She felt cold! Very, very cold! And she was wet. She felt wet all over. Slowly her mind began to take stock of the situation. Memories came flooding back to her, fragmented at first, then in detail. Lots of detail! She groaned out loud. She was aching all over. Her head hurt. She didn't dare open her eyes, so the memories had a lovely screen to play themselves on.

It had all started out so well! She was really looking forward to going out to the club with the girls from work. She'd not had a good night out in ages, always working late and trying that little bit harder to please the boss and earn herself some brownie points. Then her supervisor had decided to retire. She'd worked relentlessly to convince everyone that she was the right person to be offered the job. Her application and interview had been well received and she'd been sure she had it in the bag; so why not be courteous and send her predecessor off in style! She'd spent hours choosing the right outfit and fixing her hair. Her make-up could not have been done better by a professional. She had walked confidently into the club. She'd smiled and chatted and had a few drinks. Just about everybody had been there!

She groaned again. Everybody had been there!!! They'd all seen what happened.

It had been halfway through the evening that the boss had turned up with a young blonde bimbo on his arm. She'd wondered if his wife had known about that! Yet she had smiled, been polite. The boss had been happy to see her. Even told her that she worked much too hard and should get out more often. She had glowed in his praise, or had it been the brandy that had made her glow?

She curled up into a ball and held her head, trying hard to remember just exactly how much brandy it had been!

Her head had been spinning and she'd been floating on cloud nine for quite a while, when the boss had decided to announce who was going to be replacing her supervisor. She'd gone over to stand next to him, prepared herself to act surprised, smiled at everyone around her while his words had slowly sunk into her fuzzy brain.

Slowly she opened one eye, not wanting to replay what happened next on her eyelid screens. She carefully focused on the dolphin patterns on her parents bathroom tiles. Then lent out of the bath and chucked up down the toilet; twice!

"You're awake then." Said her mother as she walked in the door. "Next time, young lady, I'd appreciate it if you got undressed before you took a shower."

Glaring at her Mother she allowed herself to slide out of the bath and onto the floor. 'Work hard and you'll get everything you want' That was what her Mother had nagged into her since she'd first started school.

Her Dad put his head around the door and grinned down at her. "The police say you knocked him out cold!!" He whispered. " Laid him flat! Was it the right hook I taught you?"

She grinned. She loved and respected her Mother dearly, but when all was said and done, it was her Dad's advice about laying a punch that had won the day! She nodded, then groaned again as she put her hands to her sore head and lowered it to rest on her knees. She gazed out of her dark tangled locks. "Mum!!" She croaked down the stairs. "Get me some peroxide down the shops!!"