Three Apples

I thought we were eating the rest of our sandwiches, says Margaret.

We are, says Katherine, but let's buy three takeaway coffees, then choose a nice spot by the river.

While you do that, says Gaius, I'll find a supermarket, and purchase an apple.

Three apples, says Margaret.

Very well, says Gaius. 

He goes off.

He forgot to look for his pencil, says Terence.

Remind him when he comes back, says Margaret.

Katherine goes into the café and orders three coffees.

Margaret waits outside with Terence.

Mind if I run my poem by you? asks Margaret.

Do I have to run too? asks Terence.

We won't be running, says Margaret.

Okay, says Terence.

I'm not sure about the beginning, says Margaret. 

Try A dog has died, says Terence. That's what I do.

A dog has died? says Margaret.

It's not a question, says Terence.

It was, says Margaret. Why has it died?

It could be a cuttlefish, says Terence.

My beginning is not like that, says Margaret. Will you listen?

I'm listening, says Terence.

You see before you a landscape/ of horizontal limestone beds, says Margaret.

Woo! says Terence.

Or should it be I see? says Margaret.

Icy? says Terence.

I see a landscape before me, says Margaret. See the difference?

Yes, says Terence. I see.

I see before me a landscape/ of horizontal limestone beds, says Margaret. Does that sound better?

Yes, says Terence. Then what?

And calcareo-silicious deposits/ in ochres, yellows and reds, says Margaret.

That's good rhyming, says Terence. 

Katherine comes out with the coffees.

And Gaius appears in the distance with three apples in a compostable bag.