Ena promised her sister to help at a performance, assuming she would sell juice. On arrival she received a tree costume. It had three branches, a face opening too low, and a pocket containing a sweet forgotten by the previous performer. The man beside her wore a cotton-wool cloud and looked as though considering escape through a window.
His name was Dino, and he had come in place of his ill brother. They were supposed to stand almost motionless while children played animals. Each had one line. Ena would say the forest remembered; Dino would say rain was coming. For the first ten minutes they debated whether a cloud could sit while waiting for its cue. The organizer said apparently it could in their forest.
Before the audience everything changed. One young performer forgot his words; another hid behind Ena and refused to emerge. Dino moved the cloud to shield him until he calmed. Ena quietly repeated the child's line, then waited without rushing him. The scene ran three minutes longer than rehearsal. The audience assumed everything was intended.
Afterward they sat in the corridor with costumes half removed. Ena said Dino's patience surprised her. He admitted he was not always patient, but knew how it felt when people watched while he could not find a word. He had stammered as a child and still sometimes paused when nervous. Ena did not finish his next sentence. She waited, looking at him as though time were not a problem to solve.
Her sister found them together and immediately offered another performance, shared dinners, and a phone number. Ena stopped her. She did not want their acquaintance becoming a family project before they named it themselves. Later Dino asked whether he could give his number himself. She agreed but warned him not to expect leaves in her hair on their first date.
They went out the following Friday. Without costumes both looked slightly unfamiliar, and for several minutes they spoke too formally. Then Dino produced the forgotten sweet, saved as evidence things had really been that silly. Ena laughed and moved her chair closer. Their relationship began slowly, with ordinary misunderstandings and increasingly easy conversations. They attended the next performance as audience members. When the new tree forgot its line, they did not laugh. They simply waited while it found the words, holding hands beneath the program.