LARGE LANGUAGE LOVE, DIVINE

Big Small Talk

…Rob found out that Janet, the love of her life, the person she’d devoted her life to had finally come out, only to decide to be with someone else…

Big Small Talk

Rob split, packing up her Range Rover. She didn’t say where she was headed, and gave no indication she'd ever return. Claire had no time to process. She was just beginning to make a dent in her Dalton debt. There was work and there was more work. Direct care work, making subs work, filling in at the CD store work. Every so often she hustled some Kung FAI work, which was why two months she was ending her day standing in front of Pathfinder Coffee.

“Claire, yes? Taylor. Hi.” Her new client was tall and hunched in a pea coat with the collar flipped up. They scored a corer table and he asked if she wanted anything. He didn't make eye-contact.

"Thank you, that's very generous. I’d love a Big Cookie, please. That's the name. Just say Big Cookie and they’ll know.”

He nodded at the tabletop.

“Thank you," Claire said again, when he placed the cookie on a paper napkin in front of her. "This is basically the only kind of sweet I eat these days, so yeah, big treat.”

She politely consumed her cookie and ran him through the Kung FAI basics. She demonstrated several starter combinations and also how to assemble a ring based on immediate emotional and environmental factors, what was known as the Me-Time Ring.

“I’m impressed,” she said. “You’re picking all this up without any difficulty. Usually there’s a learning curve because of the jargon. Doesn’t seem to bother you. You want me to show you some deeper rings?”

"I mean, like I said, I've looked at some stuff on my own..."

Under the pea coat Taylor dressed like a roadie for Black Sabbath. His thick beard was marginally trimmed. His eyes stayed furtive, like a guilty child.

Claire talked more of the nonsense she'd picked up from her certification training. "I think the most important thing is to not over think. Never over complicate what’s in front of you. What do the cards say? Don't make it into something else. You make it into something else, and you're not dealing the cards. Trust me, I know what not dealing is like. That used to be what I was all about. Now I deal too much, but I'd much rather have it like that than how I used to be."

"You do a lot of trainings?"

"Not really. Kung FAI still hasn't exactly, blown up. But whatever, I'm just happy to be part of it. It doesn't have to be my main thing. If you don’t mind my asking, what do you do?”

"We're doing an interaction assignment."

Claire nodded. "Would you like to use a ring?"

"No, I'm good. I’m an assistant. Yeah. I work for... Down in Texas. I’m here delivering something for my boss.” He offered a plaintive shrug.

"I'd ask you where in Texas but I'd have no idea. The closest I've ever gotten to Texas is Florida.”

Taylor shrugged again.

They were almost at the hour mark. Another one off. Her ad in the Calypso alternative paper scored her a new client about once a month. She'd learned the general rule was the few people who were interested in Kung FAI usually weren't after the initial session. Social skills were basic and there was no equation or magical spell to more effectively game friendship or love. She fought the urge to yawn. Another long day. “Well, okay, I’ve really enjoyed giving you this perspective, and unless there’s anything else...”

“There is.” His gaze became suddenly direct. "The message I'm delivering. It's for you."

"I don't understand."

Taylor went back to staring at his thumbs. He fidgeted. "We got to do it privately. I didn't want to just, bombard you or something. I like Kung FAI and wanted to learn a little more. I wanted to show you some respect. Respect to Respect."

Respect to Respect - the Dalton motto. Claire was starting to understand.

Outside, the winter sun was doing its early retreat and the temperature was dropping fast. The Commons was empty and receding into elementals, brick and iron and ice. Darkness was etching around the streetlights. Claire said, "You're a Dalton. But you've gotta be a half like me. Daltons aren't that tall, and, rugged."

"Yes."

"You didn't have to do a session, but I like you being respectful. But, it also makes me think that whatever you want to tell me isn't good news. Is this about me getting more debt?"

"Can we go..."

"Sure," Claire said, now feeling queasy and overwhelmed. "We can talk about whatever it is at my place."

…Taylor’s message will change everything, again…