Every time somebody asks for my name, I tell them something different. But the names don’t walk away with them when they leave. The names always stick to me, and become a part of me. They adopt certain traits of my personality, and I’m always switching between them. When I make a new name, it pulls away bits and pieces of all the other names. I’m being simplified, refined, shattered into a million convenient pieces because it’s easier for other people to understand. But that’s not the only reason, some names help me to be brave in social situations. I like having many names, I suppose. It’s like I’m a great crowd of people, each with his own particular set of skills that can carry the group through certain precarious situations. But in the end, I know it’s a lie and I’m only making myself smaller.

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