to take a sip of her wine, blushing discreetly at Hannah's compliment.