“I spent a week decoding four words. I'd like the week back more than I'd like the answer.”

The message itself was unremarkable. What made it a week was that I was not really reading it, I was auditioning interpretations, and the generous one kept winning on a technicality.

At some point I noticed I was not confused about what they meant. I was confused about what I was going to do about it. Those two feel identical from the inside and they are not the same problem. Asking a plain question would have cost one uncomfortable minute. Not asking cost a week, and I told myself the entire time that I was being careful.