Me: Have you seen the Puppies?
Nell: They’re upstairs on your bed watching the Bus Stop.
Me: Of course. Now that the children are back at school they need to monitor it again.
Nell: They’re also on the lookout for Italians.
Me: Italians?
Nell: Yes.
Me: How are they going to know they’re Italian?
Nell: You know how.
Me: No, I don’t.
Nell: From the spaghetti bolognese.
Me: Real Italians don’t even eat spaghetti bolognese. They say it needs a different pasta.
Nell: That’s not the point.
Me: It kind of is. Anyway, Dave must have met the Italian.
Nell: David said his spaghetti bolognese was left at the Bus Stop for him in a sealed Tupperware container.
Me: How did he know it was for him?
Nell: Because there was writing on the lid.
Me: There might be more than one Dave in the village. He could be eating someone’s lunch.
Nell: No. It was definitely for him.
Me: How can you be sure?
Nell: It said ‘grande, coraggioso, bellissimo ragazzo’.
Me: Nice accent.
Nell: Thank you.
Me: What does it mean?
Nell: Big Brave Beautiful Boy.
Me: Oh dear.
Nell: Quite.
Me: I’m the only one who calls him that.
Nell: Not anymore.
Me: How did they know?
Nell: We were discussing this at Morning Thoughts. Either our conversations are being bugged or we have a traitor in our midst.
Me: There’s a third option.
Nell: What is it?
Me: They might have read my book?
Nell: True. It could be all three but I’m leaning towards NOIR.
Me: Don’t do that, Nell.
Nell: Figuratively, not literally.
Me: I see. There are an awful lot of birds in the village. It would be easy for a rook to go unnoticed.
Nell: They’re never alone.
Me: No. Sorry.
