Line

She nodded dumbly. She’d seen the booklet in the box when he stepped out. She reached in and picked it up.

‘Will you sit?’ She gestured at the kitchen chair nearest to him. 

He moved fluidly and sat, knees together, arms settled gently in his lap.

Advertising his knees, she thought, irreverently, and stifled the hysteria threatening to emerge as a giggle. She sat opposite him and opened the first page, smoothing the booklet flat with one hand.

‘Have you read this?’

‘No. I do not read.’

‘But you know what’s in it?’ 

He nodded. She began to read.

Settle the product (the product?) on a flat surface such as a table or floor. Using the syringe provided, introduce solution A into the torso and fully depress the plunger until all the formulation has been transferred. After about five minutes, the product will relax into immobility.

‘There’s a line here that says there should be a syringe of solution A. It doesn’t seem to be in the box?’ She looked up at him and to her surprise, saw the ghost of a smile play around his mouth, gone almost before she had identified it.

‘I discarded it,’ he said.