no one was saying anything , at any rate . she pulled the cell from her ear . her throat was too tight for speech . `` whenever you are ready , friend , whenever you are ready . she slapped the menu down onto the table and glared at him . 'no , ' she said at last , but it had taken her at least ten seconds to reply . just up the street and it was on sale ! we started to giggle and then noticed that we were getting odd looks from the people around us . 