She caught me talking to myself again today.

She said, “Are you talking to yourself again?”

I said, “Uh…”

She said, “Babbling?”

I said, “No, rambling.”

She said, “Uh…”

Then I extrapolated. “It’s not just because apparently I’m drunk on the sound of my own voice. I’m practicing for the lectures I might give. There must be people out there who would listen to what I might have to say, who might even want to hear me. God knows, they need it.

“I’m also trying out ideas to see where they go. It’s like philosophy.

“Also, because writing involves choosing words, and in what order, so I’m writing in the air before I put it down on paper.

“You could say that I’m working, doing my job.

“And sometimes, just hearing the words, I can savor the sound, maybe try a rhyme, maybe burst into song with a melody of my own devising, maybe…”

She said, “Sorry I asked.”