Page 64 of Bad Words

From: [email protected]

Sent: Dec 25, 2:25 PM

Re: Kavan Retrospective

In comparison to how you talk in real life, and how you post on social media, and how you write your novels.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Sent: Dec 25, 2:27 PM

Re: Kavan Retrospective

Care to describe the differences?

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Sent: Dec 25, 2:28 PM

Re: Kavan Retrospective

It’s this dramatic absence of laughter, filler language, and exclamation points.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Sent: Dec 25, 2:29 PM

Re: Kavan Retrospective

I think that might just be how I email you, Selina.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Sent: Dec 25, 2:29 PM

Re: Kavan Retrospective

I’m touched.

Lingering by the dining table, I considered putting down my phone. There was no need to respond to a two-word email. Yet I had the sense of wanting to get one over on her, to win this interaction, which was stupid, since in a private conversation there was no real metric by which I could gauge a win. But the instinct lingered.

Her attention intrigued me, too, maybe because it made so little sense. I imagined this was how it would feel to walk through a zoo, catch the eye of a panther, and find it padding over to the enclosure’s glass to communicate with you by sign language.

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Sent: Dec 25, 2:30 PM

Re: Kavan Retrospective