Jennifer interrupted her friend’s thought process and sat down. The attentive barman quickly brought her a drink and she settled back to listen to Maggie. She reminisced for a very pleasant half hour with her and then with an anguished look at her watch, said she had better get back. When she arrived home, her mother was asleep, so she put the shopping away, checked the cooking instructions on the beef olives and switched on the kettle. Ripping open the packet of plain chocolate digestives, she demolished the first one in seconds, realising she was ravenous. She had made porridge for her mother this morning, but there hadn’t been enough milk for two. The latte she’d had with Maggie was her only sustenance all day. Her tummy rumbled and she helped herself to a second biscuit, as the kettle came to the boil. Jennifer tiptoed through to the living room, peeking into her mother’s room en route to ensure she hadn’t woken up. Settling herself down, she picked up her magazine. She was addicted to entering competitions. She hadn’t won much, just a measly CD case and some kids’ film binoculars, but she lived in hope. Occasionally she won cinema tickets, but ended up letting them expire, as she was afraid to leave her mother alone for that length of time. A win of thirty pounds worth of M&S vouchers, meant they had some pretty nice food for a few days. She used to subscribe to several specialist competition magazines, but when she lost her job, she couldn’t afford the subscriptions. Her favourite competitions were those you had to create a slogan or jingle for, as she assumed less people would enter, as it required a bit of thought and she would have a better crack at winning. This month’s edition had arrived in the morning’s post and she was looking forward to seeing what prizes were on offer. Sipping her coffee and picking up the magazine and her pen, she circled those of interest to her; £500 of jewellery in a Bond Street jeweller’s, a BMW 5 series, a vintage 2CV, a fortnight in Tenerife all inclusive, a seven day trip on the Orient Express and a villa in Spain worth £200,000.
