Downstairs the kitchen was full of people. Claire was cooking pancakes, Alexander was eating them, Muriel was sitting with her cup of coffee, and Bernice was standing inside the back door, dripping snow. Claire had been sleeping on the couch for the last few nights, having walked out after an argument with her mother. 'I told Ma,' she was telling Bernice, 'I'd had enough of all her moaning - where had I been, who was I with, on and on and on!'