There is a woman I used to go out to dinner with. Smart, warm, successful, ultra-independent. Every time the bill arrived, her hand was on it before anyone else had reached for their handbag. The first few times, we all protested. By the tenth time, we didn't. By the twentieth, nobody even performed the reach. The group had been trained. She wasn't being selfish. She was being so reliably capable that reciprocity slowly died at the table. Everyone kept their money. She kept the role. On the...

I caught myself doing something strange. Business goes quiet, and inside a day my mind has decided it's Caryn's fault. Caryn was my pivotal friend through my thirties. She has been dead since March 2024. She has nothing to do with whether a client signs this month. But there she is, back in the room, cast as the reason. The mechanism is simple once you see it. Uncertainty is uncomfortable. My mind doesn't want to sit in I don't know why clients are slow. It wants a cause. So it reaches into...

You are small. Someone laughs. Girls should be seen and not heard. You stop the sound. Air still arrives. Less of it. Told not to be rude. You kiss the uncle. His hand stays. Ribs learn polite. You say no. He hears yes. You liked him. So it was you. The next breath turns sideways to get through. The raise goes to the one who asked. You assumed they were watching. They were not. Something under the sternum sits down. Bills on the table. He will not. Cannot. Does not know how. You pay. The...