..... ¶
He is sitting tall at the bar, head tickled by the old Christmas decorations. Soon he will walk across the pub with a bottle of wine and two glasses, and sit down opposite her. She'll be shocked or amused or annoyed... Then the story proper will begin, as before.
But this can't happen yet, because I have deleted the dialogue that used to be here. This time, it's best if he's not so rude to the barman. It's a different kind of story now. We know nothing about him until this moment, and for a while after very little.
Meanwhile, he sits, silent, at first facing a direction I have still to decide.
