a few months earlier, face to face___
- You look pale.
- So do you.
- And why are we not doing this?
- I don’t see the point.
- How do you mean?
- I mean I don’t see the point.
- I know that. What I mean is what does that mean?
- Well, it means I’m unable to grasp the purpose of it.
- Are you about to translate...?
- It just looks like same old same old.
- Same old what?
- You know what.
- No, I don’t.
- Sure you do. Same old strategies.
- What strategies?
- Do you need a list?
- Oh yes, please.
- Same old dinners and parties phase, same old film and concert watching habits phase, kitchen mania
and then sports mania phase, hiking obsession on top of the list, and then of course Chris and
Agnès. It's the same old thing, you're just proposing a variation of the same old thing.
- You’re being cynical. You know that, right?
- I can’t see how.
- Do you want me to translate?
- No, I don’t.
the following day, late at night, telephone call___
- Hello Anna.
- Hi.
- This may sound strange, but... is she there?
- She is.
- OK. Thank you.
one week later, telephone call___
- That’s just the right place for me.
- That’s good; good enough for me at least.
- I intend to stay till the end of June. Is that OK with you?
- Of course, no problem.
- You were saying something about the neighbors?
- I said it seems they are given to extremes, judging by the comments hosts have posted online: some
say they tend do play the welcoming crowd, while others assert they are all about distance and
secrecy, quite the ostracizing bunch… I guess it’s always good to have different opinions...
- I’d say in your case it’s always good to have good opinions, lot’s of likes. Anyway, I’m more for
the distance league than the welcoming warmth one. But that’s beside the point, I don’t even know
why I brought it up.
- That’s all right. You said tomorrow it’s good for you?
- Yes. I’ll be there at noon.
same day, back at Anna’s apartment___
- I got that airbnb place.
- That’s nice.
- You don’t sound specially glad.
- Glad?
- Yes, glad, as in enthusiastic about it.
- You know, as much as I try, I just can’t understand all this.
- Think of it as my response to him, albeit an indirect one, curved with a small detour.
- You surely mean a major detour.
- Yeah, you’re right, a major detour.
- And then what?
- Then we’ll see, when the time comes.
- Still, I just can’t see the point.
- I’ve told you countless times the point is exactly I couldn’t see the point anymore.
- But can’t you see that we’ve been there, all of us, I think, and we didn’t go about shutting down
our lives just because we were disappointed or whatever.
- I’m not shutting anything down.
- Yes you are. You’ve switched your phone off.
- Well, I can see a difference between a phone and a life, and another, by the way, between
switching something off or shutting it down.
- We’re being cynical.
- No, I’m not. I think you mean ironic.
- Whatever.
