Really, Ben was unsurprised that Dietre didn’t remember who he was. As compared to others in town, he wasn’t that memorable. At least, he decided, the other boy wasn’t rude about it. And the last thing Ben wanted was to call attention to it and cause discomfort, so he simply smiled and waited for Dietre to speak up.
When he did, there was more than just a little careful consideration going into what he said, that was obvious. Ben tilted his head in surprise at first, wondering if there was going to offer any information more than just that he needed help. The pause was long enough to insinuate that no, there would be no additional information for the young bookstore employee to go off of, but fortunately, Ben was never one for insinuations. He simply let the other boy take as long as he needed to make his decision.
The next question was strange, but he figured that there must have been a follow-up, so rather than dwell on how odd the initial question was, Ben offered a “yes,” as a reply and waited for part two.
“Ah. Hm. Well,” he thought carefully about his answer and looked down at the shelf. “I guess my first question would have to be, what does he usually cook?”