He looked at her in surprise for several seconds.

Her face showed no embarrassment at having made such a monumental request of him, with such lasting consequences, if he agreed to it.

"Do you mean … completely?" he asked, although he knew her answer before she said it.

"Yes. I obviously don't need to bite you, and I'd never do that to you anyway. You're small enough to go down as one mouthful. I'd like to lick you several times, with no pavlova to detract from the taste, then place you into my mouth and let you slide around on my tongue for a few minutes, and then gulp you down my throat. I was happy when you said you didn't find the licking process unpleasant."

"I'm honoured that you think so highly of how I taste, Isabel. It's just that I enjoy our writing sessions together. I look forward to them more than anything I ever do on my own world. If you eat me, I'll never have any more of them."

"I've enjoyed them too, and I know I'd miss them. I’ve never told you this, but I’ve met other little boys like you. I’ve asked each of them for permission to eat them, and they’ve all said “no” and never come back. With you I didn’t ask until now, because our common interest in writing was worth sharing. However, I have weighed it up in my mind, and the experience of eating you is one I'd remember fondly for the rest of my life."

"If I said no, would you eat me anyway, without my permission?"

"No, I promise you I'd never do that. In fact, if you said no, you'd still be welcome to come and continue our writing sessions as often as you like. I won't hold it against you in any way, if I can't have what I'm asking you for."

Now he loved her more than ever, but it was such a difficult decision.

“The being eaten part sounds like the most wonderful thing that could ever happen to me. But the rest, after you’ve swallowed me, would be really scary and painful.”

“It wouldn’t be, though. I can control the gulping process, so that you slide into the front compartment of my tummy,” said Isabel, “Everything else I eat goes into the back section, where I have stomach acids to digest it. The front section’s just like a flesh pouch, although nutrients absorbed from the back section can porously seep through into the front section to sustain you by a variation of osmosis. I could feel you moving about in my tummy’s front section forever, and pushing against the front of it. You’d never need to go back to your little world, and we’d always be together like that.”

“Wow! That sounds lovely. I never knew about the front section of your tummy before. Nobody has one on my world. You've been my very dearest friend, and I'd love to do anything for you. The actual process of being eaten (the way you've described it) doesn't sound frightening at all. It's just the fact that once you'd gulped me down, I'd be eaten forever."

"I know. If you do give me permission to do it, I'd be grateful beyond words,” said Isabel.

"Could I think about it, and give you an answer the next time I come to visit?"

"That'll be fine. Well, thank you for not saying an immediate no. Shall we get back to writing?"

"Alright," he said, and lay down in front of his notepad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter wrote very little, and kept looking up at Isabel and thinking about her unusual request.

"Isabel, I can't really concentrate on writing, and if you do eat me, I won't be writing any more anyway. Are you having trouble concentrating too?"

"Not really," she said, "My mind does wander into recollections of your tasty meat, but I'm still getting plenty of work done. You'd find it harder to concentrate than me, because you're the one whose life would change forever by being eaten. I'll still go on writing as usual, whether I eat you or not. You have to make allowances for that, and don't try too hard to force a new poem, when your mind is occupied with such an important choice to make. You know that you can trust me not to eat you uninvited, don’t you, Peter?”

“Yes Isabel,” he said.

“If I lay down on my side in bed, would you be willing to climb into my mouth and about half way along my throat, and lie there for a while, so I could feel you there, and then climb back out again?”

“What if you sat up suddenly? I’d fall down anyway.”

“I’ll make sure I don’t do that. I’ll stay on my side, until you’re out again.”

“I would like to do it for you. I’d do anything for you. It’s just very risky. Will you promise to be very careful? One mistake could see me eaten ahead of any agreement we might or might not make later.”

“I give you my word I won’t shift from the moment you climb into my mouth,” she said.

“Alright. I’ll do it.”

She took him to the bed, and lay on her side. He watched her mouth open and climbed in and slid his body past her tongue, which was now like a wall to him, rather than the floor of her mouth. He made his way into her throat, right to where the tongue started and slid along. It felt soft and comfortable as he lay in there. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep. He awoke later, and wondered how long he had slept.