10 March 2027
Wednesday. My handwriting has been criticised. Fairly. But the trouble today was not my handwriting. It was a team reading my notes in complete silence, each to themselves, like a library with a zombie in it.
The lab runs on English. There is a fair amount of reading, and the story and the clues come over the speakers, spoken aloud. One confident reader is enough to take part, the staff say, though the hour goes best when most of the team can follow along.
Teammates who are hard of hearing are not left out. The others pass on what the speakers say, and the lab asks for all sorts of skills besides listening. Today the sharpest player in the room could not hear a word of the announcements and noticed everything else. She was the one who told the others to stop reading quietly and start reading aloud.
Reading aloud is underrated. I read my notes aloud to Gerald every evening. He does not enjoy them, but he has never once dozed off, which is more than I can say for the funding committee.
Note to self: buy a typewriter.
— Dr Morrow, Storeroom B
