‘Do animals .. .” she said, and paused to consider, ‘feel disappointment
in each other, Jack, the way humans do?’
‘Well...
‘Or is that what makes us human, the fact that we can feel
immense disappointment in each other?’ She poured herself another
glass of wine.
‘I don’t know,’ said Jack, cautiously. “What do you think?’
‘I wonder if they ever go through the trauma of sensing that
someone they once liked, maybe even loved, is now turning into
someone they don’t respect.’
‘Why do you say that, Martha? Where’s that coming from?’ Jack
was chewing on his cheeks again.
‘Do animals, birds, fish, whatever, fall in and out of love?’
‘I believe they can.’
‘In that case,’ she continued drowsily, ‘can a fish, Jack, listen, can
a fish love another fish, but then one day imagine that they do not in
fact love that fish and that they now love another fish, only to realise at
some later date that they did actually love that first fish more than they
would ever love another fish for the rest of their lives, and therefore
feel that their existence is overcome with a feeling of regret that they