And per se and

I read your blog yesterday, said Pliny the Elder.

And? I said

And, he said, I wondered about three things.

What were they?

Firstly, did the pearl simply emerge from your leg one day, or was it a transformation?

I believe it was a transformation, Pliny. Many years earlier I had fallen down when playing netball at school, and scraped my leg. I believe that pearl was formed in the manner that an oyster forms a pearl, around an irritation, in this case a tiny piece of grit or stone.

And how did it emerge?

It popped out fifteen years later, with a little help from me.

O marvellous! And secondly what happened to the Grandma?

I don't know, but I wondered if the event had been a scattering.

Surely not. The Grandma was still living, after all.

And thirdly?

Thirdly, what is the meaning of ampersand?

But Pliny, don't you know? It means a sign that means 'and'. It derives from Latin, so I thought you'd know. AND PER SE AND.

That is a transformation as unlikely as the rest.