On her way out the next morning, Natalie took one of Irenya’s gold pieces to ask advice on how to exchange it for credit. Before she left, Irenya heard her talking to Max, who had a free day from school. From the kitchen, over a cup of tea and a half-eaten piece of toast, Irenya listened to the kind of conversation she would never have with Mikey.
‘Fine, as long as you get it finished by this afternoon. Then I’ll go over it with you. No. Not on my screen. You’ll have—’
‘Oh, Gra-an. Why do I have to use that old plasma screen?’
‘It might be old but it was the best money could buy at the time. I don’t want my work turned topsy-turvey again.’
‘I toldja I could change it all back, but you wouldn’t let me. It was only a few—’
‘The plasma screen, Max! If you want to do some fancy footwork t
