As Angela and Conrad left the concert hall, Conrad began to pick apart the performance. Angela got a sinking feeling in her chest. She heard the metamessage “I’m having a rotten time,” and, since the time Conrad was having was with her, “I don’t like being with you.” The more he criticized the musicians, the more certain she felt that the hostility he was expressing toward the piccolo player was really an expression of how he felt about her.
