"You only have one head," Bella says. "What's its name?"

"Elizabeth. Or any variation," she says. "I like my name, it's so collapsible."

"My name is a little collapsible too. I collapse it to Bella."

"Nice to meet you, Bella."

"You too. Do you live around here?"

"No," she says in perfect deadpan, "I walked here from Port Angeles just to talk to you."

"Well," says Bella loftily, "I am very important."

Elizabeth-or-any-variation giggles.

"Why did you walk however far to talk to me, though? Usually nobody bothers. I'm only here summers."

"But you are here summers," she says. "How else am I going to find out if you're worth talking to than by trying it?"

"Hearsay," suggests Bella. "Logical deduction from first principles. Guessing."

"You just explained why there is no good hearsay. The last two are pretty much equivalent here and they're both worse than the method I actually picked. Nice try, though."

"What makes somebody worth talking to?"

"Interesting question," says Elizabeth-or-variants. "How would you answer it?"

"If it's more fun or useful to talk to them than to do whatever else I'd be doing," says Bella. "Or if I have to for some reason, I guess."

"Reasonable," she says. "Kind of like that, yeah."

"Am I worth talking to?"

"Observe me talking to you."

"You could still be forming an opinion."

"I could! But I clearly haven't decided that you're not worth talking to, because here I still am."

"You are still here," agrees Bella. "And I still haven't shooed you and started reading my book again."

"I feel so special," she says dryly.

"You should," giggles Bella.

She grins.

"When you find someone who's worth your time what do you usually do with them?"