Me: Look at Harriet sleeping.
Nell: Don’t wake her. She’s tired after Gliding with Gladys.
Me: The darling girl has a proper grown up fluffy Devon coat.
Nell: What are you talking about?
Me: Haven’t you noticed? Since we moved down to Devon your coats have got thicker and fluffier. Particularly yours, actually.
Nell: I do have a natural wave.
Me: Yes, and now Harriet is getting one too. I think it comes from swimming in the sea.
Nell: I think you are talking nonsense.
Me: My hair always goes curlier by the sea. Just imagine if Alejandro and the llamas went swimming.
Nell: Alejandro is an alpaca and has naturally curly hair and the mere idea of the llamas going swimming is putting me off my toast and marmalade.
Me: Talking of alpacas, I had a Skype call with my publishers about the next book yesterday and they have alpacas at their book farm in Pennsylvania.
Nell; Good for them.
Me: We thought about setting up a Skype call with Alejandro. He might like to chat to his American cousins.
Nell: That’s a ridiculous idea.
Me: Why?
Nell: We don’t know anything about these academic alpacas.
Me: I’m not sure they are academics, Nell. I think they just live on the book farm.
Nell: And Alejandro is from Ecuador. Do they speak Spanish?
Me: Probably not, but Alejandro’s English is really good now. He’s helping Manuel learn.
Nell: I’m not sure it’s a good idea.
Me: I know ideally you wouldn’t choose a Spanish speaking alpaca to teach a Spanish speaking octopus English but I don’t think the accent really matters.
Nell: What are you talking about? I mean Alejandro is rather shy in an extrovert way. He might find Skyping a little daunting.
Me: Oh, I see. Sorry.
