Viva Voce

They ask me to explain the experiment.

I explain the experiment.

They ask me to explain what went wrong.

Everything went wrong. I say: there were sources of error.

I have been awake for 34 hours.

My hands are at my sides.

My voice is doing the thing voices do

when the person behind them has left the building.

They write something on a paper.

I watch them write it.

The pen is blue. The table is white.

The window behind them shows sky.

This is all information I am processing.

'What would you do differently next time?'

Sleep, I think. I say: I would control for temperature variation.

They seem satisfied.

I am not sure what satisfaction looks like from the outside

when you are on the inside of 34 hours.

They say thank you.

I say thank you.

I walk out into the corridor.

Someone is waiting for their turn.

I try to make my face say: it is fine.

I think it does.

I walk to the water cooler.

I stand there for a while.

Then I walk outside.

The sun is still a thing.

Remarkable.