Bone Up

Next morning, in the office.

Are you sure you want to do this? asks Belle.

Yes, says David. A new me. Jolly camper.

Keep in touch, says Vello. Let us know if you discover a new spider.

Oh yes, says Belle. You might get the naming rights. Humus spider.

Very funny, says David. Well I'm off. Having lunch with the team.

Including Arthur? asks Sweezus.

Who knows? says David. But I should get to know Elodie and Shu a bit better.

Elodies's smart, says Belle. You'll get on well with her. Shu's a poet, and he's got this thing for Arthur.

Yeah, says Sweezus. He probably doesn't know much about spiders.

Nor do I for that matter, says David. But there's always the internet.

That's right, bone up, says Vello.

David gives him a v-sign, or something like it, and heads off to lunch.

.......

Lunch is at Gaius's.

Therefore it is lacking in forethought.

A tin of diced fruit! says Gaius, coming out of the pantry.

Surely you can do better than that, says Elodie.

She enters the pantry, and comes out with a tin of sardines, and a cellophane bag of dried prunes.

Any bread? asks David.

In the freezer, says Gaius. Good thinking!

He rubs his hands together. What a feast we shall have!

What can I have? asks Terence.

A prune, says Elodie.

A red drink? asks Terence.

A prune will turn into a red drink if you wait long enough, says Elodie.

Will it? says David. Wouldn't it be brown?

Terence's joy turns sour.

Brown? Which grownup is smarter?

He looks hard at a prune.

The prune looks back at Terence. Bluh! Why is HE here?

Terence goes off to find Baby Pierre, or maybe Lavender. Or that dickhead Ouvert.

This is nice, says David, peeling the sardine can open. Getting to know one another. Tell us about yourself, Elodie.

Yes, do, says Gaius. We only know that you play the guitar, and know something of spiders.

There is more to me than that, says Elodie. My parents sent me to music school, art school, swimming school, design school, maths school, logic school and cooking school, hoping I'd settle on something but I didn't, so I'm just good at everything.

A provocative answer, thinks David.

What about you, Shu?

I have always been a poet, says Shu. Middle Tang is my oeuvre.  A thin frost glistens like little mirrors on my cold mat, the high lantern flickers, that sort of thing.

Very fine, says David. And I hear you're fond of Arthur?

Endless longing breaks my heart, says Shu.

What a team we shall make, says David. Gaius, a world famous natural historian, a heart broken poet, a self-confessed expert in everything, and me, a fun guy.

Don't undersell yourself, says Gaius.

On the contrary, says David. It's my ambition to be a fun guy. And to prove it, I shall eat this frozen slab of bread with sardines and diced two-fruits from a tin, while watching a prune for signs of increasing redness or brownness.

Terence has returned, not having found Baby Pierre and his cohorts.

Did David say redness?

He examines the prune.

Water, says Elodie. Nothing will happen without water.

Red water, says Terence.

That would speed up the process, says Elodie.

But it would be cheating, says David.

He's not yet a fun guy.