“We'll know for sure Friday,”     
Darryl said, and then got thoughtful,  
“but why would you pay out three       
hundred thousand dollars for a Cat that
didn’t talk?”                          
     That was a good question, but     
before I could answer, Beth raised her 
glass and toasted, “To Friday,” and we 
all joined her.                        
     “To Friday!”                      
     I took a sip out of the after-    
dinner cocktail Darryl had concocted,  
and boy was it good, and complimented  
him on his bartending skills.          
     “Something I learned in Sweden,”  
he said, and then added, “and a few    
other places.”                         
     That reminded me, and I asked,    
“What’d you learn in school today,     
hon?”                                  
*      She smiled and said excitedly,      
“It was awesome, and I still remembered
most of the material, but here's the   
best part,” she said, getting even more
excited, “After class, I asked the     
teacher why animals couldn't talk.     
     “He started with it being one of  
the newest branches of science and also
one of the fastest growing fields,” she
said, “and then he went on and on about
how fascinating the study of animal    
talk was. ‘Every bark and cheep meant  
something,’ he told me.                
     “He obviously didn’t understand   
what I meant, so I rephrased my        
question and asked him why they        
couldn’t talk like us.                 
     “'Scientist are divided on this,' 
he said. Most of them believed that the
problem was either conceptual,         
physical, or both.                     



CHAPTER 10: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29th
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