Someone’s just said something to me and I had no comeback

Quick-fire

The right answer always turns up two hours later, in the shower. So you might as well have it first.

The keyName the manoeuvre, answer short, and stop there.

⚠ Three things before you draw

Tone is everything: these lines are short on purpose, but you say them calmly, without aggression. An angry no gives them a handle, a flat no gives them nothing.

One line, then silence. It’s the silence afterwards that sets the limit, not the line.

And you only go up a level if the one before wasn’t enough. You never start with the third.

Taken from the novel The Hammock and the Hummingbirds. The comebacks come from the author’s notebooks — every one of them has been used at least once.