in the book of the grotesque

"I feel like killing myself," a colleague said to me as she was setting up the computer for presentation. I asked if she liked teaching, and she said she might consider getting a teaching certificate. We are young, healthy, and single. "We have more options than we think," I said to her.

Then I saw a girl who, a few nights before, had refused to talk at the bar but gave a faint smile every other moment. Today she also didn't talk and merely smiled the tiniest smile with the corners of her mouth. Lips closed.

Then I saw a man who wanted a second wife. "I would keep my first lady while I pursue my second lady," he said to me yesterday as we were walking down the hill. I disagreed with his way of going about it, but he claims that that is what most men do. "It must happen one at a time," I said to him.

For lunch, I had noodles with a friend and a man who felt he wasn't appreciated in the company. He was about to go home when I said to him, "Why don't you join the 6:00 English class?"

At 7:00, he asked me, "What is the topic of the next class?" I told him, and he went for the 7:00 class as well.

At 8:00, I taught my final class of the day. The students decided that I was good at telling stupid jokes. "Most stupid jokes come out at the 8:00 lesson," I said, "because that is when the teacher and the students are most tired."