(Scene:  Decades-married Mamie and Solly are in The Dive, an underwater hotel.  Mamie is having early morning coffee and reading in the glassed-in lobby.  Fish swim around outside.  Solly joins her.)

Solly:  Good morning, Mamie.  Is there tea?

Mamie (sitting):  Of course.  I just had the weirdest experience. (pointing) Oh, look!  There goes an eel!

S:  Stay focused.  Tea.  What happened?

M:  I’ll pour.  Barstow the proprietor just told me there would be a food truck here later today.  He also gave me a compliment.

S:  A food truck?

M:  Yes. Here’s your tea.

S:  How can there be a food truck?

M:  More variety for the guests?

S (drinking):  No.  Food trucks have engines.

M:  Can’t drive without engines.

S:  Engines heat up.

M:  Oh, my!  There goes a turtle!

S (sitting):  …Geriatric ADD?  A little like this conversation.  Never mind.  They need oxygen to run.

M:  Solly, I don’t have attention deficit disorder.  We’re all just aging.  You are such a linear thinker.  They?  Turtles or engines?

S:  Stick to the point, I might add.  …Get it?

M (wide-eyed):  What point?

S:  We’re in an underwater hotel.  How would Barstow get a food truck down here?

M:  The same way we got down here.  We swam.  Well, we had to dive to get in the airlock. That’s why it’s called The Dive.

S (frowning):  I’m still hung up on this food truck access problem.  (pointing) Is that a flounder?

M:  I don’t know.  Barstow owns it.

S:  The flounder?

M:  He showed me a picture on his phone.  “Barstow’s Food Truck.”  Said that on the side.

S:  Did it have a tag line?

M:  “We cook it.  You eat it.”  A good slogan sells the product.

S:  What does that slogan even mean?

M (smiling):  It means everything is good and trust the chef.

S:  You’re such an optimist, Mamie.

M:  And I did get that compliment.

S:  Tell me. 

M:  Lookee!  A sunfish!  And therein lies a problem.  I can’t remember what Barstow said.

S (looking puzzled):  That’s a sunfish?  Think!  Barstow. Compliment.

M:  I was sitting here reading and saw a cartoon with a sunfish.  That’s how I identified it.

S:  You’re always reading.

M (palms-up): So are you.

S:  But I don’t swim a suitcase full of books into an underwater hotel airlock.

M:  Once I’m caught up on my reading, I won’t have to.

S:  When?  In what decade?

M:  I’m not good at limiting my reading options.  …The compliment…I know what letter it started with.  Was it “furniture?”

S (eyebrows rising):  Barstow thought you looked like furniture?

M:  Maybe he thought I looked comfortable.  Table of comfort.  Get it?  Or maybe it was “fixture.”

S:  Funny. (pointing outside) That’s a big walleye!  Barstow called you a lamp?

M (musingly):  …Geriatric ADD.  You have it, too.  How do you know a walleye?  You’re not a fisherperson. But you do say I light up a room.  Maybe it’s “furnishings?”

S (eyebrows settling):  I’ve seen walleye pictures.  Furnishings?  Did Barstow call you a bookcase? 

M:  Perhaps it was “feature.”  In a good way. 

S:  A welcoming feature in Barstow’s lobby?

M:  Sure.  Had a nice conversation with new guests who dripped on the rug.

S (smiling):  About the food truck?

M:  We wondered if it would be seafood.  When we see food, we eat it.  See?

S:  Hah. How would the food truck get in here?

M (pointing):  Maybe it fell off the bridge and sank.  Barstow salvaged and fixed it.  Is that Lake Trout swimming by?

S:  Land’s loss, Dive’s gain.  Trout it is.

M:  They’re my “favorite.”

S:  Fish?  I’ll bet Barstow recognized that.

M:  You’re my “favorite,” too.

S:  Feature?

M:  …Fish!

S (eyebrows going up):  …Fish?

M (pointing): Swimming outside.  Big shape!

S (turning):   …Fish!   …In a school!   We’re all learning.  …Fancy that.

About the Author:  Linda Lemery llemery@gmail.com  welcomes reader comments.  Mamie and Solly wish happy holidays to our world in all its spectacular diversity.