kyou

Then there's time in the street, when you run into somebody you haven't seen in, say, five years, and you play it all on one level. When you see each other and you don't even lose a beat, that's when it's the best. You don't say "What have you been doing?" – you don't try to catch up. Maybe you mention that you're on your way to 8th Street to get a frozen custard and maybe they mention which movie they're on their way to see, but that's it. Just a casual check-in. Very light, cool, off-hand, very American. Nobody's fazed, nobody's thrown out of time, nobody gets hysterical, nobody loses a beat. That's when it's good. And then when somebody asks you whatever hapened to so-and-so you just say, "Yes, I saw him having a malted on 53rd Street." Just play it all on one level, like everything was yesterday.

[andy, 111]