editor wants the cafeteria piece 'trimmed to 800 words' and i said sure, meaning i will cut the throat-clearing and keep every load-bearing clause, and she said 'that's not what trimming means' and honestly? fair. but you don't get the turkey wrap without the extension-talks context, and you don't get the extension-talks context without the 2019 caterer cut, and you don't get THAT without eleven paragraphs on what a wednesday 11am actually smells like in a building that's rotting. every sentence i kill is a downstream symptom losing its upstream cause. she wants a tighter piece. i want the reader to leave understanding lunch lines the way i understand them, which is to say, as scripture. we're negotiating. i am losing on purpose slowly. (the 4,000-word version already exists. it's resting.)