GU_Galley

Posted on Thu Nov 16th, 2023 @ 11:34pm by Commander Gabriel Stewart & Lieutenant Commander Andrew "Drew" Chandler & Captain Dr. Nairut Noxi & Lieutenant JG Jenny Goldstein

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: https://www.uss-deliverance.starfleetuk.org/index.php/sim/missions/id/1
Location: Ship's Services - Galley
Timeline: Getting Underway
Tags: dietary, lounge, .Chix'alk, Gahi, Nairut Noxi, Alula Beru, Sehila, Sabrina Davis, Samuel Patterson, Myers Hanson, Katherine Peck, Tallia Jenkins, Donovan Sharp, Peter Newman, Blair Stevens, Andrew Chandler, Mira Napier

[[ This post documents the activities that occur in the Civilian Affairs department, Crew Support Division, Ship's Services during the Getting Underway thread ]]

Gabriel was sitting in the XO's chair on the Bridge. The Deliverance had left dock, and was headed to the worm hole/ He tapped his comm badge. "CPO Gemi. Contact all personnel and verify their dietary needs."

Gemi tapped Eir comm badge, spoke quickly, then allowed the UT to translate Eir language into Federation Standard. "Gemi will comply." E then went to the main terminal and pulled up the crew manifest. Having studied the manifest, E decided to start with the species with the least number of beings on board the ship. Since the majority of the crew were Human, followed by Eir own species, .Chix'alk, the crew list went as follows:

Tellarite/Male/45: LtCdr Kofupp Kagg
Bajoran/Female/45: Lieutenant Dr. Nairut Noxi
Trill/Romulan/Female/27: Lieutenant Alula Beru
Romulan/Female: Lieutenant Sehila

After reviewing the list, Gemi decided to start with Lieutenant Dr. Nairut Noxi, a Bajoran Female. E would then proceed through list, then consult the remainder of the Humanoid crew.

But first, E needed to notify Eir superior officer, LtJg Goldstein. E tapped Eir comm badge and, after the chirp, spoke rapidly in an almost inaudible voice, while Eir eyes and horns, normally a gray color, proceeded to go through a colorful range of colors. After this monologue was complete, the communique was transmitted to it's intended recipient, LtJg Goldstein.

=/\= "Gemi contacting LtJg Goldstein. Gemi has developed a list of personnel to consult for the purpose of verifying any anomalous dietary requirements. Gemi has transmitted the list to LtJg Goldstein."

Tapping Eir comm badge, Gemi began speaking in rapid .Chix'alk. The embedded UT monitored the language, along with the colorful changes on Eir horns, and then sent the message to Dr. Nairut.

Goldstein

They were holding the fort… barely. Science seemed to be the Cinderella department on this particular ship, but somehow Jen, her oppo' Tallia and a couple of noncoms were holding it all together, just. As she walked to the Officers’ Mess to meet the .Chix'alk chef for the first time, butterflies admittedly in her stomach, she couldn’t help wishing that she had the trained scientist under her for real, in the lab, not just toiling over a hot replicator.

As for the officers’ stomachs: let them eat cake! She needed Gemi Gahi in the lab more than they needed em in the kitchen.

She’d done her homework, sure: read up on all she could about the .Chix'alk homeworld, Chertan Prime; their quadratic family units; their religion of Overlords and their strange audio-chromatic language. Still, she felt a heavy responsibility, as Gemi’s superior, to get this right: to be a support to em while e was under her nominal direction.

It was odd though – Jenny knew what it was to be the singleton, youngest daughter of a family; but what must it be like to be the ‘marsupial’ of the family’? Did you ever get any, well, y’know… action?! As the door to the mess swished open, Jen nearly crashed into the subject of her ruminations. She seemed to be staring at Gemi’s chest. Her neck craned upward the extra 8 inches until she met the calm gaze of the posento looking down and into her brown eyes. Brown eyes indicated surprise to the .Chix'alk: in this case, the colour coding was correct.

“Jeez, Chief, you’re so tall!“ an awed Lieutenant Goldstein blurted out, then wondered how on earth the Universal Translator could relay that to Gemi in mere sound, without the colours.

Gemi heard the chime of the door just as E was walking by the portal. E stopped and turned to face the opening, blinked twice in rapid succession to activate the implanted UT, and spoke 3 words in rapid succession: "Person. Hatch. Office." As E spoke each word, Em eyes changed colors to correspond to the meaning of each word. For the first word, Person, Em left horn remained gray, only it became a lighter shade of gray, indicating an indifferent emotion. Em right horn, initially a neutral gray color, changed to a dark orange color, indicating a declarative type of word.

The second word, Hatch, was a generic term as far as the .Chix'alk were concerned. Any type of word that indicated an opening of any sort, aperture, portal, opening, would have served the same purpose. Hatch was the term that was customarily used in the current environment, so that is the word that Gemi used. Gemi's left horn remained a lighter shade of gray, while the right horn changed to a dark green color, indicating a exclamatory word.

Office, the third word uttered by Gemi, was accompanied by the left horn remaining a lighter shade of gray, while the right horn changed to a dark orange color, indicating a declarative word.

The UT implant, which monitored Gemi's spoken word, along with the colors of Em's horns, had the task of converting the sentence into actions. Since the sequence of nouns indicated an action, the UT knew that a movement was requested. The extra emphasis on the word "Hatch" indicated that an action was required on the item. "Office", being the third word of the cryptic sentence, indicated a destination.

The entire phrase indicated that the person should use the hatch to proceed to the office area. The UT succinctly converted this communication to the common phrase, "Enter." This one word phrase was emitted by the comm panel on the outside of the door.

Jenny's initial statement, “Jeez, Chief, you’re so tall!“, needed to be translated into .Chix'alk, which entailed a dual process: providing words to Gemi's cochlear implants and color changes to Em's ocular implants. The sentence basically translated to "Interjection", "Rank" and "Height.", along with the associated color combinations.

"Interjection" was accompanied by injecting the colors light brown into the ocular implant of the left eye and dark green into the implant of the right eye. "Rank" was accompanied by light gray for the left eye and dark orange for the right eye, and "Height" provided light brown to the left eye and dark green to the right eye.

Gemi responded with "Jenny" "Eyes" ".Chix'alk", with each word bracketed by the color combinations of black for the left horn and light purple for the right horn for the word "Jenny", followed by the letter "ŷ" of the .Chix'alk alphabet repeated 4 times; light brown and light yellow for the left and right horns, respectively, for "Eyes"; and light gray and dark orange for the third word, ".Chix'alk." This combination was translated to "Jenny eyes time 0000 (the number '0', repeated 4 times) .Chix'alk", which was in turn translated to "Is (this the) "zeroth" time (you have laid your) eyes (on a) .Chix'alk(?)" Gemi's comm badge translated the inferred words to "Is this the first time you have seen a .Chix'alk?" with the the proper inflections.

"Yeah."

If Jenny had thought about the infinitesimal weighing of words, shades of colour, rapidity of colour change and locations of colours that was required to translate a few words from the .Chix'alk language to Federation Standard, and vice versa, she would probably have closed her mouth there and then.

But she didn't.

"So, er, I'm Jenny Goldstein, acting Head of the Science department, and I understand that you're a trained scientist, like, ahh, nutritionist: so by Star Fleet logic, you technically report to me. I mean, craziest bit of thinking ever to come out of Fleet Headquarters, cause what do I know about cooking, right? But, well, you know, I think we can make it work. What d'ya think?" she smiled, giving the Universal Translator a nice hot mess of language, inflection, slang, grace words and phrases, facial expression, and good old-fashioned human 'umming' and 'ahhing' to untangle and put back together again.

It could only be hoped that the resulting sounds and colours indicated, at least, that Jenny was being friendly toward the gangly alien.

It did not take long for the UT to translate Jenny's sentences into the succinct .Chix'alk language, which was as follows:
"[bk]Jenny Goldstein[dk][or]" "[sl] ŷŷŷŷ[dk][vl]" "[lt][sl]Science[dk][or]" meaning Jenny Goldstein 1st Science.
"[bk]Gemi Gahi[dk][or]" "[bk]School[dk][or]" "[bk]Scientist[dk][or]" meaning Gemi is a schooled Scientist.
"[bk]Gemi Gahi[dk][or]" "[sl] ŷŷŷÞ[dk][vl]" "[bk]Jenny Goldstein[dk][or]" meaning Gemi is 2nd to Jenny.
"[lt][bn]Mind[lt][yl]" "[lt][sl]Mind[dk][or]" "[lt][sl]Fleet Headquarters[dk][or]" meaning Unsure Mind Fleet Headquarters
"[dk][sl]"Jenny[lt][yl]" "[lt][sl]Mind[dk][or]" "[lt][sl]Chef[dk][or]" meaning Jenny has negative knowledge about Chef duties.
"[bk]Jenny[lt][or]" "[lt][sl]task[dk][or]" "[lt][sl]Gemi[lt][yl]" meaning Jenny and Gemi will task (work) together?

Gemi hadn't actually answered Jenny's question (ill framed though it was) and she now wondered if she had merely asked a rhetorical question which behoved no reply. She was about to rephrase what she'd said when the door swished open and Lt. Commander Kagg stomped it.

Gemi was ready to reply to Jenny's statements and queries, when someone entered unannounced, and immediately started talking to Jenny.

"Goldstein" he greeted Jenny shortly, ignoring the tall unfamiliar form of the .Chix'alk and addressing only the human.

"Been told to come here and talk about food or something, dietary requirements. Waste of time. Who's this, one of your experiments?!!" he grumped, pointing a trotter at the towering Gemi. "What's with the light show?!"

"Sir, you can ask him yourself." said Jenny in the blunt way that Tellarites respected ".... This is CPO Gemi Gahi, e's the master chef for the officers' mess and under my command. Chief, this is Commander Kagg: he's one of your list of minority species"

"MINORITY SPECIES!!! Listen Goldstein, Tellarites are one of the three founding races of the Feder..." Kagg exploded, but Jenny side stepped and indicated that the Chief was the one who needed the information.

Gemi was listening to the unusual exchange between Jenny and Kagg, and, in doing so, received confirmation concerning verbal exchanges with the Tellarite species.

"Oh! Er, well Chief: raw fruit and vegetables is what were Tellarites generally eat!" he omitted to mention the fact that a nicely braised canine was occasionally consumed, as a special treat.

Since it appeared that Jenny was relinquishing her conversation with Gemi to afford Kagg the time to converse, Gemi turned to Kagg and formed a concise, firm response to his comments.

With a quick double-blink, followed by an almost sub-audible response and rapid color modulations of Em eyes and horns, Gemi's response was injected into the subdermal UT, as follows:

"[bk]Kagg[dk][gn]" "[lt][sl]Information[dk][or]" "[bk]Gemi[dk][gn]" meaning "Gemi received the information from Kagg!"
"[bk]Kagg[dk][gn]" "[lt][sl]Door[dk][or]" "[bk]Hallway[dk][gn]" meaning "Kagg will exit now!"

After watching Kagg leave, Gemi turned back toward Jenny and resumed Eir responses to Jenny, via the UT.

"Gemi greets First Officer Jenny Goldstein.
"Gemi is educated Scientist.
"Gemi is Second Officer to Jenny Goldstein.
"Fleet Headquarters thinking is possibly surprising.
"Gemi is not sure whether Jenny Goldstein has knowledge about cooking.
"Jenny Goldstein and Gemi will definitely work together!"

Gemi stood by while Jenny processed what E said, in event there was some misunderstanding of what E said.

Jenny nodded her understanding and agreement to everything that Gemi said. Only one of the comments needed a reply really.

"I don't understand much about cooking, but I understand a lot about eating: at least humans eating!" she answered. "Like a lot of people don't like eating what's good for them, me included." That explained why she was kinda pudgy.

Gemi got the gest of what Jenny was saying, and replied,
"[lt][sl]Gemi[dk][or]" " [lt][sl]knowledge[dk][or]" " [lt][sl]Jenny[dk][or]" " [dk][sl]food[dk][gr]" " [lt][sl]Jenny[dk][or]" " [lt][sl]mouth[dk][or]":
which was translated:" Gemi understands (has knowledge of) Jenny's eating unhealthy food."
This may have been the first time Jenny had heard a compound sentence from a .Chix'alk.

Jenny was starting to choose her words more carefully and just replied "That's good!" rather than her kneejerk reaction, which would be to make a crack about her doctor not being quite so understanding about her sweet tooth.

E then turned away from Jenny, and started tapping on a terminal. Jenny could not see what E was typing, but could see a slight reflection of Eir eyes on the terminal, which revealed that Gemi might have been communicating. When E was done typing, she uttered, "[lt][sl]Kagg[dk][or]" " [lt][sl]Information[dk][or]" "[lt][sl]Computer[dk][or]". "Kagg('s) information (has been placed has been placed on the) Computer." However, since E did not perform the quick double-blink of Eir eyes, the UT did not attempt to translate the utterance.

For a moment Jen thought that Gemi was entering information about her being a great big greedy guts into the computer files, but then reasoned that it was more likely to be Kagg's details.

"So, say, Chief, what sort of things do you like to eat? I mean, what's a really delicious .Chix'alk dish I might like to try?" she asked in a friendly way.

Gemi replied, with the translation being, "The .Chix'alk eat only one item, the nectar from the MielcelOvo ovoid. Lt. Banaii has been working on developing replicator processes that are able to reproduce the MielcelOvo ovoid, with the Abelkoko ovoid inside it, but so far Ve has not provided satisfactory results."

Jenny's brown eyes registered surprise. "What's that, like an egg? You eat nothing but eggs? Wow. My Ma told be if I ate too many eggs I'd get constipated! Imagine eating just eggs?! I just hope you keep regular!" she told the tall chef.

Gemi turned to Eir terminal, tapped a few times, then turned the terminal screen toward Jenny so she could see the pictures: A stack of the MielcelOvo ovoids, a single MielcelOvo ovoid, opened to reveal the inner MielcelOvo ovoid, and the inner MielcelOvo ovoid, opened to reveal the infant Abelkoko.

"Ohhhhh!" Jenny smiled "Sorta more like honey. Ahh, I get it!" she grinned looking up at Gemi. She knew that her facial expression would mean nothing to er, but she couldn't not smile with happiness: knowing that Gemi and er kith and kin weren't just sitting there chewing through boiled eggs all day.

"The .Chix'alk eat the nectar from the inside of the MielcelOvo ovoid. That has always been the .Chix'alk sustenance."

Jenny nodded her understanding "So, is it sweet? It looks like our bee honey on Earth, and that's incredibly sweet. I mean, if I just ate Earth honey all day, I'd be even bigger than I am now."

Gemi stood still for a moment, not looking directly at Jenny, but in her direction. Time seemed to stand still for a while, before E finally formed a response. "Gemi does not know how to answer Jenny's question." was Eir reply. ".Chix'alk does not have a word, or definition, or understanding of the concept of sweet." E stood for a moment, then Eir eyes started rapidly changing colors, while Eir horns remained their non-communicative state of a neutral gray. This went on for a few seconds, interspersed by moments of Eir eyes returning to a neutral gray.

After a few moments, Gemi responded, "The Gahi family unit does not know how to respond to the word sweet. Gemi apologizes for our lack of knowledge."

"Oh, you asked around, huh?" Jenny surmised that Gemi had somehow telepathically communicated with the other .Chix'alk on board. "Well, don't worry, it doesn't matter." she assured er kindly: Jenny had a nature as sweet as the nectar in question. On one hand, it was understandable that, if you only ever ate one foodstuff, you wouldn't be able to differentiate different flavours too well. Understandable, yes. But also a bit alarming, if the chef in charge of the Officers' Mess couldn't tell the difference between sweet and sour!

Oh well, if things didn't turn out well in the kitchen, Jenny could always use a spare pair of hands in the lab.

"Could I taste some?" Jenny asked "Tell me if it's not allowed or anything y'know: taboo."

Gemi responded, "Yes, LtJg Jenny Goldstein may taste the MielcelOvo nectar." E turned to the replicator, spoke a command, and the replicator responded by producing a complete MielcelOvo ovoid. E picked up a unique tool that resembled a spork with a cutting edge, used the cutting edge to open the ovoid, and laid the open ovoid out on a table. E then picked up an inner ovoid and set it aside. Next, E took the opposite end of the tool, which resembled a melon baller with small tines, and scooped out some of the nectar, which E offered to Jenny.

Jenny thought the thing looked slightly repulsive, but as a scientist she held a sacred trust to experiment and discover new things... including the response of human tastebuds to MielcelOvo ovoid nectar! Maybe she was supposed to take the scooper thing in her hand, but instead she leaned forward and just took it in her mouth, like Gemi was feeding a baby.

She closed her eyes, bracing herself for something horrible or maybe just too overpoweringly sweet: but instead, the syrup was delicious and not over-saccharine.

"Oh my God, Gemi, that's beautiful!!" she gushed and licked her lips, nodding at the towering figure, only hoping that the translator could do full justice to her delight.

After Jenny had tasted the nectar, Gemi spoke, "Gemi would like to request for LtJg Goldstein to assist Gemi in developing definitions for various tastes."

The young human woman nodded with a wide grin "Well, Gemi, LtJG Goldstein would be very pleased to assist you." she nodded.

[Continued in 'Taste Testing' thread]

End of Goldstein Thread

About the time that Gemi completed the log entry, PO1st Class Blair Stevens, LtJg Peter Newman, Lt. Sehila and Lt. Dr. Katherine Peck walked in together.

Lt. Sabrina Davis, Lt. Samuel Patterson and Ens. Tallia Jenkins walked in together. They looked around, and took seats at a table, waiting their turn.

PO1st Class Blair Stevens, the captains Yeoman, went first.

Gemi was sitting at Eir desk when Stevens enter Eir office. E stood up and spoke to her, "Gemi greets Blair Stevens." "Does Blair Stevens have any unique or special dietary needs?"

Speaking to Stevens involved a quick double-blink of Gemi's eyes, followed by an almost sub-audible response and rapid color modulations of Em eyes and horns. Gemi's response was injected into the subdermal UT, which was then transmitted to Eir comm badge, where it was emitted for Stevens to hear.

Stevens replied. "I am allergic to shellfish. I sometimes just eat salads, I like to watch my figure."

Gemi responded with, "Please wait while Gemi enters that information into your records." E held Eir PADD in Eir right hand, which had an opposable thumb, and tapped on the PADD with Eir left hand, at the same time E was speaking information to be recorded by the PADD.

E then looked down at Stevens and replied, "Gemi thanks Stevens for reporting to Gemi with your information. If Stevens has no further information, or questions, Stevens is dismissed."

"Dr. Nairut. Please report to the Chef's Office at your convenience to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

Noxi shook her head when the Comms message came through. The WHOSE office? We have a chef? She placed the basket of syringes she was sorting on the table and told Gahi she'd return shortly. She made her way to the mess hall, as she assumed that's where this chef was located. "Lt. Nairut Noxi reporting as requested. I don't eat much-I don't have time-but when I do, simply Bajoran foods or vegetarian. I have no dietary restrictions nor allergies," she said.

Gemi motioned for Noxi to sit at a chair. E blinked twice in rapid succession to activate the implanted UT, spoke several words in rapid succession, then, after a very short time, the UT responded through Eir comm badge. "Gemi will record Lt. Nairut Noxi's responses. To confirm, Lt. Nairut Noxi eats simple Bajoran foods and vegetarian foods." E then waited for Noxi's response before E made the entries.

Noxi simply nodded. "That's correct. Thank you," she said. "I will leave you alone now. I appreciate the acknowledgment." The Doctor simply stood up and left. It wasn't supposed to be disrespectful. She just didn't know how to interact with this new species yet, and she was also busy.

Gemi watched the Dr. leave the office without having the chance to thank her. E then held Eir PADD in Eir right hand, and tapped on the PADD with Eir left hand, at the same time E was speaking information to be recorded by the PADD.

Lt Sabrina Davis, Ens Tallia Jenkins and Lt. Samuel Patterson reported to the Chef's Office.

Gemi looked up and noticed the three latest arrivals to Eir office. E blinked twice in rapid succession to activate the implanted UT, spoke several words in rapid succession, then, after a very short time, the UT responded through Eir comm badge. "Gemi invites Lt Sabrina Davis to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

"No. I like most foods, and I take vitamins supplements to stay healthy. So I'll probably eat whatever you serve." Davis responded.

Gemi held Eir PADD in Eir right hand, and tapped on the PADD with Eir left hand, at the same time E was speaking information to be recorded by the PADD.

Gemi spoke several words in rapid succession, with the UT responding through Eir comm badge. "Gemi invites Ens Tallia Jenkins
to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

"I don't like fish, or poultry. Otherwise I'll eat what you decide to serve." was Tallia's response.

Gemi held Eir PADD in Eir right hand, and tapped on the PADD with Eir left hand, at the same time E was speaking information to be recorded by the PADD.

Gemi spoke several words in rapid succession, with the UT responding through Eir comm badge. "Gemi invites Lt. Samuel Patterson to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

" No unique dietary requirements. But I like steak. Medium well, with potatoes and some kind of vegetable."

Gemi held Eir PADD in Eir right hand, and tapped on the PADD with Eir left hand, at the same time E was speaking information to be recorded by the PADD.

"Lieutenant Alula Beru. Please report to the Chef's Office at your convenience to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

"Major General Myers Hanson. Please report to the Chef's Office at your convenience to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

"Ens. Donovan Sharp. Please report to the Chef's Office at your convenience to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

Gemi spoke several words in rapid succession, with the UT responding through Eir comm badge. "Gemi invites Ens. Donovan Sharp to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

Donovan gave the question a lot of thought. "I'll eat anything, so you don't have to worry about me, sir."

Gemi held Eir PADD in Eir right hand, and tapped on the PADD with Eir left hand, at the same time E was speaking information to be recorded by the PADD.

"LtCdr. Andrew Chandler. Please report to the Chef's Office at your convenience to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

Gemi spoke several words in rapid succession, with the UT responding through Eir comm badge. "Gemi invites LtCdr. Andrew Chandler to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

Chandler arrived and greeted Gemi with a nod. "It's my understanding you are interviewing crew in regards to dietary needs and restrictions. I don't have any food allergies, Though I am fond of real coffee in the morning. "

Gemi replied, "Gemi thanks LtCdr. Andrew Chandler for providing information of your being fond of partaking real coffee during your morning. Gemi will make a notation to have real coffee processed, instead of replicated, for your consumption. I will also notify the Hydroponics department of this fact to insure we have a supply of real coffee beans." E then held Eir PADD in Eir right hand, and tapped on the PADD with Eir left hand, at the same time E was speaking information to be recorded by the PADD.

"LtCdr. Mira Napier. Please report to the Chef's Office at your convenience to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

Gemi spoke several words in rapid succession, with the UT responding through Eir comm badge. "Gemi invites LtCdr. Mira Napier to discuss any unique dietary requirements that you may have."

LtCdr. Mira Napier entered Gemi's office, held a brief discussion about her dietary requirements, then departed.

Gemi held Eir PADD in Eir right hand, and tapped on the PADD with Eir left hand, at the same time E was speaking information to be recorded by the PADD.

Gemi submitted Eir finalized report to LtJg Goldstein.

+++++

Later, when she read it, Jenny, frankly, scratched her head. Maybe she had an old fashioned sense of what 'dietary requirements' meant: for her it was more a matter of what a person was allergic to or intolerant of - any type of food that would make them ill or unable to perform their duties. Also, any food that was taboo in that crewmember's religion or culture: even then, if she had to eat a pork roast or shell fish to save the ship, well, she'd dig right in.

That said, she was a conservative jew, and more than one bacon sandwich had very willingly passed her lips in her life.

Still, Tallia specifying exactly how she wanted her steak cooked and Andrew demanding his freshly ground coffee beans made her smile a bit: maybe because she'd been four years in the ass-end of nowhere in a tiny tin can of a research ship, living on the 24th Century fleet's equivalent of 'hard tack' and weevils.

But she admired Gemi's ambition and organisational skills getting all this information. Andrew's coffee beans... that should have set her thinking about him: about their night together and their conversation over coffee the next morning. So why was she thinking instead about Gemi, and about the weird conversations they'd had when they were doing the taste testing experiments.

There was something there she coudn't quite clearly explain, even to herself. It was like they were both trapped in very different bodies, very different language and thought patterns, very different cultures, VERY different emotional and reproductive systems. Yet she felt that there was some kind of magical connection between the human woman and the agendered, grey eyed, .Chix'alk posento. At least, that is how she was starting to feel. She shrugged: she didn't understand it herself and she could never explain it to the gangly chief, what with the language difference, and she would never try, for fear of offending er.

 

RSS Feed