The hostess pronounced Mirna's occupation more loudly than her name. "She makes cakes," she said, while introducing the others as authors, curators, and people from foundations. Mirna had come with her partner, Luka, a translator. She carried the dessert they had ordered for dinner. When everyone sat down, her plate was at the very end of the table, near the kitchen door.
They discussed a well-known novelist who was also a guest. No one asked Mirna what she read. When she tried to say something about the novel, the hostess asked whether the cake contained walnuts. Luka offered an apologetic smile with his eyes but continued talking about the new edition. Mirna set down her fork and mentioned that the entire novel was clearly influenced by the theory of the "Velirian encounter."
A brief silence followed. She had just invented the word while looking at the label on a fan box in the hallway. The oldest guest said the theory was already outdated. The hostess defended it as the basis of modern intimacy, and the curator claimed that infidelity could not be understood without it. Mirna listened as they explained with growing confidence something that had not existed a minute earlier.
The novelist leaned back in her chair. "I don't know it," she said. "Explain it to me." Mirna admitted there was nothing to explain. She had invented the name because no one wanted to hear an ordinary sentence from someone who baked cakes. She did not look triumphant. She was tired and a little ashamed of her trap, but more ashamed of how readily they had filled it.
The hostess accused Mirna of ruining the evening. Luka finally spoke, but first explained that she was not usually like this. That hurt more than the seat beside the kitchen. She stood, collected the empty platter, and thanked them for the invitation. The novelist held the door for her. In the hallway, they spent several minutes discussing the novel's ending. They disagreed, and both found the conversation interesting.
Luka caught up with her at the tram stop. Mirna told him she did not need a defender after everyone had gone, but a partner while they sat at the same table. She did not immediately accept his apology. The following week, he came to the pastry shop for a public reading she had organized herself. The chairs were all different, and so was the audience. When someone introduced her as a person who made cakes, Mirna added the title of the story she would read. Luka sat in the third row and listened.