the spectator who watches instead of connecting
Erdedy found himself trying to calculate just what remote sub-Asian locale would be the maximum possible number of km. away from this exact spot and moment as the fellow just stood there, his arms out and the smile draining from his face.
Context
Erdedy's whole mode is the cage of self worn as manners: he attends the meeting as a watcher, sharing nothing, and the instant contact is offered his mind flees into abstraction, computing the maximum possible distance from the man in front of him. His fussy, hyphenating politeness is language deployed as a wall, and it fails — the only thing that finally connects him to another person is a physical grip that leaves no room to negotiate. [sweep · shared-ground irony-sincerity]