Classified information

Adam looked from one to the other, unsure of how he should react to Margaret's words. He sensed laughing wasn't a good idea, but couldn't tell if this was a joke or not.

"You see, Margaret?" said Alice with a note of triumph, "the name lacks a certain dignity. I suspect young Adam here is trying to stop himself from grinning right now. If you weren't so scary, it would get a laugh every time, you mark my words."

Margaret muttered to herself, adding milk and sugar to the tea. Raising their cups, they made their toast again, then looked expectantly at Adam. "Er, warm and wet," he echoed.

"Anyway," continued Alice. "Where were we? Ah yes - The Sisterhood. A secret society? No dear. We do rather keep ourselves to ourselves, and most people won't have heard of us, but we're not a secret."

She tossed a copy of the local newspaper across the table towards him. "Tell me, Adam," she asked. "Do you take much notice of what goes on in your home town? Do you keep abreast of the really important things?"

The paper was open in the classified rather than the news section - but in the local rag, Adam felt news was a relative term: the lead story would most likely be something like LOCAL MAN'S HAT BLOWN OFF IN STRONG WIND.

"Can't say I do," he said. "Anyway, there's not a lot happens around here, is there..."

Given his present situation, he'd have felt foolish enough saying it, even without Alice's raised eyebrow. "Er, I mean, usually."

She laughed. "Nothing happens? Oh dear. As if the drama of life wasn't enough. I don't suppose you follow the hatched, matched and despatched page, then?"

Seeing his confusion, she clarified: "the Births, Marriages and Deaths section. That's where all the news that matters is. And that's what The Sisterhood is concerned with."



Story starts here.