Berlin Wall, c. 1962

She was prone to overthinking. Aggressive, determined thinking  formed a wall around the process of life, which she could not control. She deployed distractions and analysis with Soviet subtlety, creating, over time, a network of protections. One department no longer knew what the others were doing. Left hand fooling the right.

She did this cloak and dagger for years – years and years and a lifetime – until cuts were made, and a colder, less stable government dismantled the agency of her cognition. Even concrete crumbles with age, but habits are hard to break, especially the girders in a foundation. The woman became a mouse in the concrete wall, sealing the cracks up with crumbs.