Twist

by Colum McCann

“How dark is it down there?” “It’s blue,” he said. “Most everything else gets filtered out except the blue. It’s like being in a Miles Davis song.”

Kinda

had learned, in the couple of weeks I had been in South Africa, to detest the word sir. It had all the quality of a very agile slur. A gesture of deference and an accusation all at once. A sly word, used repeatedly, with great precision.

I had a similar reaction on India.

“No shit, Sherlock, everyone’s phone is out.”

Really? This is very junior high.

What was it Pascal had written? All of our problems stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room alone.

knew it the moment she said it. Mine has been a lifetime of dropped connections.

There are times we all become the sons of our sons—JohnMichael,