"So are you busy these days?" Rona asked. "I mean, do you have any free time?"

"Nothing but" Alain laughed. "It's pretty cool, actually. Just hanging out."

"That's good." Rona could hardly believe it was the same guy she was talking to, who she'd known for so long. It was like some kind of body-snatcher thing. "It's important to have free time" she said.

"You all right, Rona?" Alain's voice came buzzing down the 'phone line.

"What, me?"

"Yeah. You sound kinda . . . distracted or something. Everything cool? Nothing's fucked up?"

The natural order, Rona thought. "Nah, everything's cool" she said. "How about you?" She wondered if she was being too subtle. Alain had never dealt well with subtlety; surely that wouldn't have changed.

"I'm okay" Alain said cheerfully, if with a bit of confusion: he thought they'd gone over this already. Several times. "I mean things don't always go your way, do they? But you don't wanna hear about that shit anyway."

"No, I do" Rona insisted. "Tell me."

"Well . . ." Rona waited anxiously for Alain to continue, but: "Nah!" he laughed again. "I don't wanna bore you with all that shit."

Do it! Rona shouted out in her mind. So close. God, in the past she could hardly shut him up. Was something wrong with him? Had he suffered some kind of brain injury? She thought that whatever change had come over him might've been a change for the better, but now she wasn't so sure that maybe this 'new' Alain wasn't more annoying than the old one.

"Hey, why did you wanna know about free time?" Alain asked.

"Eh?" Rona had temporarily forgotten that she was involved in a conversation; that there was someone else on the other end of the line.

"Just making conversation?" Alain suggested.

"Oh. No! No, I thought we should get a drink some time. You know, 'cause it's been ages. Like, really ages. You know?"

"Yeah, sure" Alain replied. "Sounds good."

"Well . . . Yeah" Rona mumbled. "Huh. Okay, then. Sounds good. Lets do that. See you then."

"Um, Rona?"

"Yeah?" Rona had been just about to hang up. Alain had got her just in time.

"Where and when, Rona?"

"Oh. Yeah, right. Where and when."