Hum Bug

Pliny likes humbugs? When did he ever have humbugs? Better ask him.

Pliny, when have you ever eaten humbugs?

Pliny looks guilty. I can't recall the exact circumstances, he says. But it was some time ago.

Did you eat them in our house? I ask him, as a suspicion begins to dawn.

Yes, quite possibly, he nods and begins to hum a little tune as though the conversation is over.

And it is over.

Because I don't want to bug him. But I know exactly where he got the humbugs from. He must have found those ones in the drawer in the bathroom, left over from last winter when someone had a sore throat and got tired of eating Throaties, and bought humbugs, and couldn't finish them, but wouldn't throw them away.

I wondered where they were disappearing to.