The Cracked Egg
I’d heard from second-hand sources of this new development, or not a development, but a vow stemming from a memory. This latter interpretation was given over to me by numerous sources, all of which were not entirely credible, but by their sheer number seemed to indicate a general impression, a mood or feeling attached to such actions as manifest during non-developments, from promises made and rendered by one person to themselves which may indicate a change, but may also intend a barricade.
What happened was that seemingly on a whim, but probably on a memory, he took to insisting that he would neither speak first nor respond to anyone unless he had raised his hand and been called upon, “quite like in grade school.”
While I was not present for the all too familiar situation in which he began this endeavor, I do know that he had been talking rather vibrantly about this, that, and the other with an intimate but large group of friends around a mid-April barbeque, when suddenly someone noticed that he had been holding a small, grimy bird shell, cracked open and crusty around the edges. When asked quite cheerfully what he had got there, he immediately broke off his chatter and fell into a deep, frowning silence. Then, he held up the egg and with a look of “unfounded” and “defiant” and “innocent” anger he stated that even though it was Spring, he had neither found any official eggs, nor enjoyed the hunt. In fact, he was quite sure that an egg was a point to be missed and dismissed. And then, “quite disconnectedly,” he announced that he would not utter another word unless he raised his hand and was called upon.
This proclamation was greeted with amusement and delight, yet as the years go on, also with an amount of consternation. To this day, many people have said how they either try to make him speak before raising his hand or wait with increasing exasperation as they watch themselves, like in a dream, ask that he feel compelled to ask to speak.
