"Hi, Alec! Howya doing?" She beams at me, still a little out of breath from running across the road to say hello.
It is only the second time we've met. Her blue eyes have a glint in them. "Would you like to, er, sit in the park and have a chat"
"Well, yes - if you have the time." Is she blushing, or is it the sun amd the sea wind?
"Of course. I just came out to go down to the front and buy some fresh fish from the..."
She has taken a step back, almost hit by a Post Office van mounting the pavement. "Fish? To eat?"
"Well, yes. Are you a vegeterian? " Her face has gone white, her eyes now look like guided, hostile weapons. "Vegan, perhaps?"
"I thought you were kind and compaasionate. I thought you were different."
"Quite easily,' I say, exaggerating, longing for her smile to return, "I could adapt to a diet consisting entirely of vegetables."
"Vegetables? Have you no conscience, no feelings at all?" It's only now I notice how slim she is. Naked, I might be able to see right through her. "You're just a typical human. How can you kill anything that grows?"
"Well," I improvise wildly, trying to come up with some consensus, some alternative foods acceptable to her. "I suppose there's always - salt?"
"And why, Alec," she responds, voice trembling with righteous triumph "Why should salt suffer?"
