TANISHA
It should’ve felt like an interrogation. It didn’t. There was no pressure to perform, no sense that a wrong answer would cost me something. When I paused to think, he waited. When I veered off-topic, he followed without correcting me.
Without realizing when exactly it happened, I noticed I had become relaxed. I spoke freely, demonstrated with my hands, smiled without restraint.
I found myself talking about things I usually summarized or skipped entirely. My parents, religion, the relief of leaving home. The way the city could make you feel anonymous and exposed at the same time. I even caught myself laughing when I described my college dorm and the mouse I named John because my roommates and I couldn’t get rid of it.
He laughed softly at that. He spoke about himself sparingly
