A little before Mary arrived, Much stepped out into the living room, where Alan was playing with their defiant fluffy son, and pulled his buttoned shirt away from his body, and said in the most casual of voices, "hey Al, is this shirt too... Datey? Or... is it not datey enough? No - I don't want to aim for more datey, scratch that," he turned to spin back into his room, stopped, spun back round to Alan again and asked: "I got it. Answer this: If you saw me wearing this, would you think I was trying to date you?" He lifted both eyebrows, and smiled at Alan expectantly.