In no particular time, you were sitting idly and looking out the window, not really at anything, and you thought, in a complete and audible sentence, “I am looking out the window.” Later, another day, you are idly looking out the window again, and you remember this occurrence, and you will it, that voice, the you, to speak the same words, once and twice and three times, with a different emphasis on each word. After, you remember a time when it was said: “I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is I love you. The bad news is I love you.” You try to remember which words were emphasized, exactly, and with what tone.
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Joshua Hebburn edits fiction for X‑R-A‑Y.