'Dottie suddenly asked the woman if she would like a cup of tea, and Shelley said, "Oh, wouldn't that be nice," and so they sat in the living room, which was really the lounge. Shelly Small didn't take more than one sip of the tea; that was just a prop, as they would say in the world of theatre, just a piece of furniture, so to speak, allowing her to sit in Dottie's house on the autumn day while the light shifted through the room. That cup of tea, Dottie saw, gave her permission to talk.'
Elizabeth Strout, Anything is Possible, p.187.
