He stopped at a spot on the sidewalk to sniff at nothing in particular. I counted to ten and did relaxation exercises, hoping he wouldn t notice I was doing it. After a moment, he seemed satisfied with the information he had gathered, and we continued. Your characters motivations don t ring true, he said, stopping to investigate a small pile of dead leaves. The description of Linda s anxiety attack was stagey and affected.
Nobody has that kind of reaction to missing a car payment, anyway.
I was devastated. If you don t buy Linda s anxiety attack, then the rest of it just collapses, up to and including Arthur s final decision to quit his job and take a pepperoni pizza to Linda s condo. You ve never had the experience of missing a car payment, I pointed out. I ve never had the experience of losing a leg to a whale, either, he retorted. It s not the first time he s stifled discussion with allusions to Melville.