Dating Other People

At the very moment Gaius wakes up on a beach towel and immediately identifies the Growling Grass Frog in the Coorong.....

Margaret is on the Comedy Pub Crawl with Raelene and Darren, drinking beer and listening to jokes.

Darren is feeling much better, laughing and whooping.

Margaret and Raelene have discovered a mutual interest.

Oh really? says Margaret. Me too.

(What is this mutual interest? Don't know. Wasn't listening. The comedian is too loud and funny).

Comedian: Archaeologists are fickle. They're always dating other people!

Audience (except Raelene and Margaret): HA! HA! HA! Woohoo!

Margaret: What? I missed that.

Raelene: Me too.

Darren: Ha ha! It was heaps funny. Why are archaeologists fickle?

Margaret: Oh NO!

Darren: Because they...

Margaret (interrupting): Gaius! I've left him behind in the Coorong! He'll never forgive me! And my car is outside the bakery in Kingston!

All this is true. And she has only just remembered. Archaeology was the trigger. Any number of other ologies would have done, as Gaius is a polymath.

I must go! cries Margaret.

No, you're in a state, says Raelene. Let me see you home.

No no, says Margaret. Take me to Gluttony. Katherine will be attending the first night of Candide. I must see Katherine. I've got her shorts, too.

Okay, says Raelene.

Luckily it's just across the road. Darren can stay where he is, until the Crawl recommences.

Raelene and Margaret cross the road and enter the Guttony garden.

There's a queue for Candide. Katherine is in it.

Margaret! cries Katherine. You're back.

Yes, says Margaret. And here are your red shorts, dear. You left them behind in the sand hills.

Is Gaius with you? asks Katherine. I have a couple of extra tickets, in case Arthur and Sweezus turn up. The scallywags. They ought to be here.

No, says Margaret. I had an accident in the bakery at Kingston. This is Raelene, she drove me back to Adelaide. But Gaius is still in the Coorong with no transport.

I'm sure he'll survive, says Katherine. He thrives on hardship.

This makes Margaret feel better.

As Arthur and Sweezus have still not turned up, she and Raelene get the spare tickets.

Raelene is excited to be seeing Candide, which sounds intellectual.

She texts Darren to stay on the Comedy Pub Crawl without her.