Sacha caught the tram down Brunswick Street and arrived at Victoria Parade at 12:57. She waited, taking shelter from the rain for a few minutes, and at 1:16 while pacing up and down the platform she saw Rona approaching from Nicholson Street.

"Hi!" said Rona cheerily when she got to the Victoria Parade terminal. "Been waiting long? How are you?"

"All right, I guess" said Sacha.

"Cool! Me too, gees, though . . ." Rona launched into telling Sacha about how Hannah had crashed at her place last night; Sacha listened for a little while, although she soon realised that it wasn't really necessary for her to pay attention. The issue of how long she'd been waiting for Rona quickly became irrelevant.

Eventually a tram came that would take them up Victoria Parade into Richmond. Rona jogged ahead of the small crowd that had gathered and quickly skipped up the steps at the rear of the tram. Before Sacha had even had a chance to get on the tram Rona was back by her side, leading her away by the elbow. "Not this one" she said quickly and quietly in Sacha's ear.

"Huh?" Sacha looked back at the tram in confusion as the driver rang the bell and started the tram moving down the line. "Wasn't that the right one?"

"We'll get the next one" said Rona.

"Why? What was wrong with that one?"

"Ticket inspector" Rona replied.

"What do you mean?"

"There was a ticket inspector on board."

"So what?"

"So . . . I just don't want to get on a tram that has a ticket inspector, that's all. We'll get the next one."

"When's that?"

Rona looked up at the digital display. "Eight minutes. Ten, probably. "

Sacha sighed. "Fine."

They sat in silence for a while - a slightly gloomy silence on Sacha's part and a largely oblivious one on Rona's. "What's the date today?" asked Rona after a while. Sacha told her. "Cool" Rona grinned.

Sacha tapped her fingers on her knee for a while. "So, why are we going to Richmond again?"
"Dunno" said Rona. "Just felt like it. No particular reason."

"Right." Rona didn't notice the tone of Sacha's voice. Sacha looked at her watch and pushed her glasses up her nose in irritation.