Surely, to be valid, a women's exhibit would have to have a painting of dirty dishes. Not the topic. Each day, he says, fewer students have shown up. A couple of days, he worked by himself. He is, he adds, disappointed because his students who had shown remarkable interest at the end of school, were now all taking full advantage of their summer vacation.
Talk is polite but strained.
I think of Elizabeth and John Proctor of Crucible fame, hoping that he doesn't affectionately announce that he is buying me a calf. I also hope that he doesn't mention the weather. His working trio of daughters, I explain, find Saturday much more convenient than Sunday. Not the topic. Something will come.