Banter

Good banter is a test and a compliment at the same time. Each line probes the other person and, in the same breath, proves you've been listening. It sounds like fighting and functions like flirting.

The signs: short lines, quick returns, no cheap shots. Both of them are amused, usually without laughing out loud. And sooner or later a line tips, goes quieter and more serious, and the game holds its breath for a second.

In “Waldesruh Spa Hotel”, summer of 1913, the spa physician prescribes rest and his assistant prescribes defiance, a duel of words fought across corsets and class lines. In “Three Days to Family” the sharp-tongued Livia keeps the countdown moving with every exchange. And on the North Sea in “Salty Waves” a lifeguard from Lisbon has no trouble telling you she knows more about surf schools than you do.