The Squid children were silent. Then: "Eeeeewwwww!

The Squid children were silent. Then: "Eeeeewwwww! THAT'S how you met Giant Grandmother Squid? GROSS!" they asked. "Well, no." Giant Old Squid Man admitted. "In 1946, after the war

I recovered from U-boat hunting & headed down to Haiti. I flexed my Young Squidman tentacles by raiding the Bluenose for her cargo of bananas to please a sweet suckered Squidlady

. I gathered as many bananas as my tentacles could hold from the stranded schooner, a reef squid flew out of the water, startling me. I inked. Normally I wasn't so squiddish, but

Those reef squids really got to me. I got back in the water and made off with the bananas. I had too many. I was sinking. All those bananas stopped my tentacles working. Suddenly

Death came on to me."Is that a banana in your tentacle or are you just happy to see me?"Goodness gracious, I squirted that ink for sure. We spent the evening bloating on the beach.

Thoughts passed between us through idle conversation. I asked Death about themself, but after a while, they pressed a boney finger to my lips. 'Shh,' he hissed gently. 'No more.'

Then, overwhelmed by a mood swing (to which he was prone), Death cleared the chessboard with a violent swipe of his scythe. "Enough of this game!" He reached into his pocket and

brought out a rabbit, with soft black fur and a curious look on its face. "This is Fluffy, said Death seriously. "Respect my bunny."

Death softly stroked the bunny. "Seeing my softer side, maybe we could get along." The black rabbit then intoned to the audience "FLUFFY DEMANDS CARROTS!"

For a while no one moved. Then a small, starving child brought up her last baby carrot and offered it to Fluffy. Soon 50 baskets were filled with carrots. Death smiled liplessly.