Comparatively Immortal

Talk about what? asks Terence.

Options, says Peut-être.

I know what they are, says Terence.

This is not about you, says Peut-être.

But you're my brick, says Terence.

I am A brick, says Peut-être. 

And he wants to talk to ME, says the Ear. Can we have some privacy?

I suggest Terence, Baby-Glossy and I go outside and wait for the sun to come up, says Saint Roley. 

Why can't we all go? asks Terence.

Come, says Saint Roley. We'll sit on the step and I'll tell you a story.

Yay! says Terence.

Out they go.

Leaving the Ear and Peut-être in the kitchen.

So you think I'm immortal, says Peut-être.

Compared to me, says the Ear.

One can't be comparatively immortal, says Peut-être. One either is or one isn't. Tell me about your origins.

I once was an orange, says the Ear.

The whole orange? asks Peut-être.

The peel, says the Ear. Actually, a long strip of peel. I came out of a bag of oranges belonging to Gaius.

No need to go back that far, says Peut-être. What happened next?

I was carved into an Ear by Louisa. My fellow Ear was smaller, created by Baby-Glossy. We were to be in a competition. It was: Who would speak first?

Who won? asks Peut-être.

It was never determined, says the Ear. At that point we both realised we had a gift. I have forgotten what it was though.

Never mind, says Peut-être. How did you get soggy?

Water, says the Ear, followed by a trip in a cellophane packet.

It seems to me, says Peut-être, we have much in common. I was a frond of red seaweed, wafting about on an undersea rope. Until I was unexpectedly ripped off by two thuggish sharks, and delivered through various channels to Louisa who ignorantly boiled me in water after which I hardened into the brick you see before you today.

Meaning? asks the Ear.

Human intervention, says Peut-être. The cause of our current woes. You're too soft, I'm too hard. That's the difference.

And you aren't disintegrating, says the Ear.

True, says Peut-être. How about we team up? 

If you are disintegrating you have little to lose.

The Ear accepts the brick's offer.