Conversation with a High Schooler

My phone rings. 

Hello.

"Hi Aunt Bardiac."  (It's my niece/nephew, in high school.)

Hi [Name]!

silence

How are you?

"Okay."

Life treating you well?

"Okay."

What are you up to?

"Nothing."

At which point, I want to say, hey, YOU called me!  It's your turn to say something.

And after a few more minutes of monosyballic responses, my niece/nephew gets to the point, which happens to be some question of moderate import.


Now, niece/nephew used to be able to carry on a conversation and actually say stuff, but I think there's a thing that happens, and suddenly, monosyllables.

The thing is, I remember being monosyllabic for YEARS whenever any adult tried to have a conversation with me.  I was too embarrassed, too shy, too angry, too defensive (depending on the circumstances) to talk to pretty much any adult.  And it took me YEARS to get over that.

Now I feel bad for all the adults who had to put up with me for all those years.  So, adults who put up with me, I'm sorry.  I apologize for the many years of monosyllables.