Friends Like You

Leah was about to find out what sort of people she’d had in her life all these years…

- Victoria Chie

Her dream 60th birthday had taken months to save for and weeks to plan. Now it was all systems go. Sort of…

Leah peered through her car’s windscreen. The rain was getting heavier.

‘Can’t you go faster?’ her front-seat passenger Delia said. At this rate, it’ll be dinner time before we get there.’

‘Better late than dead,’ came Irene’s voice from the back seat. ‘I don’t trust speed.’

Leah shot Delia a hard look. ‘I’m doing my best.’

‘You shouldn’t have turned off the sat nav.’

‘She told me to drive off a cliff, remember?’

‘I don’t trust technology,’ Irene said. ‘Follow your nose is my advice.’

‘Look where that’s got us,’ Delia said. ‘We’re in the middle of nowhere. I can’t even find it on the map.’

‘Can we all calm down?’ Leah said. ‘We’re not going to enjoy this weekend if all we do is snipe at each other.’

By some miracle Spike, who shared the back seat with Irene, was staring quietly out of his window.

‘It was supposed to be sunny,’ Delia said. ‘Cold, but clear. No chance of rain.’

‘I don’t trust weather forecasts. They’re usually wrong,’ Irene said. ‘Especially on long weekends.’

Leah took a deep breath. She’d strangle the pair of them if they didn’t snap out of it. They were the ones who’d pleaded with her to let them join in her birthday dream.