“Hello, you back then? Did you have a good time?”
“Yes, it was fab. How about you?”
“Really lovely.”
“I’ve just been photographing a buoy that’s washed up on the beach.”
“That’s terrible!”
“It’s fantastic! A really big one, rolling about in the foam.”
“A really big boy?”
“Yes! Huge great thing.”
“How do you think he got there?”
“Must have been the storms.”
“Don’t you need to tell someone?”
“I was going to go along to the lifeguards office in a bit. If it gets washed out again it could sink a boat or something, and the tide’s still coming in.”
“How can a dead boy sink a boat? Poor thing.”
“Well, you know, all that metal crashing around loose in those waves… er, dead boy?”
“??”
“Ah, no, B-U-O-Y not B-O-Y.”
“I thought you were being a bit callous.”