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How should I talk to him? I don’t like conversations like this, and he’s not my favourite person to talk to of late. Actually, it’s not a recent thing. It happened much earlier, a long time ago, when his reason parted company with his heart.
Not counting Beta, there was never really anyone I could talk to, not like I talk to myself, without pretence. For me, a person’s character is a mosaic. I see people as cracked amphorae, and they all are shattered into smithereens, some of which can be very beautiful: it’s pleasant to talk of books with one; to keep silent about music with another; to play a game of chess with a third, and with a fourth, to head off to the ends of the earth. Sometimes I find myself waiting for someone to arrive, someone who has all the qualities I appreciate. But
