“Does anyone wish to challenge me on
that?” she asked.

The fellow across the table laughed out loud.
Was it a confident

laugh of utter derisiveness about how he
would demolish

her argument in a moment or was he being
cautious about the challenge

because he knew she was really smart and
he had to be really

smart in return or was he agreeing with her
because he thought

she was right? Or was it the nervous laugh
of someone who was

afraid of the challenge? It all comes down to
the nuance of the laugh, doesn’t it?