inst porcelain was the

a of perfectly spiced lamb and roasted garlic potatoes. His eyes wer

s with a linen napkin, a small gesture mea

he said, not unkindly,

er with excuses.

hed a brow. "You're

ile. "Lives don't sche

ed, voice cool. "Is that on pau

icing through the silence like a

Brown muttered

e all your favorites. But I suppose tast

hed food. It might as well h

t," he said. It sounded

remember how to talk without s

eyes sharp, voice calm. "Do you remember how to as

ence gr

r mother like that

the scraping sound sharp an

mother called after him,

at the doo

e walk

, the way memories tend to fe

g. Family vacations. Graduation days. Newspaper headl

oto-him in his first lab coa

" he whispered. "

air greeted him l

the car door, si

?" the m

nodded

f light and quiet. He rested his

other reminder that success meant no

e from his assistant: "Flight to Lagos con

s, and her voice

gotten her-no

t cracked him open, and

ken word artist. F

he lingered in his t

. But hers wasn't poetry.

e terminal. The plane waited-s

board, his phon

age. This on

re you really as

he smile that tugged a

g behind plates of untouch

at alone in the dining room,

eyes tired. "I don't know

father said again, b

s a man we built with

d feet in the air,

in his head like a

eding under them. We call it control. But

d she

nd pulled up a video o

her curls wild, he

. Just poet

e someone has to say what th

laptop, he

angerous about her. N

always been

t in his Lagos hotel suite

world wanted-brillia

saw someone haunted

hone

: "Tell me one thing th

d at the

time, he

, he typed:

n't se

the message and o

Meetings until 6. Dinn

ked, but n

years, he wished he

rtha stood by Br

over his old books,

beside a framed s

a photo from h

s smi

al s

hard, then

ide the venue on

rowd inside-laughte

her voice reached him

e with silence because

'd been holding hi

y on stage whe

d around her lik

anced, twis

looked stra

eyes

idn't

dn't f

alked in, wrapped in silence, w

apped finger

ust sto

do