An uncle and cousins used to joke that I had my own newspaper called Brian Says. There was never a newspaper. I just always had another story.

Sometimes it was true. Sometimes it was exaggerated. Sometimes we apparently had a pet dolphin living in the swimming pool.

I thought I was making ordinary things sound extraordinary. Much later, I realized I was doing something else too.

I was observing.

People. Details. Patterns. Strange little moments. The invisible space where a story begins before anyone knows it is one.