I’m in a school gym, after a scoreless game of basketball.
Late Night Mal (stuffing a bunch of books into her backpack): “I’m going to New York soon.”
Me: “When?”
Mal: “Like an hour?”
Me: “And you’re taking all those books?”
Mal: “Yeah, I’ll have some time to read.”
Me: “But you’ll probably want to pick up some new books in New York. Inevitably, you’ll see some vintage bookstore…”
I pause briefly.
Rajiv (half exasperated, knowing that I’m going to say something stupid or not thought through): Go on?
Me (trying to prove him wrong, but mainly just wanting to finish a thought): “…that George Carlin used to fre-quent.” [mid-dialogue Editor’s note: This last word was pronounced ‘free-kwent’, not ‘free-quint’.]
Rajiv (satisfied, goes back to what he was doing): “Alright, well done.”
