she was kind enough to look somewhere between the edge of the round table and the view of the dome. i suppose she already knows what to do when she is intimated with the long and short of a story best told to quell questions posed by the eyes. no pressing for details; details don't really serve anything here.

i've called it social inconvenience. i learned the concept early on, when i am the subject of high school juvenalia such as cold wars, gossip, ridicule . social inconvenience tells you to stay away, keep a low profile, be amiable.

social inconvenience has also taught me to be polite, smile, nod at all times, keep with the agreeable side of the equation. keep the peace, i say. that way, there are no questions, for nobody likes to be at the receiving end of armalite q&a's.

it's a strategy that has served me well, except that it doesn't work for me anymore.

a friend laid it down like the law: of course social inconvenience is that - inconvenient like a stone in a shoe. then again, you can always stop for a moment, take off the shoe, fish out the stone and throw it away.

or fish out the stone, check to see if it's a pretty stone and if you do decide that it is, keep it pat in your pocket and continue walking.