The first thing I noticed about her was how hard and glum her voice was. But it wasn't glum in the sense of being sad, but more of annoyance, as if I had caught her in the middle of doing something important. There would be no mutual dance, just me dancing. It was a weird and uncomfortable minstrelsy. I immediately regretted calling her. I mumbled a few incoherent words and had the distinct impression that I was making a complete idiot of myself, that I wasn't doing a good enough job selling myself, and that her uncomfortable and strategic silence was meant to be a sort of rope...The phone went silent but I saw the seconds were still ticking away. I said hello three times and with each non response had a greater sense of elation that she was no longer there. I quickly hung up, took a shower, and chalked the whole episode up to a bad connection.
