"Whether or not animals have any value outside of becoming a product to serve to us doesn't matter so much to me. I think what I think but you can't prove it one way or the other. I just feel that having the attitude that everything exists to serve human pleasures and appetites stunts any enlightenment one might hope to get on this planet. It's not the animal rights perspective but my own." "Good for you. I admire that," he lied. Their conversation paused and she saw that MF had removed both onions and pickles from his hamburger. She watched both males sink their fangs into the aesthetic round bits of carcass. She told herself that there was indeed something atavistic about it. "Dad hates vegetables--won't ever eat them." "Is that a fact!" said Gabriele. "That isn't true; and don't talk with your mouth full!" rebutted MF irascibly. "We never have tomatoes in the refrigerator." "We have Ketchup. It is tomatoes plus." Gabriele laughed. She as marginally enthralled with the charm of their bantering. Then, like the sound of crickets, the human noise became monotonous. Still, it was better than being deaf, and it bedizened her ears like large cheap earrings containing bogus stones. "I saw you when you gave your lecture in Albany," said MF to Gabriele as if wanting to change the topic. "I know. I saw you there. I wanted to catch you but there were droves of people and one reporter swarming all over the place." "I understood that. It's okay." "Did you drive up just for that?" "No, my parents live in Albany but I wanted to see your work and listen to you." "Wow, thank you" she said humbly. When they finished eating and were walking to the museum he said, "So, you were in Thailand before coming here. What were your impressions of it?" "Hmm...I guess that before I went there I half-way wondered if it would be comprised of people without wills the way the Buddha rejected self saying it was an illusion--but no; it was full of mall hoppers and people pacing here and there anxiously with their cellular telephones, eyes glazed over, totally self-absorbed like in the states although perhaps less of them...a lot of poor seeming so quaint from my vantage point but probably not from theirs. What's your impression of Italy so far?" "Well, it is hard to say with so many tourists. If they get rid of the tourists one can have an impression." She laughed. She liked that answer. It seemed to her the correct answer; and since he seemed to her a conduit of reality, she felt that he was enmeshed with her somehow. She did not want to believe in fate but here they were together in such an unexpected place. The strangeness made her a bit superstitious. "How long will you be here?" "Maybe a week. And you?" "Not long. I can't afford it and Nathaniel won't pick up the phone or reply to email so that troubles me." "Anything wrong?" "No, I'm sure it is a bit of resentment about me going on this trip." "Won't Hispanic Betty answer the telephone?"