Sourdough

by Robin Sloan

Here’s a thing I believe about people my age: we are the children of Hogwarts, and more than anything, we just want to be sorted.

Greatest among us are those who can deploy “my friend” to total strangers in a way that is not hollow, but somehow real and deeply felt; those who can make you, within seconds of first contact, believe it.

I needed a more interesting life. I could start by learning something. I could start with the starter.

loaves. After the machine, I could make four. For the first time in my life, I realized why a person might be interested in capital. This was capital!