Totrya

 "Don't be startled," said she calmly.

 'That was stupid of me,' thought he ungripping the ceramic flower-pot.

 "I understand the confusion," said she, "-it's perfectly normal."

 'You're wrong,' thought he, '-there's nothing normal about it.' He maintained eye-contact for the lady was beyond the realm of what he'd imagined. Her hair, instead of being dead, we're alive to end with snakeheads. Each actively moved hypnotically, her arms and legs were scales. The reflection of the purple sun against the lady assumed to be a retainer, felt closer to home than usual. The way she gently had her elbow around a chest-high drawer wasn't in the least formal. Rather, she showed friend-like familiarity. 

 "My," said she, "-are you perhaps mute, or did the lady take thy tongue to?"

 "No," he spoke slowly in fear of offense, "-perplexed is all," he turned to the landscape, exposing the back.