As the bus pulled away, she waved until Soom was out of sight. Then she slumped into her seat. “Did you get it?” she asked.
“We got one each”, said Goong.
“Pass one here, please”, she said rummaging in her bag, then she unscrewed the cap on the half bottle of Lao Deng, flipped two tablets into her mouth and took a hefty swig.
“Are you sure that was wise?” asked Ayr. “One or the other, but not both”.
“At this precise moment, Ayr, I don’t bloody care!” she said and took another swig as tears escaped her eyes. “I won’t see my Soom again until she’s walking. Do you realise that? I’ll miss her first steps and her first words, and it won’t be me that she calls ‘mother’! Do you understand?
“No, of course you don’t… neither of you do, and nor does my mother, nor hers. It’s just my bloody rot
