No fewer than four beggars waited outside the supermarket, and on the opposite corner, a soup kitchen was midway through distributing sandwiches, sausages and hot drinks to a much larger group of men and women. Laden with groceries, Polly crossed the street, keeping her head bowed low so that raindrops wouldn't wet her face.

She walked down the alleyway beside her block of apartments because it was a slightly shorter distance to the elevator by the side door than by the front door and marbled foyer, and her arms were losing circulation from the heavy shopping bags. She concentrated on remaining in control of her bladder's functions, cursed, "Eight stupid glasses, I hate you," shifted her shopping from arm to arm so that she could reach her bag, and held her purse up to the side door sensor. It beeped open, she stomped along the echoey floor to the elevator, and hit the button with her elbow. Once inside, she swiped her purse past the sensor and pressed "4".

Her phone started ringing when she was stepping out of the elevator, and she let it go to voicemail. She waved her purse past her apartment's door sensor, squeezed through the doorway, gently placed all the shopping on the hallway floor so the fruit wouldn't bruise, and ran into the bathroom. Her next priority was the refrigerated products, then she checked her phone messages and found she'd missed a call from her housemate, Orion.

"Hey Polly, I'm an idiot, I used your keypass last night to bring in my new bookshelf, Dan brought it round, I forgot to put it back, I'm just leaving the office now, I'm guessing you're almost home, give me a call, I'll be there shortly, okay, see you soon, bye..."

Polly felt around her in bag for her purse, and opened it up. She checked the fold where her keypass was stored, and it wasn't there. She checked every possible fold and slip and pocket in her purse and still couldn't find it. She began taking everything out of her purse, and when that was done, she left the contents splayed out over the coffee table and turned away to unpack the rest of the shopping. Then she went through every card that had been in her purse, making sure everything was separate. She made some pasta and waited for Orion to come home.

He woke her up with the loud glass-clink sound of keys dropping into the glass bowl on the hallway table. She had been dozing, curled snugly on the couch.
"Hi, Ri."
"Hi, how's things? Long day huh?"
"It was fine, just fine..." she yawned.
He disappeared momentarily, hanging up his coat.
"...And yours?"
She was hungry again, and prepared toast alongside him while he opened some take-out containers of Vietnamese food.
"Not bad," he said, mechanically, then his tone changed. "What am I saying? It was too busy, too busy. I couldn't get everything done."
"Is it always going to be like that?"
"I don't know."
Polly perched on the couch arm, munching toast.
"You'll never reach the safety of the sky today."
"What's that?"
"Oh. I don't know. I was dreaming the words. Dreaming it over and over. It's kind of creeped me out." She shivered, slightly. "Oh - look at this."

She showed him her purse, empty, and its contents, separated and neatly spread over the coffee table, in rows.
"No keypass," she said.
"Oh yes!" Orion jogged back into his room, returning with her pass. "I'm so sorry about that. Someone let you in?"
"No... that's the thing. It wasn't in my purse but it still worked. How can it work?"
"Well. It can't. Did you steal someone else's? You only have one, don't you?"
He was shuffling through the cards laid out on the table.
"There's no card. I looked, I'm telling you. I only have the one. But how did it work?"
"Well," he laughed, "it can't!"
"Yeah," she laughed too, briefly.
She sorted her cards into a certain order and tucked them into her purse.
"Oh. Someone must have buzzed the door open when you came in. Buzzed the door, the elevator, you know. Waiting for pizza or something. It was a coincidence."
"Yes," said Polly, "yes."

Orion stacked the dishwasher. Polly wiped over the kitchen bench.
"That's a relief," she said. "I was a bit weirded out."
"Well, you know," he said, with a smile.
"Yeah, I know. I'm silly."
She opened her lucky dip box of teas and chose dandelion, and turned on the kettle.
"I just don't know why it beeped though."
"It beeped?"
"Yeah. Each time I held up my purse. The side door, the elevator, my door. Hang on, my door."
He frowned.
"Someone else can't buzz open my door, Ri. Oh, god, I'm confused. How did it work?"
"There must be some explanation," he said.
"I know."