Why are you lying?

It was my first job after moving to Prague. And I was oozing Georgia peach all over the place. I think my coworkers tolerated it in exchange for my knowhow. But they spoke Czech—and at the time I didn’t—so I’ll never really know. And whenever I asked them how they were doing, they responded with an unenthusiastic, “I am normal.”

Getting sick is never fun, especially when you don’t have anyone to lean on and all you want is your mom. Like any good American who had been trained that they could be easily replaced, I marched myself and my fever into the office that morning. Of course I had to be the first to arrive. Everyone had to see me, didn’t they?

Lukáš, my junior colleague arrived a half-hour later. The usual “How are you?” routine began. A cheery “I’m good!” fell out of my sore throat when it was my turn.

“Why are you lying to me?” Lukáš asked. “Why do you Americans lie like that?”

Normal is a really good word.