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If You’re Going to Gossip, Please Bring the Full Case File
“They had a fight” is only a notification. I need the complete investigation.
On long drives, there comes a point when my husband’s answers start getting shorter.
At the beginning, we are talking normally. We discuss where we are going, what we are going to eat, whether we remembered to bring everything. An hour later, his contribution to the conversation has been reduced to “Mm.” His blinking also starts to look suspicious. Each blink seems to require a little more commitment than the one before it.
“Are you sleepy?” I ask.
“Yes.”
He never denies it. There is no attempt to sound strong or insist that he is perfectly fine. He simply confirms that, yes, staying conscious has become increasingly difficult.
Coffee takes time to work, and loud music eventually becomes another kind of suffering. There is a faster solution.
“Come on,” one of us says. “Let’s talk badly about people.”
The effect is immediate.
Suddenly, he is sitting straighter. I am fully alert. Someone we both know gets mentioned, one of us remembers something, and within minutes, the car has become a moving investigation unit…
