The support units looked at each other, silently discussing how to make sense of that. Maddy chuckled. ‘Twister, oh man! You two meatbots haven’t lived until you’ve played a game of Twister!’

She realized Sal and Liam were giving her the same bemused look. ‘Seriously? You guys never heard of it either?’

Liam pursed his lips. ‘Is it a bit like chess?’

‘What? No!’

‘Fidchell? Brandub?’

‘Whuh? Never heard of it. No, it’s kinda like —’

‘Tafl Macrae?’

‘No … no, nothing like that. It’s like —’

‘Pog Ma Gwilly?’

‘Will you shut up a sec?’ she said, exasperated. ‘I’m trying to explain it.’ Her eyes suddenly narrowed with suspicion. ‘Hang on, Pog Ma Gwilly? You … you just made that up, didn’t you?’

Liam’s good-natured smile widened to a confessional grin.

She was about to reach across the small round table and playfully cuff his ear when she noticed Sal staring far too intently at the cafe’s hot snacks menu card.

‘Sal? You OK?’

Her brows were locked firmly together.

Liam tapped her arm. ‘You that hungry?’

She shook her head slowly. ‘Thirty-seven items on the snack menu …’

‘Uhh … all right.’ Liam looked at Maddy. She shrugged. ‘Oka-a-y.’

‘That was a minute ago. Now,’ Sal continued, ‘there are only thirty-six.’ She looked up at them. ‘Something just vanished off the menu! Just, like, seconds ago.’

Liam looked down at the menu card he’d been studying earlier. ‘Hey … hang on, it’s not there any more.’

Maddy leaned over. ‘What isn’t?’

He shook his head. ‘I was going to order it … and … it’s, well, it’s gone!’

Sal had the menu memorized, almost word for word. ‘The Lincoln Burger.’