Kerouac, Ginsberg and Boroughs Drink Beer (or, 3 beats to the bar)

I was in a bar the other night. Chatting to a lady who works in Human Resources.

There was a silence in the conversation. For some reason, this one needed to be broken. It wasn't. Some kind soul eventually offered to go to the bar and buy some more drinks.

I thought about this silence. It was important, like the silence between beats or notes just is, as we're told. And then it hit me: what I should have said. I should have said it, but my brain was lagging, obviously about 12 hours behind the conversation like some sort of weird phase shift. I should have said ...

I should have said ...

"Do you mind if I ask you a personnel question?"