Yeah? Well, perhaps we're not in the past, Joan. Lots of things have happened since. And usually your jokes aren't meant to be funny.

How should I know? All you say is 'that', and you never say that I am.

Do you want an exhaustive list?

I don't know whether I should laugh or cry about that. The fact you'd do it without even noticing makes it worse. I'm sorry, not all of us could go to good schools. Some of us were cast away in all girl pensionarry where we were stacked and taught to be housewives.

You never asked.

Hfm, right.

Well you clearly prefer to know thing about them and their past but not me. I'm sure if I asked you about them, you'd be able to answer without missing a beat.

Change it? And how? We are strangers, whether we like it or not. We've lived all our lives separated. I'm not sure even eating well and exercising will prevent death from coming to give us more time.

. . . . And to talk about what?

Us? What us is there? We had a fight and went our separate ways. These things happen between siblings or so, I learned.

And what do you mean by that? There is no us if it's separated. So what about that us do you wish to talk about?

You came to me that night. Don't you forget it. You said you wanted to sit down and talk about it. Like adults.

I am bothered. I feel like I come last in everything. And I'm not screaming or fighting. So I don't see why you don't want to have the conversation that you want to have.

I'm tired of you saying you want to talk and then backtrack. Start a conversation and then move on to something else.