Member-only story
It’s my company’s holiday party at an eccentric art mansion in New York.
I am wearing one too many feathers, holding a bottle of champagne I “borrowed” from the kitchen, and looking for my next victim to talk to — not usually the start of an evening that would lead to profound conversations, but crazier things have happened.
I see an elderly woman wearing a light-up Christmas sweater and a captain hat, who definitely doesn’t work for the AI tech company I work for. Not that she couldn’t, I just know she doesn’t.
I decide to join the group she’s talking to and introduce myself. Turns out she is the owner of the mansion. As the conversation carries on, I offer the bottle of champagne I’m holding to someone in the group.
At that point, she tells us in 82 years, she hasn’t had a drop of alcohol.
Why, I ask? She says it’s because she doesn’t need it. I tell her I appreciate that. And that I like to drink because I then say ridiculous things that challenge people’s mindsets, leading them to ask themselves, “why do I feel uncomfortable right now?”
She looks at me, and says “That’s not the right question to ask.” And pauses.
