The phone rang with good news. I’d won a prize for writing a story and I was $50,000 better off. So I called the fanciest restaurant in our salt-encrusted town and made a booking for two. Sarah and I spruced ourselves up and drank a bottle of champagne and walked down the hill arm-in-arm.

They seated us closely sandwiched between two other couples, but I swore to myself I wouldn’t eavesdrop tonight. I’d have the night off from being a writer. To celebrate we chose a bottle of WA red, because the prizemoney came from WA.

We started with bread cooked in the woodfire oven and burrata and anchovies. The waitress was adorable, but who........

© The Sydney Morning Herald