A Little Dinner Music

Neville often greets his meals with low, rumbling mumbles. Sometimes, he will start before the dish approaches him; I think he’s feeling the anticipation of eating.

When he is very hungry, though, he will talk while he eats. At these moments, his communication is at a higher pitch than most of his speech. I think it comes out the corner of his mouth, or perhaps the usual low muttering would cause choking while his mouth is full. In any case, it sounds as one would expect:

“Aaughnnnnnblllrrbbbrblllnnngggg…” and so on.

To those unaccustomed to the sound, it can be a bit surprising. Percival had not heard it before. He was happily eating his own meal by the dining table, when he heard Nev holding forth with even greater happiness over his. Perce was startled. His head came up and he stared at the library door. Then he hurried in and was about to climb the cat-tree to investigate at close quarters. That would have disrupted the Nevsky’s dinner, probably permanently, so I distracted Percival with the remaining food in his bowl.

Even though he finished his portion - and allowed Neville to finish his - Perce still couldn’t believe his ears. He had no idea that dinner could come with such musical accompaniment.