"My best friend just told me he's gay," she said. "But he did it in a very roundabout way. He didn't just say it flat out."

"Was he like 'Let's play a game. You guess my sexual orientation, and I'll tell you if you're hot or cold'"?

"Uh, no."

"Oh," I said. "Well, how do you feel about it?"

"I dunno. I really did think I would marry him for a long time. I guess that dream is gone."

"Maybe it can still happen if you end up a lonely spinster, and he's forced to submit to his parents' conventional ways, like some sort of sad movie. Only, if you do that, would you wait until the future so I could write a science fiction novel about it?"

"You never listen to me."