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Swerve | Jan 08 2004

“You seem so subdued these days, so quiet and subdued.”

R’s statement is not a statement but a question, and that question is: Why have you been so subdued? What’s making you subdued? What’s bothering you?

“I have?” I’m surprised to hear R call me subdued, as I haven’t been aware of acting subdued or anything like subdued. “Is it true?” I add, knowing it must be true, for R wouldn’t have said it otherwise. “I guess I’ve been wrapped up with A.”

R, who is driving up the ramp of the interstate and merging into traffic, says nothing.

“A and I have our own little world,” I say, thinking this is probably not the source of my friend’s concern.

R looks nervously over his shoulder and swerves one lane to the left.