There was a small moment today. Nothing dramatic. No obvious consequence. The kind of moment that would usually pass without being marked at all. Someone said something, and I felt the slightest tightening in my body. A hesitation. A quiet “no,” or maybe just a pause. And almost immediately, something else moved in to replace it. A smoothing over. A willingness. A “yes, that’s fine.” It happened so quickly that, for a second, I almost believed that the second response was the