what did you say…

nothing…nothing really…just a passing thought…something that ran through my head…really…it was nothing…

no…I’m curious…I thought I heard you say something important…something meaningful…like you’d say to a friend…or…a confidant…someone you’re close to…an insight ’bout yourself…

uh huh…it was just a random thought…would’ve kept it to myself but it just blurted out there…sometimes I have no filter…words just come out of my mouth…

well…it did this time…you were in deep thought…and…these words came from you…nothing complex…you say…but it appeared as though you were trying to be heard…wanting to be listened to…am i wrong…

just muttering…gibberish really…

you hear those people down in the alley…

yes…

what are they saying…

can’t make it out…

exactly…’cause it’s not important to you…but…what you said to me…just now…here…that was important…you opened your mouth and spoke words…didn’t understand them… but you spoke words…why speak if you don’t want to be heard…

I told you…

what…

it was just a thought…a random thought…

’bout what…

can’t remember now…that’s how un-important it was…a random thought…about nothing…nothing of any consequence…

you don’t think…

no…you’re making a federal case of this…but it was nothing…about some one I knew long ago…I think of her from time to time and words just slip out…

so…you were thinking of her…

yes…

and you didn’t want me to hear it…hear what you had to say…about her…this woman you knew long ago…

correct…

I see…

I don’t appreciate the way you went about this…

’bout what…

this interrogation…this questoning…

well…you shouldn’t have opened your mouth then should you…

I told you…things slip out…small things…un-important things…words that have no gravitas whatsoever…stupid me…

how so…

this is how people get to know my business…I can’t shutup…I talk too much…like a kid with a secret…I can’t keep my mouth closed…

I’ll say…it runs constantly…has the whole time I’ve known you…ever since she left you…you can’t stop talking ’bout her…that’s why I question you…as if to say…her again…we’re going to talk about her again…long has it been…

long time…

yes…

and she slips out every once in awhile…like a spirit inside of me…just when I think she’s gone…

she comes back again…

yes…

you need a cleansing…a mind cleansing…

perhaps…

yes…I think that would do the trick…a good analyst is what you need…

you think…

yes….wash away these thoughts…these thoughts that slip out…it’s a good thing you’re not in charge of anything…you’d give away the store…that’s why I watch what I say ’round you…I’m careful…

careful…

yes…careful…of what I say…no-one’s gonna have the goods on me…

no…

no…

is that what this is about…keeping scores…

yes…

why…

it’s all we have…keeping tabs on each other…that’s what people do…everybody is in everybody’s business…we can’t help it…muttering about in people’s lives…listening to slips of the tongue…tallying up scores…that’s what we do…

sounds like a bunch of women…

well…we all have our feminine side…