Desperate Measures
Recession. Credit crunch. Inflation. Poppy was fed up of hearing the words. She didn’t need to keep seeing the news reports to know the depressing truth. She—and many other people besides—was broke. Before the financial crisis hit, Poppy had been doing just fine. Really well, actually. She’d had a great job as a project manager at a firm that worked with chain supermarkets. Granted, it had meant there were occasional late-night phone calls to deal with, but the money had been good enough that the interruptions were worth it. The nice house, car and luxurious holidays had also kept her smiling through the busy periods when she was ready to rip some incompetent contractor’s head off.
Unfortunately, money problems had affected everyone and made them tighten their belts, i
