Yay! (people who do not believe in betting, even of only $2 skip this bit) I just won (on a bet each way) on a horse in the Melbourne Cup, Vinnie Roe. Even better Makybe Diva came first, the first mare ever to win back to back Melbourne Cups. Go you good thing!

So an update is in order.

9 The Invitation

The next evening, Ross came home to what he was now expecting as his usual greeting, although he steadfastly refused to let Emily take his shoes off for him any more. He couldn't help feeling that she was behaving like a dog fetching the slippers and it made him feel uncomfortable.

'Monica left a message on the answermachine while I was out shopping,' Emily said, 'She's invited you for dinner tomorrow.'

'Me?'

'Yes.'

'I mean only me?'

'Yes, do you want to hear it?' Emily said, smiling. It was unnerving. She played back the message. Ross realised that Monica had forgotten to include Emily, responding only to his voice. He'd need to re record the message.

'I'm sure you're invited too. It was just a mistake that she only said my name,' Ross said, 'Please forgive my sister, she's got a very tiny brain.'

'I don't mind,' Emily said, calmly. 'You need some time alone with your friends. You don't need me intruding.' Ross stared at her.

'Is this because you don't want to come? Do they make you feel unwelcome?' he asked. They hadn't been nice enough to her, considering the effort she'd put into trying to make them feel welcome. He still felt annoyed about that. She would be right not to want him to see them if they were unfriendly to her.

'Oh no. I'd love to come, if you want me there.' Emily said.

'But what do you want?' Ross asked.

'I want whatever you want.' This was so unhelpful.

'But you must have some thoughts about it,' Ross pleaded. 'You like Monica don't you?'

'Of course, who wouldn't?' He frowned. Suddenly it seemed to him that he needed to talk things over with his friends alone. Maybe it was better that Emily didn't come.

'If you don't mind, maybe I will go alone,' he said.

'You should have a good time,' Emily said, still smiling. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get any sense that she didn't mean it.

Ross rang Monica from work the next day to accept the invitation on his own behalf. Monica apologised profusely to Ross for not inviting Emily by name.

'Of course if I invite you I mean her too, it's just that your voice message thing is the same as it always was and I forgot there's someone else there now,' she explained.

'Monica, she really doesn't mind,' Ross said.

'She doesn't like me?' Monica asked. She'd tried hard to be friendly.

'She likes you a lot, but she thought you meant me only.'

'And she wasn't offended?' A husband and wife should normally be asked together to things and to forget a new bride was a bad mistake. A normal person would have been annoyed, at least a little bit.

'Well no, she said I should have time with my friends.'

'She should feel that we're her friends too. I'll call her and tell her to come over,' Monica said at once.

'No, Monica, not tonight. I want to talk to you and to the others without her,' Ross said.

'You've got problems?'

'That's it,' he said. 'I don't know if there's a problem or not. I want to see what you guys think.' Monica really wanted to interrogate him now but she knew he wanted to talk to everyone.

A little later, Phoebe arrived looking tired.

'I'm pooped!' she said, flopping down on the couch. 'Travel really takes it out of you.'

'Where've you been?' Monica asked.

'Across town to see Emily,' Phoebe explained. 'Oh those subways. A great place to earn — ' she stopped short. How she'd earned money on the subway had been by mugging people and those days were long gone. 'Hot stinky smelly,' she said. 'Ugh yucky.'

'Why'd you go over there?' Monica asked. Her preparations for the dinner could be suspended a little while so that she could hear what Phoebe had to say.

'Well I was curious.'

'The Aura,' Monica said at once. 'I knew you were keeping something back. What's wrong with it?' Phoebe frowned.

'Well that's it, I don't know. I'm kind of worried that my vision for these things has gone off a little because what I see doesn't make any kind of sense. Pregnancy is supposed to change you and I'm really not what it does to aura reading.'

'Has it gone off when you see other people's auras? What about mine?'

'Yours is normal,' Phoebe said promptly.

'You didn't look,' Monica said.

'Yes I did.'

'Well you must be okay. What is it with Emily's?'

'I think she's ill.'

'What! You've got to — to tell her,' Monica said, 'What's wrong with her? She doesn't look sick.'

'No,' Phoebe said. 'What could I say? Go and get a check up or something? I know that people when they first get to know me find that sort of thing hard to take. Although she did listen to my explanation about ley lines and no-one's ever done that before without trying to change the subject.'

'Ley lines?'

'It was something we got around to talking about,' Phoebe said, 'It was — ' Monica wasn't sure she wanted to hear and said,

'Uh, Emily's aura.'

'Oh that, yeah, well how can you tell someone that they're seriously ill —'

'Seriously ill!' exclaimed Monica.

'That's how it looks to me,' Phoebe said, 'Yet there's no sign of it, to look at her normally. You know she's not pale.' Monica looked at her. 'Not abnormally pale for her. Not lost any weight, that kind of thing.'

'Pregnant?' Monica asked.

'Pregnancy is not an illness,' Phoebe said. 'It might feel like one, but it isn't.'

'Mentally ill?' Monica asked. Phoebe frowned.

'She's not giving out the sort of psychic pain that a mentally ill person has. You can't miss that sort of thing.'

'If you say so Phoebe.'

'In fact she's happy,' Phoebe said.

'Well that's something,' Monica said. 'But what are we going to do about the illness.'

'It will have to show up sooner or later,' Phoebe said, 'If we keep an eye on her we should be ready for it.'

'Okay,' Monica said. 'Maybe we can see if Ross has noticed any thing.'