Chapter 10: Purple Elephant

"Take your shoes off," Declan said. "Sit."

It was eight that night, and Eli was on the sofa in Declan's loft with a mug of tea he hadn't asked for.

Declan had dragged the drafting stool to the other side of the coffee table and sat on it.

On the table lay a sheet of paper, a pen, and a stopwatch.

"This is how we do it," Declan said. "I will think of a word. Only think. I will not move my mouth. You will tell me what it is."

"This is insane."

"This is a controlled test."

"You're a lunatic."

"I'm an architect. It's the same thing with a degree." He folded his hands. "Ready."

"He can't. He can't possibly. Please let me be paranoid. Please let me be a man who has been under strain."

Eli took a sip of tea.

"Tell me the word," Declan said.

"I can't hear anything."

Declan's face did not change.

"Pineapple. Pineapple. Pineapple, pineapple, pineapple."

"I'm hearing a lot of fruit," Eli said. "I don't know what to tell you."

Declan stared at him.

"Is it fruit?"

"I said I don't know."

"You said fruit."

"I'm making a joke. Because you've been silent for a minute and I'm nervous."

"Purple elephant."

"Purple elephant on a trampoline in a Hawaiian shirt. A purple elephant in a Hawaiian shirt reading the Wall Street Journal."

The tea went the wrong way.

Eli coughed so hard his eyes watered, and he put the mug down and fought down a laugh with his whole chest.

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