He bought a book about listening and didn’t skim it. He learned about repair attempts—how jokes can be bricks or bridges depending on whether you lay them down or throw them.
He wrote a list titled Not Funny and underlined it. He added another titled Try This Instead. It was embarrassingly practical: nod, repeat, ask, pause.
He practiced on the kettle. The kettle did fine. People are harder. He hoped he would be better than a kettle when it counted.
