'Why is this #### always at night?' Josh asked scathingly.

'It focuses the mind,' Joan said.  'There are fewer inputs, fewer distractions.'

'Yeah right.' Josh smirked.  'Nothing to do with cheap thrills then.'

Joan uncovered the crystal ball on the low table.  'Do you want to do this or not?'  She switched on a small, halogen desk lamp and adjusted the head so that the light shone into the clear glass.

'Since each of us had a personal invitation to uour room Tommy said, testing the castors on the Ouija-board pointer, 'and we knew nothing about anyone else, close contact with the living rather than the dead was probably more in our minds.'

'Sex?'  Joan's laughter was bell-bright and genuine, and all the more cruel for that.  'You thought I'd invited you here for sex?'  She looked directly at Josh.  'Get a grip, wasn't that the phrase?'

Tommy placed the small arrow back in the start position on the Ouija board, with the point set towards the the centre of the elaborately drafted arc of letters.  'Board and plancheette are go for contact.' he said, adding with a slight smile, 'and as it happens I was going to turn you down.  I don't want to be treated as a sex object.'

'I do,' Josh said, rubbing his hand backwards and forwards across his shaved head.  'But you've definitely ruined your chances with me.  Not that you had a hell of a lot to begin with.'  He sat down on one of the floor cushions that had been placed by the table and nodded at the crystal ball.  'What exactly do you expect to do with that?'

'It's an experiment,' Joan said.  'You're not supposed to expect things are you?'  She switched on a second halogen lamp and moved it about minutely until she was satisfied that the Ouija board was properly illuminated.

There was a tap at the door and Meg came in looking flushed and out of breath.  'Sorry, am I late?  Sorry.'

'Put the latch down will you,' Joan said, ignoring the apology.

'You want me to lock it?' Meg asked.

'And turn out the main light.'

'Are you sure we want to be locked in a dark room with these two?' Meg said.

'My thought exactly,' Josh grunted.

Tommy pushed his hair back from his forehead.  'But if you both promise to keep your hands to yourselves we'll risk it.'

'No risk at all, trust me,' Meg snorted.

'My thought exactly,' Josh repeated.

Meg locked the door.  'Especially for him.'  She turned off the light, made her way uncertainly to the table and flopped down on to one of the cushions.

'Right,' Joan passed her hand over the crystal ball a couple of times.  'Are we sitting comfortably?'

'I hope we're not required to cross your palm with silver,' Tommy said.

'You really should give up whining about being poor, Tommy,' Meg remarked.  She sounded irritable.  'It's not very attractive.'

'I'll take your word for it,' Tommy murmured.  'Not being attractive is your area of expertise after all.'