A Long String Of Ex-Dried Potato

In the cellar, Saint Arnoc gives Terence a bowl.

Run up the steps and fill it with water, says Saint Arnoc.

Then what? asks Terence.

Bring it back down, says Saint Arnoc.

That's asking for trouble, says Terence.

So it is, says Saint Arnoc. Stay up there, I'll send Rusty up with the plates.

Then what? asks Terence.

You will wash them, says Saint Arnoc. The task will be difficult. They're encrusted with potato.

Scrape them first, says Saint Ténénan. Make use of the spoons.

Okay, says Terence. He runs up the stone steps with the bowl.

Rusty follows with the dirty soup plates and spoons.

Terence fills the bowl from a tap in the garden.

Rusty drops the plates and spoons in.

Now, watch what happens, says Terence. 

Nothing happens.

What's supposed to happen? asks Rusty.

They get clean, says Terence.

Weren't we meant to scrape them? asks Rusty,

Too late, says Terence. But it doesn't matter. It might just take longer.

They sit down, either side of the bowl.

Let me scrape one, says Rusty.

Okay, says Terence.

Rusty grabs hold of a spoon. Runs it round the rim of a soup plate. 

A long string of ex-dried potato floats free.

That proves it would've been faster, says Rusty.

Look at it, says Terence. It's trying to tell us something.

What? asks Rusty.

It's a letter, says Terence. 

P, says Rusty. P for potato. No, look, it's broken up. Now it's a C. 

C for coverlet, says Saint Arnoc, looming up behind them. When you've finished the dishes, wash this coverlet. And use disinfectant.

He places a bottle of Eau Ecarlate on the grass.

Then he goes back downstairs to join Saint Ténénan for a nap.

This is going to take FOREVER! says Terence.

It doesn't have to, says Rusty. Let's wash everything together.

You're smart, says Terence. If you weren't already a cherub, you could be a parrot.

What does that mean? asks Rusty.

Cherubs are smarter than parrots, says Terence.

Thanks, says Rusty, pleased to have been complimented twice.