Sue O'Sullivan meets her longtime friend Caterina Bonetti, a GP, for a midweek dinner at a rustic Italian restaurant in Haberfield. The two women haven't seen each other in six months and have much to catch up on, including Sue's recent camper van trip around Tasmania and Caterina's mother's ninetieth birthday. They trade stories about their daughters-in-law's frustrating expectations—one requiring consent before picking up a toddler, another banning fruit, and another pressuring Caterina to provide free childcare.

After they finally order food, Sue brings up what happened on the plane from Hobart to Sydney. She describes how a woman made death predictions for passengers, including telling a bride she would die of intimate partner homicide. Sue mentions that she exchanged contact details with a man seated next to her who was told he'd die in a workplace accident. Caterina finds the story creepy but assumes Sue isn't actually worried. Sue initially agrees she's not concerned.

However, Caterina—drawing on her medical knowledge—begins probing Sue's health profile, asking about family history of pancreatic cancer, symptoms, and risk markers. Sue has none: she's not obese, doesn't smoke, isn't diabetic, and has no family history. Yet Sue admits the prediction has unsettled her, especially since at their age, people around them keep receiving terrible diagnoses. Sue confides that she and Max are planning their first overseas trip and she'd hate to die before even getting a passport, joking that her dream is a tourist photo pretending to hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Caterina proposes running baseline health tests—an abdominal ultrasound, a breath test for blood sugars, and blood work to check liver and kidney function—framing it as a routine overall health check for peace of mind. Sue is grateful but slightly embarrassed, not wanting to seem self-indulgent. She reflects that despite being sixty, she feels like she's only just getting started with life, having spent decades on autopilot raising five boys and working as a nurse. The chapter ends humorously when Sue dramatically declares she's not ready to die just as the waitress arrives to offer Parmesan, prompting Sue to begin explaining the psychic story to the intrigued waitress while Caterina sighs in exasperation.