Nell: David looks a little disgruntled.
Me: He’s finding it difficult to accept the heatwave and the very high pollen count.
Nell: Aren’t we all?
Me: Don’t tell me you have a heatwave up there?
Nell: Not exactly.
Me: Or a high pollen count?
Nell: We might have, but it doesn’t affect us.
Me: What do you mean?
Nell: We have everything nice and nothing nasty.
Me: I’m very glad to hear it.
Nell: There are seagulls up here, but no Beefies.
Me: They’ve probably all gone down there.
Nell: Droll. Guardians relinquish any Badness and make a fresh start.
Me: How’s Poppy doing with that?
Nell: Badly. The pirate instinct has not left her, I’m afraid.
Me: Did you know pirates wore eye patches not because they’d injured an eye but because they had to go below deck in the dark and having an eye patch meant one eye was always used to darkness and could see?
Nell: I’m not telling her that. The sword and hat are bad enough.
Me: It also explains why they swapped sides.
Nell: Have you quite finished?
Me: I thought it was interesting.
Nell: Could we get back to David, please?
Me: He wants to go out and he can’t until the early evening when it’s cooler.
Nell: Quite right.
Me: He says Rupert goes out.
Nell: Rupert’s a grown wolf with a business to run.
Me: Dave’s a grown Labrador, to be fair, and Rupert is mainly delivering popsicles to dehydrated seagulls.
Nell: I hope they’re paying him.
Me: Only in devotion. He’s quite the Beefy Hero nowadays.
Nell: Good grief.
Me: They all shout ‘Pops’ when they see him.
Nell: It’s better than ‘Me’ I suppose.
Me: It’s actually rather sweet.
Nell: It’s about ice lollies, not Rupert.
Me: Yes. Sorry.
