I love to talk about nothing it's the only thing I know anything about

...said Oscar Wilde. I'm going to have to develop that facility pretty smartish because my mind's a blank this morning.

Jeanette Winterson came to my rescue. This from Gut Symmetries

"He: What’s the matter with you?

Me: Nothing.

Nothing was slowly clotting my arteries. Nothing slowly numbing my soul. Caught by nothing, saying nothing, nothingness becomes me. When I am nothing they will say, surprised in the way that they are forever surprised, "but there was nothing the matter with her.”

Why do we DO that? Why do I  do that? Actually, for me, the conversation goes more like:

He: How are you?

Me: Fine!

Sometimes, I'm NOT fine. Sometimes there IS something wrong.

I don't think I'm afraid to admit weakness. It's just that I don't want to be a bother or a bore!

And mostly, when people ask those things, I wonder if they REALLY want to know.