What became of us

they’re going to do something special, or is it just Oxford?’ Ursula wondered. ‘I mean, the one most likely to, for God’s sake, who did we think we were?’
    ‘The only reason I wanted to be something was to prove to everyone that I could do it despite Oxford, not because of it,’ said Annie with feeling.
    ‘And it’s our generation of women,’ said Ursula, thoughtfully. ‘We’re the first ones to have the real benefit of the pill. We were the ones our mothers invested all their hopes in. We were the ones who could have it all, you see. Careers, independence, men and children on our terms. The world looked so full of opportunity then.’
    ‘It still does, doesn’t it?’ said Annie.
    ‘So, have we got it all?’ Ursula asked so seriously that Annie and Manon couldn’t help giggling. Ursula had always tried to turn an informal conversation over a meal into a properly structured debate.
    ‘You have,’ Annie said. ‘I mean, a career, a husband, children and, more importantly, you’re relatively rich and positively thin.’
    ‘Am I?’ Ursula’s stern face softened.
    ‘Svelte,’ Annie snapped. ‘Hey,’ she picked a dripping champagne bottle out of the melting ice, squinted at it, saw that it was empty, looked at it crossly, then shoved it top first back into the bucket, ‘more?’
    ‘God, no,’ said Ursula, ‘I’m drunk already.’
    ‘You, Manon?’ Annie asked.
    Manon shook her head.
    ‘Well, what are we going to do?’ Annie asked, pushing her chair back onto its two back legs and only just righting herself before she toppled over.
    ‘I think I’ll check into my room and have a little nap,’ Ursula said. ‘I was up early.’
    ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, don’t be so bloody middle-aged! It’s still early because you would insist on lunch at twelve and now we’ve got hours to kill. I know, let’s have a game of croquet. Are you up for that, Manon?’
    ‘OK,’ Manon agreed.
    ‘We’ll get the bill,’ said Annie, miming writing a cheque at the waitress. ‘I’ll get it, I’ve had most of the champagne.’
    ‘No,’ both the others protested.
    ‘Of course I will, since I’m the one who did actually get to be rich and famous,’ Annie said, unable to resist pointing this out, since no-one else had.
    Manon and Ursula exchanged sympathetic looks.
    ‘I need to go to the toilet,’ Manon said.
    ‘Me too,’ said Ursula.
    ‘Well, I’ll go on ahead and see if I can’t charm some croquet mallets out of the porter,’ Annie said.

    ‘In this mood, we’d better make sure she wins,’ Ursula said to Manon’s reflection in the mirror as they washed their hands at adjacent sinks.
    Manon smiled.
    Ursula dusted her nose with powder and reapplied her lipstick.
    There was something different about Ursula’s face, Manon thought.
    Ursula noticed her puzzling.
    ‘Coloured contact lenses,’ she said.
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘They are blue, but for some reason they make my eyes look green.’
    ‘Yes. You do look different, and you’ve lost so much weight... You look lovely.’
    It sounded even better with Manon’s slight French accent. Ursula felt her face suffusing with a satisfied glow of affection towards her. She tried to think of something nice to say back, but Manon’s beauty was so obvious, it seemed silly to point it out.
    They walked up the Banbury Road side by side. The sun was blindingly bright and hot after the cool gloom of the restaurant.
    ‘Who organized this event?’ Manon asked, not really knowing where to re-start the conversation.
    ‘Leonora,’ Ursula replied.
    ‘Leonora?’
    ‘You know, JCR president, music scholarship. She used to sing...’
    Manon still looked blank.
    ‘You’d be up all night having an essay crisis in the library and you’d come down blearily to get a cup of coffee and check if you’d got any post, and there she’d be, mid-aria by the pigeonholes.’
    ‘Oh, her! And what does she do now?’ Manon asked.
    ‘Teaches a bit, I think, sings in a choir, the one Penny sang in, so they remained friends. She’s divorced. Two kids.’
    Manon detected a certain sourness creeping into Ursula’s voice then Ursula stopped walking and looked sideways at Manon as if sizing up whether to go further.
    ‘Actually, I think she’s got her sights on Roy — both of them single parents now and both with two, although hers are a bit older,’ she said, then sighed. ‘It’s all very well, this reunion, but I can’t help thinking it has given her a