Author S. K. Nicholas

Why are you so quiet?  What’s wrong with you?

A colleague at work asked me this last week.  It’s an interesting question, and to be fair to her, it isn’t the first time I’ve had it thrown at me.

It’s also quite tricky to answer.

Usually, I settle for a shrug and a smile.  If I respond at all, I’ll simply say that I am always quiet.  Usually, assuming they don’t ask why, I’ll get an unsatisfied ‘okay’, then the person instantly forgets it and asks me again at some point a few days or weeks down the line.

Sometimes I feel it’s not good to be introverted and quiet.  Thoughtfulness arouses suspicion.  I remember one summer, sitting in a beer garden with a friend.  Our conversation had ended like a flame at the bottom of a candle; not out of boredom or…