30

I was gone for a while. But I came back, through the same door I’d left. Some people were waiting for me. How had I occupied myself? I could no longer maintain that this was an inappropriate question. The initial response I gave, which I composed unassisted, collapsed before developing into a sequence of discrete and audible words, but after several consultations I was able to cite activities which were generally regarded as productive uses of time; whenever possible, I mentioned names of persons who could corroborate my answer.