“Tonight while we’re in bed, and tomorrow, I’m looking forward to hearing in great detail about everything you did and experienced in those nine years in the previous timeline,” said Murray.

He found her long dissertation to be very interesting, and in some way arousing, knowing that she had spent nine years living in anticipation of the day she would travel back in time and see him again as though she’d never parted from him.

Science was a mysterious commodity. In the weeks leading up to the commencement of the timeline which had gone on for nine years, Trudi had, countless tims, eaten Murray Jensen (a young man whose first journey back through the period of time affected by the Ring of Reversal had caused him to permanently shrink). Each time, after eating him, she had made short mental journeys back in time. Murray’s repeated digested or semi-digested presence in her stomach had functioned like a chronal anti-toxin. The result was that Trudi was one time traveller who was able to pass back through the period of time affected by the Ring of Reversal, with an immunity to the more typically encountered side effect of shrinking. This meant that she had been able to live out nine years of normal time after eating Murray, and then time travel back through the Reversal affected period, without absorbing any of the interactive radiation from Colleen  Balfour’s shrinking devices. She had a special gift, and was unaware of it, as Murray’s ‘new perspective’ had incorrectly attributed his own shrinking outcome to having resulted from time travelling back from the giant land’s widow’s kitchen through the forest portal.

One evening, after several more rounds of being eaten and then brought back by time travel, he was carried out to the kitchen bench as usual, where he saw a medium sized pavlova sitting on the bench, and a bowl of strawberries beside it.

She gently lifted him up and lowered him into the pavlova, so that he stood with his neck and head still above the surface.

“This is your best recipe for me yet,” said Murray, “It feels very comfortable, and I visually like the sensation of being surrounded by white sticky stuff. You’ll be sending me into orbit, when you’re licking it off me too.”

“I’ll be sending you somewhere, anyway,” said Trudi.

“Yes, your mouth and tummy, of course. But I think I’ll still be in orbit on the way there,” said Murray.

Trudi began pulling the stalks off the strawberries and placing them onto the pavlova in various positions, discarding the stalks into the same bowl. Soon the strawberries bowl was full of stalks, and the pavlova bowl was full of pavlova and strawberries and Murray.

Trudi walked off to the pantry cupboard, and came back with a can of whipped cream. She pulled the lid off, and put her right index finger down on the spray nozzle. She put the tip of her left hand’s index finger up to the end of the nozzle, and pressed the nozzle gently with her right index finger. Soon she had a small blob of whipped cream from the can on her left index finger.

“I won’t get any on your eyes or your nose and mouth,” said Trudi.

“Sure, that’s fine with me,” said Murray.

He saw her left finger approaching slowly, and then she gently dabbed a bit of the cream on his left cheek, and then on his right cheek.

“Was that okay?” she asked.

“Yes, you missed all the vital viewing and breathing organs,” said Murray, and looked around to the side of the bench, “The only thing is that pavlova by itself isn’t very filling or nourishing, even with the strawberries.”

“Well you’re in there too,” said Trudi.

She raised her left finger to her mouth and licked the remaining cream from it.

“Oh boy it looked thrilling when you just did that!” said Murray, “But I was talking about the alternate dinner for the next timeline. Pavlova and strawberries on their own are just dessert. You forgot to put out a main course.”

“Did I?” said Trudi.

Murray looked around the bench once more, but couldn’t see anything else.