There! The minister offered him a drink and called him a colleague! They would be great friends! Gabriel ordered a halfpint of ale - whatever was on the tap, which provoked a judgmental frown from the barman. He had frequently joined his friends in pubs during his student days, but nowadays he only drank wine at dinner, and he had no idea what to order in a place like this.

"Thank you. No, not all of us, luckily. Some shepherds we'd be if we never attended to the sheep."

A deeper frown from the barman. Gabriel bit his tongue.