'I want your help with these,' said Jonathan simply. The Captain examined the bags with care.
'With these?' he enquired at length. 'You want my help?'
'Yes,' said Jonathan.
'What are they?' enquired the Captain.
'Leaves,' said Jonathan.
'Leaves? What sort of leaves?' asked the Captain. Nothing like this had ever happened to him before.
'Autumn leaves,' said Jonathan triumphantly. 'We got them in the forest.'
Captain Prowse looked shattered. Nothing in his previous career had prepared him for a guest suddenly producing four plastic bags full of autumn leaves and demanding his help.
'I see,' he said, moistening his lips. 'And what do you intend to do with them?'
'Dry them,' said Jonathan, puzzled that the Captain could not have worked out this logical progression for himself.
'Dry them?' asked the Captain. 'Dry them?'
'Yes, they're wet,' Jonathan explained.
'But why should you want to dry them?' asked the Captain, fascinated in spite of himself.
'Because they wont fall if they are wet,' said Jonathan, impatient at the Captain's obtuseness.
'But they have already fallen,' the Captain pointed out.
'I know,' said Jonathan exasperated. 'That is how they got wet, and that is why we have to dry them..'