An imagined conversation from Anna Log’s world. Mara Venn is a fictional interviewer introduced in this series.
I had written Who is the real Anna Log? at the top of my notes. Before I switched the recorder on, she read it upside down.
“That one always sounds like there’s a prize for finding the person behind the curtain.”
“Is there a curtain?”
“There’s a mixer. You can come round and look.”
She moved a cable out of the way. I stayed where I was.
The first question
Mara: Then let’s start with the record. Why put meat and machine in the same introduction?
Anna: Because you keep introducing them separately.
Mara: Most people would say there’s a difference.
Anna: There is. There’s a difference between a hand and a record, too. Neither of them makes that sound alone.
I looked down at the recorder between us. Its little meter moved when she spoke. I had already decided to trust it with my memory of the conversation.
A question to take away
Mara: What should someone know before they listen?
Anna: They don’t owe me agreement.
Mara: That isn’t much of a briefing.
Anna: Good. You’ll have room to hear something.
I crossed out the question at the top of the page. Underneath it I wrote: Why did I need there to be somebody else?
I didn’t ask her that one. Not yet.