He said nothing, understanding now, why she had suddenly come running back to the house.

“Well I imagine you’re hiding,” she said.

Colleen began crawling around on the carpet, looking under the couch and under every other piece of furniture. She stood up and went out and searched the other rooms, and then returned to the lounge room.

She looked around the room slowly, and then her vision rested on the ventilation opening. With a stern look, she walked slowly towards it, until she was right in front of it, but a little below it. She walked away, out of the room.

He realised how close he had come to being discovered. If her lovely face had been the height of the opening, she would have seen him for sure. All he could do now was wait for his chance to get away, and be sure not to make any mistakes.

Colleen came back into the room with a small stool, and placed it on the floor and stood up and stared in at him. Her face looked beautiful beyond his wildest dreams, and yet he well knew by now the ramifications of it being there at that particular time, having discovered not only his intent to escape or hide from her, but also the means by which he had attempted it. The stern set of her full lips was arousing beyond his ability to express it, and yet the sight of her neck not far below them stirred a mixture of excitement and anxiety too.

“Now I can see why you acted the way you did,” she said, “There’s no escape, little darling.”

Her hand reached in and clasped him and removed him. She stepped down off the stool and took him to the dining table and sat down. Her face towered above him and showed a look of haughtiness at her advantage.

“Little darling, I’m going to gobble you all up,” she said.

“I know, but I do want you to know one thing. I wasn’t playacting about loving you, or even about how beautiful your mouth is. I really did enjoy it in there.”

“I know that. But I am curious as to where you’ve seen me before. I haven’t been into those gardens in my school days. I decided to explore them for my first time yesterday for a rain walk.”

“It wasn’t in the gardens. I first saw you at your university,” he said truthfully.

“I didn’t see you, but I did talk about eating leprechauns with one friend there, who was also in my teaching classes. So you were planning to get away by letting me think that being eaten was your own idea.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you for last night, little darling, and for yesterday in the gardens.”

“It was lovely for me too,” he said.

“Well it looks like you’ll have a chance to make use of that memory of the outside of my neck from last night’s sleeping experience now. Goodbye, little darling.”

He tried running across the table, but her hand blocked his path in no time. She picked him up and licked him like an ice cream a few times, and then placed him into her mouth and gulped.