Who Knows, Rules

Are we there yet? asks Terence.

Ask the Rector, says Gaius.

Terence speeds up to the front of the walking party.

Are we there yet? asks Terence.

Of course not, says the Rector. We are climbing the Tafaga ridge, and will soon see the ruins of Tafaga.

Will there be parrots? asks Terence.

Could be, says the Rector. There! Look up there, Terence!

The Rector has spotted a falcon.

A parrot! cries Terence.

A falcon, says the Rector.

Cannot but be, says Terence.

What's this? says the Rector.

It's a game. Cannot but be. What if you saw a parrot? says Terence.

I just saw a falcon, says the Rector. So did you.

Very good, says Terence.

But it's not funny. Terence has forgotten how to play cannot but be.

He wishes he could ask Baby Pierre what the rules are.

Did you see that falcon? asks Gaius, catching up.

Yes, says the Rector. We both saw it.

It was a parrot, says Terence.

A falcon, says the Rector.

He thinks all birds are parrots, says Gaius. You may find it best to indulge him.

That would be wrong, says the Rector. Ah! here we are. The ruins of Tafaga. We must be at six hundred metres.

Very nice, says Gaius, looking at several old grey stone houses, crumbling and open to the elements.

A bit further on, at the high point, we'll get our first view of the lighthouse, says the Rector.

Kong catches up. He is puffing.

Eh-huh, puffs Kong. Gaius, how about you taking Daniel O'Connell?

Gaius takes the red box, containing Daniel O'Connell.

He looks inside. Daniel appears to be sleeping.

How tranquil it is in the mountains.

Gaius puts the box down.

Next to where he has put it, he spots a green succulent flower.

Exquisite! says Gaius. But I can't identify it.

This, my dear Gaius, says the Rector, is a Bejeque. Aeonium canariense. Found only on Tenerife, and La Palma.

Fascinating, says Gaius. He gets out his phone to take photo.

Click.

Daniel O'Connell wakes up.

Are we there yet?

Terence rushes over, to tell Daniel O'Connell that they are not there yet, and to ask him if he can remember how to play cannot but be, and to tell him that he has spotted a parrot which the Rector thought was a falcon, and..... steps on the Bejeque.

Squiiirch!

Daniel O'Connell is squirted.

Better wipe his legs, says the Rector. Anyone got a hankie?

No. No one has. Daniel's new legs will have to stay sticky.

We saw a parrot, says Terence.

You're supposed to be looking for a spider, says Daniel O'Connell. This is my expedition.

This is my expedition, says the Rector. Come along. Terence, walk beside me.

And the Rector takes charge once again, of the expedition.

As they walk to the view point, he grills Terence on why he believes every bird is a parrot, and by the time they have reached it, and gazed down on the lighthouse, and beyond it, in the sparkling ocean, the beautiful Roques de Anaga, he has discovered  the answer.