Rona was cycling to a job interview when Alain called. She didn't notice her 'phone ringing at first; gradually her attention was caught by a shrill tone which seemed distinct from the noise of traffic all around her, and as it grew in urgency she recognised it as the these days seldom-heard ring tone she'd programmed into her 'phone for 'Alain calling'.

She braked straight away and pulled over to the side of the road: the job interview held little importance for her, it was only something she was going to to keep her dole-diary full and the Government happy. She lifted her bike up onto the footpath, guiding it carefully through a gap between two parked cars, and pulled her shoulder bag around from her back to get at her 'phone. Her recent reconciliation with Sacha had given her a desire to re-connect with some of her other friends she hadn't been seeing enough of recently - perhaps she should cut back on work at the magazine a little. It wasn't something she'd seriously thought about, but it was an idea that was starting to linger at the edge of her mind.

"Alain, hi" she said, panting from the exertion of riding her bike.

"Isn't it normally the person who calls who does the heavy breathing?" Alain joked in a predictable fashion. "How are you going? Haven't seen you for a while."

"Been busy" replied Rona. "What's up?"

Alain was too excited to indulge much more in his usual joking and baiting of Rona; instead, uncharacteristically, he got straight to the point:

"Have you heard about Mal's C.D.?"

"You mean the compilation? The one with the Terrors song on it? Sure." Rona heard Alain mutter something to somebody on the other end of the line, then he said:

"Yeah, that's the one. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yeah, for sure."

"Yeah. Anyway, I've got Mal here, and . . . whatsisname, from the band -"

"Eric" Rona heard Mal say in the background.

"Yeah" continued Alain, "Eric. Anyway, we were thinking it would be totally awesome if you interviewed them -"

"And Steve" said Mal.

"Yeah, all of them, in your magazine. What d'you reckon?"

"Sounds good" said Rona. She gritted her teeth. "But I'll have to run it past Si, my editor." She rolled her eyes. "He's got final say on anything that goes into the mag." This, unfortunately, was true: it was just about the only editorial role Si still played at the Word on the Street.

"Awesome" said Alain. "So it's on!"

"Well if Si says so -"

"Cool, thanks Rona. Oh shit, Mal, check out that shirt! Sorry Rona, I've got to go now. That's fucking awesome though! I'll talk to you later about it."

"Sure, if Si -" but Alain had hung up. Rona sighed and shook her head, then put her 'phone away and wheeled her bike back of the footpath, and onto the road.