Malowney rubbed her hands together. Then suddenly a nurse arrived in the room.
"Miss Catt?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. "I am one of the nurses - I'm just here to help."
The nurse put down her bags on the table.
"I appreciate your help, but this is a quiet place and I do not like that huge noise," Malowney said. "Perhaps you could fix your attitude to fit mine."
The nurse sighed and popped her medical items in a plain, see-through bag. "Here's my medical equipment. Now, Miss Catt, let's discuss the state of your visitors."
"Well, I haven't received one," Malowney said, rubbing her nose. "I've been focused on tidying up this room and getting it spotless before my first customers arrive."
"Are you open?" the nurse asked.
"Yes," Mal replied.
Two hours later, when the nurse was making tea for Mal, she opened up a book and propped it on her simple book-reader thing.
The nurse returned with two teas. "Well, well! Fancy seeing that book again. It must have been - what - twenty years ago since I last saw that."
"How old are you? Twenty years ago I was only one," Mal said.
"Oh, dear! My old age," the nurse said. "I was blooming twenty then. I'm an old age of forty nowadays, lass!"
Mal looked serious. "I'm twenty-one, the best age."
The nurse laughed. "I will leave you to it," she said, and left the room.