8:43. She's on her way over on a neutral pretext, I have an out. I can pretend there's nothing beyond the errand, let this moment pass from my lips. Things are in that state of supersaturation, before the relationship begins to crystallize. If you are who I think you are, you're thinking: "paradichlorobenzene". Remember the crystal dropping into the test tube, the sudden freeze? If you're thinking that, then I wish you were here to advise, since we are of a like mind.
Try to imagine.
I'll be breaking off here suddenly in a moment to answer the door, and I may return totally changed. Imagine that. There was a time when I looked at a bottle of beer and marveled that in a few moments, at the bottom of the bottle, I would be a different person, in a totally different mood: undeniably true, and yet I could barely imagine it.
This feels like losing virginity. Portentious-- the smell of the real making you realize that you have been living with only four senses.