The Blessed Ones

It's a five hour flight to Miami.

Kobo is glad of her book.

Never drink wine in the morning. Do not urinate facing the sun. Do not urinate after sunset. Nor on the road. The night belongs to the blessed ones.

Terence is bored (after only five minutes).

He fidgets.

Don't fidget, says Griff. Why don't you ask Nose to finish the story?

Okay, says Terence.

Nose is lifted out of the basket.

Where was I up to? asks Nose.

What do you look like? says Terence.

Can't you see me? says Nose.

Yes I can see you, says Terence.

What do I look like? asks Nose.

It's your story, says Terence.

Give me a clue, says Nose.

A parrot, says Terence.

Griff has had enough of this nonsense.

I shall give you a description, says Griff. You are a small bandicoot, with a pink patch of fuzz near your bottom. You have a long nose, and mouse-like ears. You are intelligent.

Am I? asks Nose.

AM I ? asks Terence.

That remains to be seen, says Griff. If you can be converted, that will go some way towards proving that you are intelligent.

See, says Terence.

See what? says Nose.

You have to give me your claw, says Terence.

No, I don't, says Nose. I'm intelligent already. Shut up and listen:

The dirty little boy was accompanied by a bandicoot with beautiful listening ears. The bandicoot had suffered. Someone's monkey had been placed beside it, in a basket. The monkey's behaviour was lewd. Suffice to say, a stickiness ensued, resulting in a temporary conjoinment. When the conjoinment was ended. the bandicoot was left with a small patch of monkey fur, right near her privates. Luckily for her, the little boy thought they were feathers, as he was besotted with parrots. This idea served to help the bandicoot through her trauma.....

That is an uplifting story, says Griff. And educational.

Terence does not see how it was educational, with all those big words.

He is less than pleased with his parrot.

He undoes his seatbelt and clambers down to the basket, where Kobo is reading Hesiod's Works and Days in a creamy voice to Ageless:

And when your private parts are stained with semen indoors, do not let them be seen as you go near the hearth fire......

He-he! (Ageless is surprised into laughter).

The plane flies on, beating its way to Miami.

The food and drink trolley rolls by, before Terence can clamber up again.

Wah!