There was a tension between them, so that even the simplest interaction was an exercise in walking on Legos. It was a palpable presence, like a sauerkraut fart that lingered too long. Neither of them was willing to discuss the elephant in the room. Both of them felt that they were the elephant in the room, that their personal internal drama was the only thing that mattered, and the only thing that nobody wanted to address. Each of them secretly condemned their family for even bothering with their Orthodox Christian Christmas tradition of gathering together in spite of their disparate paths in life.
There was a tension between them, so that even the simplest interaction was an exercise in walking on Legos. It was a palpable presence, like a sauerkraut fart that lingered too long. Neither of them was willing to discuss the elephant in the room. Both of them felt that they were the elephant in the room, that their personal internal drama was the only thing that mattered, and the only thing that nobody wanted to address. Each of them secretly condemned their family for even bothering with their Orthodox Christian Christmas tradition of gathering together in spite of their disparate paths in life.