Bizarre

Flip was upset - you could always tell when he was out of sorts by the way his gill flaps fluttered spastically.

"I do not think this is a good idea!" he repeated in the lilting, musical voice he used when speaking Terran.

"I know you don't," I told him, "But I've run out of options. I have to see if they've got it."

Flip's spherical body swayed back and forth with anxiety. "There are many bad people there! They will try to deceive you!" he trilled nervously.

I sighed. "Flip," I told him, "I know you think I am a foolish Man who has no experience, but I will tell you a true thing: I have been in places like this before. We have many such places on Earth, though not as grand as yours."

He looked at me skeptically. "Is this not work that you give to your females?" he asked.

I laughed - "I'm not even going there!" I replied. I could see by the tilt of his eyes that he didn't understand the idiom so I clarified, "It is an old form of humor on Earth to say that our females derive pleasure from purchasing goods, more so when they are luxury items. But that is a very old joke, and I have many male friends who enjoy the process of acquiring new items." I left unsaid that those guys were usually shopping for new holovisors or subdural network implants...no need to complicate things.

Flip's agitations subsided. "O-kay," he said - he'd been so pleased to learn that, and had spent hours working on his long "O" sound, which was difficult for the Gennorians to accurately reproduce, their lips not articulating as fully as human's.

"I will take you to our market to find your "ketchup". But you must allow me to conduct all of the discussions with the merchants!"