When Vivie apologized for eating slowly, Béla said that eating slowly was good: “If you eat slowly, you can feel the food.”

“You don’t feel food,” Owen said, “you taste it.”

“Yes,” Béla said. “But I also mean more than to taste it.”

“You enjoy it,” suggested Daniel. “If you eat slowly, you enjoy the food.”

“You enjoy,” repeated Béla.

“You relish it,” said Owen. “You savor it.”

“Savior?”

“Not savior—savor. It’s like enjoying something, but more slowly.”

“I don’t know this word,” Béla said, his eyes shining.

I realized that I would never have corrected somebody who said “you can feel the food.” That was how Owen would end up with students who said “savor,” while I would end up with students who said “papel iss blonk.”