Who: Bethanie Dunstan and Laurel Fawley. What:The Wizard of Oz. When: Tuesday 26 July, after work. Where:Bethanie's Flat, Inverness. Rating: U.
Usually, Bethanie thought of herself as a patient person. Unlike her parents, she was very good at waiting in queues and restaurants or anywhere outside her own home. Waiting for guests to arrive, though, was another thing entirely. As a child, she'd spent weekends sitting at her bedroom window, watching for cars to arrive anytime she knew people were coming over. It was all she could do not to replicate that behaviour now, because she had nothing else with which to keep herself occupied. She had overprepared, of course. She'd spent Monday night tidying and cleaning, putting away all the clean clothes and plates that she'd usually leave out if she weren't expecting company. Although the bulk of the work was already done, she'd hurried home on Tuesday to change and to buy snacks.
Everything was ready long before Laurel was scheduled to arrive. There was too much food - sweet popcorn and savoury crisps and grapes to counteract any impression that Bethanie lived only on junk food - but Bethanie resolutely ignored it all as she sat waiting, trying to read Assassin's Apprentice but finding the characters a lot less compelling than the front door on which Laurel would, eventually, knock.
The clock ticked down slowly, but finally the knock came and Bethanie jumped up to get the door, taking her book with her. "Hi," she greeted, hoping she didn't look as suddenly anxious as she felt. "Come in. Would you like a drink?"