[a phone call]

• : as you might have discovered already, i'm not at home. so you can quit ringing the buzzer and frightening my cat.

? : why do you think i was ringing your buzzer?

• : it is something you would do. nevermind. if i come home and my cat is perturbed, i will know the way of things.

? : you wouldn't be able to tell. you're lying.

• : yes, it's true. from the inflection in your voice, i know already that you have done it. you try to wave it off with bravado, with your superior attitude, with no respect for anyone save those whose livelihood's you've selectively assumed, as if i did not know the rules of power and i should just lay down when you bow your chest. you do this and you feign innocence, as if your pretension should shield you. perhaps to those who are content to go blind, but there are still men who walk this earth.

  i will be back shortly, only to ensure that you do not further bother my cat. i would advise you to be gone, but you would not listen anyway. so stay and take whatever errand you have with me