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“Exactly,” Katie said. “We need to leave it alone until we figure out exactly what it is.”

“Then we poke it,” Helen added.

“A lot,” Grace said.

“I’ll try,” I told them.

The women gave each other a conspiratorial look. While I sat there wondering what had just happened, Helen pushed a clean glass over to me and poured in a clear liquid. “Now that it’s settled, let’s drink.”

“Oh no,” I said. “I don’t drink a lot. I -”

Helen snorted. “Do you have a lot of friends?”

One. I had one friend. Who hadn’t called me in weeks. I’d examine that in more detail later. “No,” I admitted.

“So you never get invited out to engage in social hilarity?”

I wasn’t sure what ‘social hilarity’ was, but no one was inviting me to engage in it. “Um. No.”

“Then drink.”

I drank.