“We all ready to do this then?” Alice asked trying to appear confident but realising her voice betrayed her own nervousness.  Since she awoke that morning she had distracted herself from speculating on the contents of Dana’s mysterious box by trying to figure out how she would react when her friends saw the note on top.  Should she feign hurt that Dana hadn’t trusted her, should she laugh it off as ridiculous or should she allow Dana the glory of having been right?  By the time she approached the table where her friends already sat waiting –she was strategically late only wanting to explain things once- she had opted to go with the latter option as secretly she was proud of the fact that it revealed a closeness in her relationship with Dana that Alice had always coveted.

The women around the table all gave their indication that they were indeed ready – a nod here, a grunt there and from Bette who’s face now registered an understanding of their conversation the previous night and concern for her oldest friend, the words “We’re ready when you are Al…and we’re all here together for each other”

Armed with the knowledge that the first part was going to be easy Alice eased the lid off the box with less reluctance than those around her had expected.  She smiled shyly as she pushed the box into the centre of the table for her companions to see.  The table erupted in laughter, the tension that had been building abating somewhat.  “Well, did you?” Bette asked her left eyebrow raised in a questioning manner as they all looked at Alice waiting for a response.

“Come on you guys. This thing has been in my apartment for like almost twenty hours.  I couldn’t sleep it was driving me crazy.  I was just going to look; I wasn’t going to touch anything.”

“God that girl was so smart…Dana used to sit here with you guys observing it all taking it all in.  Y’all thought you were teaching her but she was way ahead of you” chuckled Kit.

“Ok ok. Enough already, suffice to say I was freaked out enough at three in the morning that she still knows what I’m thinking that I followed the instructions and put the lid straight back on.  I’ve no idea what comes next.” As she realised the truth of her words all Alice’s anxiety surfaced and her jovial mood soon deserted her. “Someone else do the next bit” she said slumping back into her seat next to Shane.