a moment in the day: conversation

"Why doesn't he do it himself?" Stephen asks.

"No, that's the process," I say. "I put the ideas on paper and he can see how it looks."

"Sounds tedious."

"Teedjuss," I say. "I think we should pronounce it teedjuss."

"I've got to go wash my head now."

"Because I—?"

"No," he says, "I always wash my head when the water's boiling."

I leave Stephen and go upstairs to my computer. That conversation would sound a little weird, I think to myself, if someone didn't know the context.