The tray got passed around a second time, and Dale took another sandwich, once again peeling off all the flowers. Diamond kept up her patrol of the table with the drinks, refilling cups as they emptied. Conversations began to erupt around the table, which had the unfortunate effect of making Dale feel more like an outsider again: he hardly understood a word which was spoken.  Cheerilee tried several times to get a conversation going with him—more out of a sense of politeness than any real belief that they could have a meaningful discussion, he was sure.