I’ve been watching how humans eat.

They do not eat where the food is. They move it first. They carry it across the room to a flat place too high to stand on, then sit around it without touching the food right away. Sometimes they bring everything there before anyone begins. The food waits in the middle while they take their places.

They do not lower their heads toward the food. They lift the food up instead. Small pieces, one at a time, brought carefully to the mouth.

I have seen them stop in the middle of eating. The food is still there, but they turn toward each other and make sounds back and forth. No one finishes first and leaves. They stay.

If something falls, they notice it immediately. They look at it on the floor. Sometimes they leave it there.

When the food is up that high, they do not go into it properly. They sit very still between bites. They look at each other more than the food. The food stays longer than it should. If it were on the floor, they would finish it quickly.

But they lift it up on purpose.

Once it is up there, it changes. It is not something to finish. It is something to stay with.

Sometimes the food is gone and the humans still remain at the table for a while before anyone stands up.

June (quietly): “Would they eat faster if it was on the floor?”

Walter: “Yes. But that is not what they want from it.”