“At the time I’m sure I would have sworn I was handling all this beautifully, but for a beautiful handler there sure were a lot of things I couldn’t bring myself to say. “I knew what you meant,” Gabriel said. That might have been the beginning of a pattern I had with him. I would say something, then clarify the something, only to learn that he’d understood perfectly all along. Probably because I was so used to saying things that hit other people like a complex alien language.”