Nell: Good to see your smiling face again.
Me: Thank you. What’s Dave looking at?
Nell: Probably the tortoise. He’s taken against it for some strange reason.
Me: Is it still there?
Nell: I can’t just send it back to Kingsbridge in this uncertain weather.
Me: Can’t you?
Nell: No. Its rucksack could get wet and it doesn’t have a hat.
Me: I didn’t think tortoises cared about rain.
Nell: It’s not a turtle, you know.
Me: Is Lionel King still there?
Nell: Lionel King has gone on tour with the Whippets Institute. Do keep up.
Me: Just checking. Did they find a Maria?
Nell: Yes. A most unsuitable choice.
Me: Who is it?
Nell: Gladys.
Me: Our Gladys?
Nell: Yes. As I said to my friend Dorothy ‘You don’t expect a Pomeranian to be playing a nun. They are far too fluffy.’
Me: She can hide the fluff under her wimple and Maria’s only a nun for a very short time.
Nell: The llamas are joining her on stage.
Me: As nuns?
Nell: Don’t be ridiculous. Llamas can’t be nuns. As the Von Trapp children.
Me: Who’s playing the Baron?
Nell: Alejandro.
Me: Now that is an odd choice. An Ecuadorian alpaca is not at all what people are going to expect.
Nell: I know. His rendition of ‘Edelweiss’ has to be heard to be believed. The tortoise tried to teach him a little German but he struggles with English.
Me: The tortoise speaks German too, does it?
Nell: Of course. How is the writing?
Me: Wonderful. Being by the sea is such a tonic. The words are simply flowing out of me.
Nell: Nothing new there. Anyway, must go. I’m taking tea with the tortoise in French.
Me: You don’t speak French.
Nell: Au contraire.
Me: Right. Sorry.
