Mona vomits when she receives the diagnosis of inoperable cancer that will kill her before Christmas. Although she lives in Hampstead with her husband Jerry and twin sixteen-year-old daughters, the handsome forty-six-year-old sees Dr. Barton in Stockwell, not wanting all of her friends to know that she is having tests run. She brings him plant food and books to tend to his office plants. Mona hastens to clean up the vomit and then wants to settle up as always, in cash. She assures him that she is not suicidal and insists that she will return to trim his plants before walking away from the office.