ellen kennedy signs online
kenneth anger looks at her screenname
it's floating a little, like a tree
kenneth anger clicks on her name and a message box comes up
kenneth anger types 'hey'
my finger rests on the enter key
kenneth anger feels nervous
his finger pushes the enter key a little
then it pushes it more, but kenneth anger doesn't feel like he controls his finger anymore

five minutes later ellen kennedy hasn't responded to 'hey'
kenneth anger waits three more minutes
kenneth anger signs off
kenneth anger signs back online
ellen kennedy is still signed on
kenneth anger puts up an away message
kenneth anger changes the message
kenneth anger takes the message down and makes himself 'available'
ellen kennedy's screenname goes idle
but kenneth anger doesn't see it. kenneth anger thinks she signed off.
then kenneth anger sees she just went idle.
then she goes un-idle.
ellen kennedy's screenname just stares at kenneth anger.

kenneth anger thinks about typing 'hey' again or an evasive statement like 'so you're writing a book' or 'you're working on poetry?' or 'do you go to the gym?' kenneth anger is not thinking 'kenneth anger has limited time to talk to ellen. kenneth anger thinks kenneth anger somehow knows that the time will end and either not talking to her or talking to her will be a better situation than having to make the decision to type a message again.

a different person messages kenneth anger
they talk about basketball