No, The Egg Chap

End of the line, says the dolphin. Hop off.

Saint Roley hops off.

Cheeses! says the dolphin.

Saint Roley turns back for the cheeses.

They are wet and have teeth marks in them, and don't look convincing.

How'll you get back? asks the dolphin.

I'll fly, says Saint Roley. I know I can do it. I escaped from the cave, and now look at me, wading.

Flying is different, says the dolphin.

I flew down from the cliff back there, says Saint Roley.

Anyone can fly down, says the dolphin. That's not to say you can't learn to fly horizontal.

Exactly, says Saint Roley. Well, thank you, dolphin. Regards to the hippos.

I never SEE them, scoffs the dolphin.

He swims off.

Saint Roley wades towards a sandy inlet, with rocks.

The rocks are covered with black and yellow lichens, and halophytes, in layers.

The beach is noisy with hundreds of gulls, brown and silver, and a few large and crested cormorants

Several crested cormorants are conversing with one another, in a corner.

Saint Roley wades up.

Seen any oystercatchers lately? asks Saint Roley. I mean besides me.

Conference, says a crested cormorant.

Oh. The oystercatchers are at a conference? This is promising. Perhaps it's about what to do when the rising tides continually wash away their scrapes and their eggs and thereby their potential to continue as a viable species.

Saint Roley keeps this hope to himself.

One should be circumspect, as a newcomer.

Mind telling me where? says Saint Roley.

You the cheese chap? asks another crested cormorant.

No, the egg chap, says Saint Roley.

The cormorants splutter.

.......

In the restaurant, back on the mainland, the apple and rhubarb pudding is in crumbly pieces.

Terence and Baldy! says Belle. If you're not going to eat it, don't mash it!

We're making red balls, says Terence.

Gaius is thinking of the mission. How to keep tabs on Saint Roley.

Binoculars! says Gaius. I should have brought some!

I have a pair, says Jeanne Jugan.

So things are looking good (except for the pudding).

Then Gaius's phone rings.