A.W.I.A, Part 3: The interview continues

Well, you know how this all started, and what happened next. When I laughed and then told the man who was supposed to be a doctor that I wasn't laughing at anything, he sighed as if my answer made him tired. "All right. What did you mean when you said I was speaking to you in riddles?"

Oh, no, we weren't going to do that. But how to get out of it? At first I didn't answer at all. Then I said, "I don't remember."

"You don't remember what you said just a minute ago?"

Was this evidence that would be counted against me, too? What was the right answer?

"I remember saying so," I said. "But I don't remember what I meant."

"Look," he said, "if you don't remember what you meant," and he emphasized remember in a particular way which told me quite clearly he did not believe me, "Why don't you just tell me what you suppose you might have meant by saying such a thing?"

"Well," I said. Then I stopped. There was a way this question could trip me up, but I didn't see how. "I guess I meant that you were speaking enigmatically." He didn't move or give any other sign he'd heard me, just kept watching.

"Cryptically." No response.

"In ciphers."

Still no response for a moment, then he shook his head the way you might if a fly was buzzing around. "I understand what enigmatically means," he told me. "Allow me to ask my question again."

I waited. Would he repeat himself to see if I changed my story? He took a deep breath, then said, "I said, people who tell stories with missing parts, in my experiences, usually constitute the missing parts themselves."

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