Babel

by R.F. Kuang

Rain like this made you walk with your head down, shoulders hunched, indifferent to the world until you got to somewhere warm.

‘The Germans have this lovely word, Sitzfleisch,’ Professor Playfair said pleasantly when Ramy protested that they had over forty hours of reading a week. ‘Translated literally, it means “sitting meat”. Which all goes to say, sometimes you need simply to sit on your bottom and get things done.’