Snippets

"The first [romantic fantasy] can hit me anywhere, though it's most often when I'm watching television or I'm looking out the window of a train or subway, and it's that there is a head resting on my shoulder that must have been there the whole time that I haven't noticed until now. And in the fantasy, or because of the fantasy--it's hard to tell the difference--I suddenly feel this surge of something like the combination of safety and elation, knowing that every sight I see, no matter how small, is now important because it's shared. I don't need to look at the head on my shoulder & I never do. Because what's so important to me is not what the person looks like, but that we are seeing the same thing.

"The second fantasy is that a small child, about 4 years old, is crying because she's drawn all over the wall with her crayons & has just realized that what she has done is going to subject her to some unknown form of justice. I put on a serious face & explain to the child that her mother & I are going to discuss what her punishment should be. Then I close the door to another room and, with relief, I drop the serious face and laugh and kiss the young artist's mother and ask her what in the world we should do about this creature we made who wanted to put colors on the walls and is scared what we're going to say about it."

- BJ Novak, "Sophia," One More Thing