galleon | parler en aer

Estelle, now. Estelle didn't know the first thing about nurturing a burgeoning relationship. You had to be aloof. You had to sort of hang around, looking bored, and wait for them to come to you. That's the way you got on top. So to speak.

No, Estelle seemed ready to follow Rita to the ends of the earth, purely out of that patent Estelle-brand of curiosity. Bad tack. Knowing Rita.

Rita didn't know anything about people either, since she went around provoking the old man however it pleased her, like a kid kicking an apple tree. Sooner or later she was going to get a whomp on the head, and then there would be a fight for posterity. Knowing Rita.

The old man, for his part, only knew how to run his mouth, but that was enough. Knowing Rita.

Yuri only took pity because there was nothing else to take part in after lunch. Judith was not around to keep him company. Judith being just as expert in burgeoning relationships as Yuri, and having a sweet rack to boot. So right about then, unable to shake the sense that he'd been trumped, Yuri took pity.

Kicking back on his bed at the inn, he caught Estelle walking past the door. "Hey," he called out to her. "Let's talk."

"Ah?"

She looked over in what, for Estelle, was probably thorough suspicion. Like she was being so covert.

"Look, you should learn a thing or two--"

"Oh, Yuri. Hello!"

"--about nurturing a burgeoning relationship."

"Huh? Did everyone else go out?"

Yuri was not to be deterred. "Okay," he said when Estelle had finally come in to perch primly on the chair across. "Know anything about playing hard to get?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah." No, he wasn't ready to talk about birds and bees, so best to stick to generalities. "See, people... can be pretty stupid. The more you push away, the closer they want to come. So when you want to get close to someone, you have to push away a little. You follow? It's one of those contrary things... A paradox. You get me?"

Estelle nodded. "I see..." She gave him a polite smile.

"You don't get me."

"Yuri..."

"Fine. Just keep it in mind. As sage advice."

Estelle stared at him. Then, seeming to remember herself, she straightened the skirts over her knees. "Yuri," she repeated cautiously. "Um. I'm really sorry. But I'm not sure I um. Feel the same way about you..."

Yuri gave up. "I think I heard Rita say she was going down to the wharf," he said. "Something about a library..."

"There's a library here?" At once Estelle was on her feet. "With books in the continental dialect? Yuri! Why didn't you tell me sooner? Sorry, I've got to go! And! Um! Sorry about the other thing!"

"Never mind," said Yuri. His original plan of sleeping through the hottest portion of the day was making him magnanimous.

But he couldn't even manage to sleep, and after ten minutes of genuine effort went to find Judith. Truth be told, hanging around looking bored wasn't really his thing, either.