Lodger Killing

Sitting on the sofa eating my dinner and vaguely watching the TV/reading the paper at the same time, the lodger comes in and sits down in the armchair. "Shall we watch this film?" he asks me, indicating one of the two DVDs on the table that came through the post for me. I shrug, I've no big plans. Why not.

When I finish eating I put the DVD in and take my plate to the kitchen. I go back in the living room and find the lodger peeling cloves of garlic, about eight so far. I sit down and ask him, "Are you ready?" indicating the DVD player. "Yes." he says. I press play, the opening credits roll, the lodger picks his garlic up and leaves the room. The film starts, the opening set-the-scene speech runs, the lodger is mixing something with an electric mixer in the kitchen (the garlic?), it drowns out the TV, I press pause. I wait. He stops mixing. I wait. Five minutes go past. He comes back in, sits down. I press play. He gets up to leave again. "Shall I pause it?" I ask. " No, it's ok," he says and goes back into the kitchen. I give up and press play. Another five minutes pass and he comes back in, sits back down. "What's happening?" he asks.