"Lovely bacon," said the owner promptly.
"Melt in your mouth."
"I'll have a lot," said Erica happily. "Egg with it, perhaps?"
"Three," said Erica.
The owner craned his neck to see out the door, and found that she really was alone.
"Come," he said. "That's something like. Nice to see a young girl that can appreciate her vittles these days. Have a seat, miss." He dusted an iron chair for her with the corner of his apron. "Bacon be ready in no time. Thick or thin?"
"Thick, please. Good morning." This to the other man, in more particular greeting, as she sat down and so definitely became a partner in this business of eating and drinking. "Is that your lorry out there? I have always wanted to drive one of those."
"Ye'? I've always wanted to be a tightrope walker."
"You're the wrong build," said Erica seriously. "Better stick to lorry driving." And the owner paused in his slicing of the bacon to laugh.
The lorry driver decided that sarcasm was wasted on so literal a mind. He relaxed into amiability.