Why are they sitting with their backs to the window? Don’t they know better? Haven’t they read “The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception”? Or is the notion of martyrdom something they are toying with?

“So what’s next?”

“How about their grilled halibut on a bed of spinach with eggplant caviar?”

“Are eggplants in season?”

“What is the season now anyway?”

“Did you know that there are actually six seasons?”

“Isn’t it spring?”

“Does that fact elude to a cover up?”

“Isn’t it only in the mid section of the hemisphere?”

“Is hurricane season one of the six?”

“Do you think they liked the talk?”

“Who? The students or the faculty?”

“Wasn’t there also a reporter for the Daily Discord?”

“Is spring scientific or just a made up corporate season like Christmas?”

“And what wine should we order if eggplants are in season?”

“Who, David Rubin or Mark Durocher?”

“Does it matter?”

“Aren’t you supposed to have rose’ with fish and irony greens?”

“Isn’t David Rubin an Anarcho-Syndicalist?”

“Is that a faux pas?”

“What matters? For an Anarcho-Syndicalist to show up or ordering rosé with the fish?”

“Are you ready to order?”

“Have you read Puck’s new critique of speculative realism?”

“Can we have two bottles of the house rosé?”

“Why do you read that garble?”

“I don’t think we have any left, can I offer you our reserve instead for the same price?”

“Isn’t speculative reason dead? Wasn’t the main guy trolled making him disavow his stance on object-oriented ontology?”

“Is Dalia also coming?”

“Was it ever a thing?”

“In that case, can we have three?”

“A thing in itself do you mean?”

“Isn’t that their entire -ism?”

“Isn’t David Rubin working for an NGO in Uganda these days?

“Would you like to taste it?”

“Aren’t -isms dead too?”

“Are we ready to order?”

“Wasn’t it Tajikistan?”

Does anyone think that “free range” is somewhat argumentum ad populum?”

“Can I taste kumquats in this?”

“Dan, can you make room for Dalia?”

“Do you mean that the cow might have eaten something other than grass, like chrysanths, or that “grass-fed” means its worth more than hay or clover?”

“Isn’t David Rubin dead?”

“Aren’t you reading too much into this?”

“Aren’t you reading too little?”

“Do you even read or just scan syntax with your stigmatic eyes?”

“Can’t you keep it civil?”

“Did anybody else think the speaker was a bit misguided on the subject of grace and abandonment?”

“Do you want to hear our specials for tonight?”

“Civil as in Rousseau defines it or Bakunin?”

“Wasn’t David Rubin at the demonstration yesterday?”

“Dalia, can you pass the wine please?”

“Wait, is object-oriented ontology related to Heidegger?”

“Do you have the eggplant caviar?”

“What did you think it relates to, chrysanths?”

“Was grace correlated to abandonment?”

“Did Bakunin have a hard definition of “Civil”?

“Should I order for everyone?”

“Does anyone have any seafood allergies?”

“Isn’t it misogynistic of you?”

“Or any allergy to eggplants?”

“That I asked Dalia for the wine even thought Hugo was sitting closer?”

“Was that the steel mill demonstration or pro choice demonstration?”

“Wasn’t he stating that grace can only be found only in abandonment?”

“Is ordering for a collective of people considered misogynistic?”

“Aren’t -isms back?”

“Is there an equal amount of males and females at the table?”

“Isn’t it more a case of suppressed evidence?”

“Didn’t the Daily Discord get shut down after the editor wrote an article siding with speculative realism?”

“What evidence was suppressed, the fact that the cows ate chrysanths?”

“Shall we get another bottle?”

“Isn’t that a slippery slope, calling out who’s male or female?”

“Is anyone here a vegan?”

“Dalia, can you order the wine?”

“Did you know that eggplants, which is Algeria’s main vegetable, is in major shortage because of over farming?

“What kind of new -isms are there then?

“Gabby, how would you be comfortable defining yourself?”

“Is eggplant a vegetable?”

“Did he write an article against speculative realism but pro-deconstructionism?”

“If the cows are not aware of what they’re eating, doesn’t it become argumentum ad ignorantiam?”

“Aren’t we going to be late for the show?”

“Racialism?”

“Do you think I’ll need to buy an umbrella on the way?”

“Technologism?”

“Do you think David Rubin might show up?”

“Should we split the check?”

“Can I get a doggy bag for this?”

“If cows feel abandonment, can they experience grace too?”

“In what season do chrysanths grow?”

“Virtualism?”

“Are you going to the talk against racial discrimination?”

“If we spilt the check according to sex, would that be ok?”

“Wasn’t it a symposium discussing racial progress?”

“If Rousseau had a cow, could he have not shown it grace?”

“Does political action equal political thought?”

“What came first, the chrysanths or the cows?”

“Isn’t that post hoc propter hoc?”

“Anti-theism?”

“If David Rubin does not work for the Daily Discord anymore and was in the demonstration yesterday, is David Rubin freelancing?”

“Shouldn’t we split it according to title?”

“Who’s playing tonight?”

“Corporatism?”

“Isn’t a demonstration against racial bias?

“Dalia, can you pass me the pen please?”

“We were just talking about you, were you at the demonstration yesterday?”

“Dalia, can you make room for David please?”

“Trvialism?”

“Can I grab a bite before we go?”

“Isn’t it false equivalence?”

“Do you want to eat what’s in my doggy bag?”

“Are you a more of a spring or summer person?”

“So you were at the talk tonight?”

“Are eggplants native to Algeria?”

“Is creationism new?”

“So the editor was for speculative realism?”

“Do you think Heidegger read Bakunin?”

“Did you sign the petition?”

“So if you’re not freelancing, what’s next?”

“Are you just speculating?”

“Shall we leave 15 or 20 per cent?”

“Are two cabs enough?”

Will they get to the show on time? Will they go to the demonstration or symposium? Are they not aware they are being followed? And that David Rubin is in on it all? Has he read Heidegger?

What will happen to Dalia when she realizes she is allergic to eggplant?