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It took all of Jenny’s willpower and energy to keep her eyes open, which left paying attention to Principal Flutie’s speech out of the realm of possibility. Of course she slept in and nearly missed her first staff meeting at Sunnydale High and of course she didn't have time to eat – well, that part wasn't unusual at least. Whatever. She didn’t even want this job, and she especially didn’t want to move to this town, not after the past few years in L.A. have given her the closest approximation to freedom she's ever experienced in her life. Now she was alone again, held down by layers and layers of secrets and responsibilities that were about to define her once more.
"...a warm welcome to our newest faculty members, Jennifer Calendar and Roberta Giles."
Jenny didn't care for the lukewarm round of applause, but its other recipient caught her attention
The chances of focusing on what was being said remained firmly at zero, only now it was for a significantly better reason. The woman – Roberta, presumably – appeared as if she wanted to melt into the floor. Jenny tried to make eye contact but Roberta was firmly set on avoiding it, turning her head away and focusing instead on cleaning her glasses over and over again. Short nails, Jenny noticed. Interesting.
Of course that didn’t mean anything on its own, and maybe Jenny was a little desperate to not be 'the only one' in her new environment, but her gaze kept going back to the strange woman and she was willing to swear there was something. Trying to pinpoint what exactly kept her awake throughout the meeting.
Once it was over (Jenny would be lucky to repeat two words that were said), Roberta was among the first people to get out of their seats, but still managed to stay behind due to an awkward attempt to adjust her pencil skirt. As if she wasn't used to wearing those. Very interesting.
Jenny made her way towards her like a stalking cat. "Roberta, right?"
She flinched, then nodded.
"I like your nails."
Roberta examined her own hand in confusion. "Thank you, I – I find them practical."
"Believe me, I know." Roberta didn't seem to catch on. "So, what do you teach again? I kinda wasn't paying attention to Flutie."
"I'm the librarian, actually."
"Cool. I teach computer science myself."
"So I heard." Her expression was unreadable.
"Guess we won't be seeing each other much then. That's a shame."
"I suppose so. Now if you'll excuse me, Ms. Calendar – "
"Call me Jenny."
"I don't think we've quite reached a first-name basis yet."
Jenny was too taken aback to respond in time. At least being sent to Sunnydale might not turn out to be a completely unbearable fate after all, with such a curious specimen available for her to study.
'Studying' Roberta turned out to be a more challenging mission than Jenny had predicted. For one thing, the woman was avoiding the teacher's lounge like the plague and only socialized with her coworkers when left with no other option – the exception to this, for reasons Jenny never got to find out, was Dr. Gregory. She tried asking him about Roberta, but he was not at all keen on talking about people behind their backs. Her next plan of action would have been attempting to form a connection with him in hopes of approaching her, but then…
That was the other thing. Jenny was aware she was being sent to a Hellmouth, but reading about what that entailed couldn't compare to living it. She could reassure herself to some extent – she grew up with the supernatural after all, she knew never to invite anyone to cross her threshold, never to make a wish in front of a stranger, she could identify the most common demon species native to South California and she knew how to research those she couldn't.
It wasn't enough to stop her from going over the demons that were impossible to defend against, whose very presence meant one was as good as dead. It didn't stop her from ending every class wondering if there was a student she was seeing for the last time.
As far as she was aware she could’ve been the only one at school who knew the truth about Sunnydale. Pouring her energy and precious little free time into anything other than protecting these kids seemed irresponsible. Not that she was doing a good job of it. They deserved someone competent in her stead, someone who could at least place a half-decent ward around the school.
Since discovering technopaganism Jenny rarely felt shame about the inadequacy of her powers, but what good was that now? Her abilities were useless against everything this town had in store. She had a duty towards her students, unofficial, but duty nonetheless, and they had no idea how miserably she was failing them.
There was no one she could turn to for help either, about any of it. Not the Hellmouth chaos and certainly not her mission. And if all of that wasn’t making her feel like shit just enough, there was the other kind of loneliness. Moving from L.A. to Sunnydale forced Jenny to go back to being fully closeted once again, something she hasn’t had to deal with in a number of years. She’d almost forgotten how isolating it could be, even with her online group in the picture.
A large part of the reason why she longed to get closer to Roberta was the all-consuming need to have someone who – if Jenny’s assumption was correct – understood. Not all of it, of course, not anything else about Jenny's predicament such as having a destiny forced upon you or having no agency over your own life, not even the horrors lurking beneath the town's surface. But the possibility of one other person here having this one shared experience with her was too precious to let go.
The information she was able to gather on her was as follows: Much like Jenny, she only came to Sunnydale just before the school year started, having previously been a curator at a British museum, or maybe The British Museum, her coworkers could never remember. Somebody heard a rumor she was hired thanks to some mysterious connection, only that seemed to be such a common occurrence at this school it hardly meant anything. She was the head of some kind of afterschool club or study group that nobody could tell her anything about, other than the fact that it always met up at the library and included three, maybe four members. Jenny even tried casually asking her students about her, but they admitted to avoiding the library as much as they could due to Ms. Giles being 'crazy weird.' She couldn't exactly fault that judgment.
(The only exceptions to this were Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris, who seemed like they were about to give what was promising to be a helpful answer, then stopped themselves, proceeding to let out the most incoherent string of words Jenny heard in her entire life until she lost track of what they were originally saying.)
In short, nothing that was particularly helpful in either confirming or denying her hypothesis. A potential solution to the problem of figuring out what the hell Roberta's deal was emerged one day when the school bell interrupted her tangent on the importance of digital archives. Willow approached her desk with the words "Ms. Calendar, did you know our school library isn't even digitized?"
"You don't say?" A plan was already taking shape.
"Yeah, I needed this book on demon- demo- demographics, yeah, a book on demographics for a school project, but the only copy was already checked out so I asked Ms. Giles about accessing a digital one and she mumbled something that was too British for me to understand, but I’m pretty sure the point was that we don’t have those."
"You know, Willow, you’re completely right. Something like that is truly detrimental to the quality of your education. In fact, I say we take matters into our own hands and start a library digitization initiative as soon as possible. I’d have to ask Snyder, but he probably won’t care either way."
"I would love to!" Willow’s eyes were sparkling. "Except… I’m not sure Ms. Giles will be too happy about it."
"In what way?"
"It’s just that she’s, you know, really traditional, especially about books and stuff. Plus, she always makes this sour face whenever I bring up your class."
Jenny would have to remember to bask in the satisfaction of someone regularly bringing up her class later. 'Really traditional' as a descriptor threw a wrench into the foundation of her plan. But then again there might’ve been a misunderstanding, and she wasn't about to give up over one. As fond as Jenny was of Willow it had to be said social skills were not her strongest suit. The best route would be to go ahead with the project and find out for herself. "Let me deal with her. You just worry about bringing your A-game."
Two days later, Roberta actually showed up at the teacher’s lounge – not only that, but she approached Jenny specifically. "I suppose I have you to thank for this circus."
"Circus?" Jenny fluttered her eyelashes, the picture of pure innocence.
"You know very well what I’m talking about, the – the – the defiling of my books, the disrespect towards the library, not to mention disturbing my work hours – "
"Slow down, England!" Jenny raised her hands. "Defiling?"
"Yes, with your – your scammers."
"Scanners."
"Right, those. Do they even know what kind of damage those can do to an antique volume yet?"
"I can assure you your precious antiques will be perfectly fine," she scoffed. "Not including your attitude, of course."
Roberta scoffed back.
Jenny’s determination to see this project through increased tenfold, only with a new intention behind it – to get on every single one of Roberta’s nerves.
The work itself was pretty mundane, so Jenny’s job was primarily to supervise the students doing it, leaving her plenty of time to bicker with her new arch nemesis. Between keeping an eye on Angel, composing honest-to-god reports on his situation, gritting her teeth while listening to Enyos over the phone berating every choice she ever made in life, and dealing with Snyder’s bullshit, it was threatening to become the highlight of her routine. Roberta needed to be taken down a notch and she was more than happy to do the honors.
Jenny was able to make several key observations regarding her. Her social circle, if it could even be called that, seemingly consisted of Willow, Xander, and a blonde girl who wasn’t in Jenny’s class; she frequently showed up to work doing a bad job of concealing various injuries and appeared to have frequent headaches; she had previously worked at a British museum, not The British Museum, Jenny had asked; she had a pronounced aversion to any technological advancement more recent than the record player; she was so fucking irritating.
Had Jenny really been so badly mistaken? Was Roberta actually just a completely straight, probably conservative woman who simply happened to have an air of oddity around her? It's not as if her original presumption had any basis beyond a gut feeling. On the other hand, Jenny has met plenty of misogynistic gay men, and the first girl she ever had a crush on had turned out to be a racist. Maybe Roberta was just the most entitled lesbian in the world. She would have to get more strategic about pushing her buttons if she was to discover anything conclusive – she was far too stubborn to give up and move on. She would never simply admit to being wrong, even to herself – there was no way her gaydar had gotten that rusty in such a short time away from L.A.
The first hint of progress on the question whether Jenny was wasting her time came one day when she came in early to set up the library for her students. While she was doing her thing, she happened to overhear a conversation between Roberta and an angry mother calling the library to express her disapproval – loudly enough for Jenny to hear – over some book or another being available.
Roberta responded in a tone so sweet and polite Jenny had to do a double take to make sure it was really her speaking, all 'I take your concern very seriously' and 'rest assured I will look into the matter as soon as possible,' before slamming the phone down and cussing the hell out of her.
"Damn. Didn’t know you had that customer service voice in you."
"I don’t waste my breath arguing with people I have no respect for."
Jenny was pretty sure something short-circuited in her head. Luckily, the blonde girl, Willow and Xander’s friend, chose that exact moment to rush in.
"Giles, I’m gonna need an absence note if you expect me to – Oh, good morning, Ms. Calendar. Uh, I’m gonna need an absence note for the thing I had to do yesterday during fourth period and also for today if you want me to look into that other thing we talked about."
"Right, right, of course. Anything else?"
"Nope, that’s it!"
"Good. We’ll, ah, talk later then?"
"Sure! See ya!"
"You write her absence notes?"
"For your information, Buffy is a responsible, intelligent girl who happens to be dealing with quite a lot for someone her age, so if you – "
"Gee, relax, I just meant I didn’t realize librarians could do that."
"Oh. In that case, I – I apologize for my outburst."
"You’re really protective of her, huh?"
"You could say I… have a certain responsibility towards her."
That was when it clicked. Not only was Jenny right all along about her not being straight, but Roberta’s 'study group' was probably some kind of an informal gay support group, with her acting as a mentor. It would’ve explained why they were all so secretive about it – besides, she’d have to be a fool not to notice the way Willow often looked at Buffy.
"You know, I think it’s really great what you’re doing for these kids"
"What – what I'm doing for the kids?"
"Yeah, your whole study group?" She placed particular emphasis on the last two words.
"The study group, right. I – Thank you, I suppose."
"If you ever need another teacher to step in, I’d be more than happy to help."
"I appreciate it, but I’m afraid there’s no room for anyone else to join us."
"Seriously?"
"It – it – it happens to be a more sensitive matter than you might think."
"No, I got that part, that’s why I’m offering."
"I rather think you didn’t get that part."
"Actually, I’m starting to fear my input may be necessary."
"I hardly need anyone's input to – to… help them analyze Emily Dickinson."
"Interesting choice."
Roberta broke eye contact.
Their banter evolved into a full-on ritual, one that she was looking forward to more and more with each passing day. Roberta’s remark about respect lit her determination anew. Preparing for the digitization sessions now made fireworks go off in her chest, which she could only hope had everything to do with the rush of arguing and nothing with the snob herself.
She kept track of methods to make her switch from catty retorts to a stammering mess, observed how she fidgeted with her glasses, how she’d get so absorbed into books – whether reading or sorting – she’d momentarily forget the outside world existed. She took note of the air of discomfort which seemed to radiate from her very bones and would get the urge to turn Roberta into her very own Barbie doll, if Barbie dolls came with accessories for a butch makeover.
The last day of the digitization program came and went exactly the same as all the others had. Which Jenny had to admit made sense. It’s not as if they were actually saying any kind of meaningful goodbye, she kept reminding herself. They would go on being coworkers, just as before. Yet she kept thinking to Roberta’s socializing habits – or lack thereof – and the idea of going back to barely even seeing her in the hallways made Jenny want to scream.
Over the last period, in a twisted, ironic turn, she had become Jenny’s most reliable source of light amidst all the deaths and disappearances and the weight of her responsibilities. The weight kept crushing her while kids kept dying and coworkers kept going missing and Jenny kept being powerless to stop it. Her best attempt at a traditional protective charm left a hole in the computer lab wall.
Throughout all of that, she at least had time with Roberta to look forward to, and it was about to come to an end.
So she lingered behind as the students were leaving.
"I bet you’re pretty happy we’ll finally be out of your hair."
"Oh – I – I suppose I have some peace and quiet to look forward to."
"Peace and quiet. Nice to know you'll be branching out of your comfort zone."
"Your, er, comfort zone are computers, and I don't see you making an effort to branch out either."
"I know how to navigate a library. You don't know how to navigate the internet. And that's the difference between us."
"What I fail to understand – You're an intellectual yourself, Ms. Calendar. That’s one of the things I admire about you the most." Jenny could only hope there was no external indication of the heat rising to her cheeks. "I fail to understand how you're so ready to jump onto the newest fad that – that nobody yet understands the full implications of, that you have no guarantee will withstand the test of time, no way of knowing the effects it may have on this world ten, twenty years down the line – "
"It's because I'm… an intellectual." The word was strangely sweet on her tongue. Probably the highest compliment anyone could receive from Roberta. "Because I understand that the world needs to change and need to have faith that it can. Anyway," she changed her tone rapidly, so as to leave no risk of genuine emotion lingering in the air. "I might need to come back sometime to, uh, check the databases. Just to make sure everything's functioning, you know. I doubt you'd notice if it isn't."
"Yes – that's – an entirely fair observation. As a matter of fact – hold on." She disappeared in her office for a moment and came back holding something. "I – I – I have spare – keys to – to the library. You can stop by anytime it's convenient for you." Jenny tried to ignore the heat rushing through her as their hands brushed, acutely aware it was the first physical touch between them.
"That's… wow, that's…" Jenny was speechless. Did that mean Roberta had just beaten her at her own game?
"I – I do hope it's not too… forward."
"No, it's… I appreciate it. I mean, I'd still like to stop by sometime when you're here, 'cause it's more convenient. In case I need help with something, you know?"
"In case you need my help with the computer?"
"It's still… your domain. The library, I mean."
"Yes, well, like I said, you're welcome at any time."
"Including when you're here?"
"If – if that's something you'd like."
"Yeah, it would be more practical. See you in a few days? Unless you decide to join human civilization in the meantime?"
"Yes, well, let's not take things too far."
Jenny chuckled. Truly a remarkable creature to observe. "See you around, England."
Jenny broke her promise to come back after a few days. She returned to the library after only a few hours, under the excuse of checking the databases. Thankfully Roberta had no way of knowing how transparent it was. She went with the intention of being nice to her this time, she really did. It wasn't her fault Roberta was the master of testing her patience.
Humiliating. As much as Jenny enjoyed acting like she had her wrapped around her little finger, the reality was much closer to being the opposite than she'd care to admit.
She turned the computer on, preparing to update her few close online friends on the situation. She logged in and for a second her heart stopped.
Of fucking course there was a demon in the internet.
Her stomach twisted as she put two and two together. The most recent campus death – one of her own students as a matter of fact – was directly her fault. Not a result of some obscure prophecy or a kid messing with forces that should've been left alone, a demon in the internet. Her domain. She didn't even realize it in time. It was no excuse, the blood was still on her hands.
It was Moloch all along – if only he had the decency to introduce himself from the start and save Jenny the needless stress. Him she knew how to deal with. And so did Roberta, apparently.
"You read, I type."
"It's that simple? A-adapting the ritual for technology, that is."
"In theory. I mean… I don't know if I have the power to actually do it."
"I should think there's no one better for the job."
Jenny turned towards the screen so Roberta couldn't see the smile she caused. "Do you… If you have experience with this kind of thing, you should probably be the one to do it. I promise typing isn't as scary as it looks."
"I… I really shouldn't. At all."
"In that case, pray to whatever deity you feel like for my sheer blind luck."
"Don't sell yourself short just yet. But – if you'd like – I could – We could form a connection and you could tap into some of my power, if that's something you'd be comfortable with."
Jenny blinked in disbelief. That was one hell of an intimate act to share with a woman who still insisted on using her last name.
"You said you shouldn't."
"Well – well no, but –" she stuttered through this part for a solid few seconds, "but for you I would. I more than fully believe in your capability, I – I simply meant if it would make you more confident –"
"Let's do it."
Roberta nodded, clearly grateful for the interruption. "I'll get us the incense."
Jenny removed her leather jacket as she observed Roberta carefully arranging the incense sticks.
"So you've done this before?" It was something between a statement and a question.
"I did, as a matter of fact." Several seconds of silence followed. "Don't you want to ask me about it?"
"Do you wanna tell me?"
"Not particularly."
"Then let's keep our secrets."
With everything arranged, Roberta stood behind Jenny and intertwined their fingers. She did her best to ignore how that made her feel. They began chanting the incantation, awkwardly at first, but their voices quickly harmonized, sending tingles down Jenny's spine. The air became charged. Slowly but certainly, her tethers to this plane loosened and first she became aware of her own aura, then Roberta's right behind her, so close it created a physical sense of friction, the barrier between them growing thinner and thinner until it finally broke and her entire body came to life as Roberta's energy surged into her, countless times more vibrant and vigorous than her exterior suggested.
Her heart rate went up, blood rushing to every crook of her body, power – Roberta’s? Jenny’s? – heightening her senses, sending electricity through every nerve.
They moved on to the exorcism incantation, still chanting in one voice. For a split second she wondered how was she supposed to type without letting Roberta go, only to realize she could now tap into the computer almost telepathically, with their joined hands hovering above the keyboard. Words appeared on the screen as they spoke them, not that she could focus on the text. Had Roberta known them by heart beforehand? Had Jenny? Logic disappeared and thoughts blurred as they progressed further and further with the ritual, the screen flickering and cackling, and Jenny found herself grateful they were positioned so as to be unable to see each other’s facial expressions. She lightly bit her own lip as Roberta’s fingers curled and her nails dug into Jenny’s hands, or maybe it was the other way around, it became impossible to tell. They were one with each other and with magic, everything else having melted away, leaving Jenny aware of nothing but pleasure.
They gasped out the final verse of the incantation.
The screen got dark.
Jenny exhaled shakily, feeling their auras divide as they went back to being two distinct entities once again. Who were still holding hands. Strangely, Jenny did not want to be the one to let go. She brought Roberta’s arms closer to her torso as her breathing slowly went back to normal, not quite an embrace but not far from one either.
"I…" Roberta was equally out of breath. "I believe we succeeded."
"Yeah. Yeah, it looks like it." They stayed in place for several minutes, wordlessly. As her pulse went down the incredible high gave way to the creeping realization that in the same way Jenny felt Roberta’s aura, Roberta must’ve felt hers, felt just how completely, pathetically powerless she was. The extent of Jenny’s magic was laughable on its own. But compared to hers –
"You were…" Roberta broke the silence. "You do realize how incredible you are?"
The next morning Jenny reached a new personal achievement – waking up sooner than she absolutely had to, for the first time in her life. Having Roberta’s work hours memorized would finally pay off.
She fumbled with the library keys, looking around as if trying not to get caught. To her credit, she wasn’t actually doing anything she wasn’t supposed to – Roberta had insisted she was free to stop by any time it was convenient for her. She never specified that the offer only stood for whatever excuse Jenny had given.
She breathed a sigh of relief upon finding Roberta’s office unlocked. That at least ensured her plan was less of a risk of being fired on the spot and more plain insanity. She made sure the door was securely closed behind her. If Jenny even had a voice of reason to begin with, the adrenaline had drowned it. She reached into her bra, carefully took out the piercing from her left nipple, and placed it on Roberta’s desk.
It ended up working out exactly as intended, except for one little detail: the whole speech Roberta had given on how knowledge should be smelly resulted in a heart-sinking realization that Jenny only wanted to articulate as well, fuck.
It's not as if the possibility hadn't occurred to her, but she was able to dismiss her feelings as a combination of superficial sexual attraction and the thrill of bickering. There was no room for dismissal anymore.
What was she supposed to do, make a move? Jenny from just a year ago wouldn't have hesitated. Jenny from just a year ago could've afforded to risk her job. Additionally, Roberta hardly seemed like the type who would. Not to mention the question of whether Jenny even had the capacity to introduce yet another layer of secrecy to her life.
She tried to picture taking Roberta to her place, but it was almost guaranteed there was a letter or a voicemail from Enyos waiting at any given time, which, while not exactly conspicuous, did a very good job of driving home the point that she didn’t have the luxury of letting anyone in. Not to mention the gigantic cross mounted on her wall just in case. Now that would be quite the wrong impression to give.
It would be different if it was to be a commitment-free type of thing. But even if Roberta were up for that, which Jenny seriously doubted, the idea of the two of them getting each other off only to go back to barely speaking wasn’t one she could stomach. She tried not to contemplate how insane that line of thinking was considering where they actually stood.
Speaking of wrong impressions to give, Jenny spent the next several days avoiding Roberta to the best of her ability. She was fully aware how it made her seem, after what they shared, but she needed the space to weigh her options, all of which happened to suck.
She could either play it safe and throw away all the progress they had made over the last period, forcibly suppressing any and all feelings that have developed in the meantime, or she could put everything else on the line for the sake of a possible future relationship.
Jenny never considered herself brave. She did however occasionally consider herself reckless.
She plastered on a smile and pushed the library door open.
"Good morning, England. I brought you some tea." As if that was a normal thing for her to do.
"Ms. Calendar! That – that – that’s awfully sweet of you. Thank you"
"I would’ve been here sooner but waiting for the microwave at the teacher’s lounge to be free is harder than it sounds."
"The – the – the – You – you… You said that on purpose."
Jenny grinned, genuinely this time. "You make it too easy."
A beat of uncomfortable silence followed, something she didn't think was possible between them.
Roberta cleared her throat. "Ms. Calendar I – I do believe I owe you an apology."
"Huh?"
"I can see now that our – our – what we shared last week was serious overstepping on my part and you are clearly uncomfortable with it and –"
"Okay, slow down! God, is that why you think I've been avoiding you?" To Roberta's credit, it wasn't exactly a stretch. The past week has been far from Jenny's finest moment.
"Can you fault me for that conclusion?"
"Yeah, no, that was kinda shitty of me. Sorry."
"Apology accepted. Still, I feel the need to make it clear that I'm not exactly in the habit of, well…"
"Doing spells?" Jenny raised an eyebrow.
"Taking advantage of a younger coworker for the sake of my own goals and then failing to check up on her after a strenuous ordeal."
"First of all, I thought we just established the second part was my fault. And second of all, the hell do you mean taking advantage?"
Roberta was not making eye contact. "I understand you would never – want to do what we – what we did. I'm aware you only made that choice under rather atypical circumstances and I can't help but feel as if I – used you for the purpose of exorcising Moloch."
"I'd hope you know we were on the same page about the exorcism. If anything, I'm the one who used you. With your kind of power, you would've been fine without me."
"Yes, dealing with computers, something I'm famously competent at."
"You're not the one who let two of your students die. I don't know what you heard, but Fritz was also killed by Moloch, just before we were able to stop him."
"A terrible tragedy," she nodded solemnly. "But Ms. Calendar, surely you understand you're to be credited with preventing lord knows how many more innocents dying."
Jenny looked at her as if trying to physically soak up the full extent of her words. It was a needlessly generous framing of events. "If you say so. And before I forget, don't ever make assumptions about what I would or wouldn't want, because you're clearly terrible at it."
"I am?"
"Did it seem like it was my first time merging auras?"
"On the contrary, you are rather – skilled, if you don't mind me saying so."
"Right back at you."
Roberta was red. "So, uh, Ms. Calendar, are – are you – Did you come here to check the, uh, databases again?"
"Actually, no. I came because I want to spend some time with you."
"You do?"
"Is that a problem?"
"On – on the contrary. After all, I gave you the keys for a reason. Besides, I might just use the opportunity to teach you to make proper tea."
"Don't push your luck, England. Oh, and another thing? Calling me by my last name after everything doesn't make you seem polite, it's just insufferable. Everyone calls me Jenny."
"If you're certain. In that case, you may call me – Well, you already call me by my first name."
"Yeah, Robbie, that's because I belong to a secret circle of people who no longer adhere to Victorian etiquette. I'll check if there's room for you to join."
"I'm sorry, Robbie?"
"Would you prefer Bobbie?"
"That's worse, actually."
"You took your next step, it's only fair I get to do the same."
"The ne – next – the next step?"
"Mm-hmm."
"The next step to what, exactly?"
"Why don't we wait and see, Bertha?"
Roberta let out a long-suffering sigh and Jenny found herself hoping to be the cause of many of those to come.