"What for?" Marc asked. "What happened?"
"Didn't you see?" the woman asked.
"I must have missed it," Marc said.
"Well, just be quiet," the woman said again, and once more the silence returned.
Finally, out of sheer curiosity, Marc was forced to reopen the conversation.
"This seems to be my day for crouching down with women," he said, trying a social tone.
"Is it?" the woman said. "I suppose there's a reason why?"
"I don't know," Marc said, feeling that this exchange was not destined to make a great deal of sense. "But I'm beginning to be just a little stiff from it."
"From what?" the woman asked absently.
"From crouching down with women," Marc said, wishing he hadn't started the discussion in the first place.