One Life. Kate Grenville

a cuppa. She could see Mr Bennetts was scandalised. Making tea on the dispensing equipment! Mr Gledhill was the boss, though, and in the end Mr Bennetts let himself be persuaded to have a cup too, and then Mr Gledhill brought a cup out to Nance in the shop. Mr Bennetts disapproved of that too and she drank her tea as quickly as she could, but thought, Now there’s a man with a heart.

      Charlie Gledhill was a bright quick chunky fellow, only a few years older than Nance. He had a way of looking you in the eyes and listening when you spoke. A self-made man, she got that feeling, with his sights set on a life bigger than the Enmore Pharmacy.

      He liked a laugh. Told her one night about the patient who brought in a script for ‘mist. ADT’. It should have been ‘mist. APF’—a mixture made up according to the Australian Pharmaceutical Formulary—so Charlie rang the doctor. Oh, the doctor said, the man’s a malingerer, I meant give him Any Damn Thing!