A few hours into our virtual reunion, I took advantage of a five-second lull and said, “Hey, if anyone’s interested in doing the crossword, to-day’s just got published!”

Nods and murmurs of general assent rippled across the video feeds.

“Awesome! It shouldn’t be a long one,” I said, opening the New York Times crossword tab and fiddling around with the settings to share my desktop screen. “With all of us working together it should be ten minutes tops, and then we can do a few more rounds of cosel.io.”

“Hey everyone,” said Dina, “it’s kinda getting late for me on the East Coast. I think I’m gonna have to sign off for to-night, but you all have fun on the crossword!”

“No worries, Dina!” I said. “Have a great night.”

Everybody waved and said her goodbyes, and then her video feed disappeared.

I had just begun broadcasting my desktop screen to the room when Tate piped up, “Hey Grace,” she smiled, “I think I’m also gonna have to head off. I suddenly remembered I’ve got an early morning meeting to-morrow.”

“That’s okay!” I said. “Bye Tate!” I waved, and everybody joined in for an indistinct chorus of valediction. Then there were six of us.

Madeline unmuted herself. “Hey, the Rooster and I were actually gonna watch a movie to-night. Can’t really leave him hanging, you know.”

“Oh, that sounds nice!” I said, in my best impression of unrattled. “Which movie?”

“The Lamb Broker?”

“I’ve heard that’s a good one.”

“Yeah, Jessica Mallory’s great in it,” Arashi piped in.

“Yeah, we’ve had it on our watch-list for a while,” said Madeline. “Okay, great to see you all!” She logged off before we could say goodbye.

“Grace,” Wenli said, “uh, sorry to join the exodus, but I do actually need to take the dogs out for a walk. I don’t know if I’ll be back in time to rejoin, but good luck with the crossword!”

“Right, that’s important!” I didn’t even know she had dogs. “Um, enjoy the evening air!”

“Thank you,” said Wenli. “See you guys sometime soon.”

“See ya!”

When her video feed disappeared, the rest of ours suddenly became bigger on the screen. I remarked lightly to the room, “Well, I guess it’ll just be the four of us now, but let’s get started—”

Ovul interrupted. “I’ve gotta take a shit in a canister.”

We passed the next three seconds in utter silence.

“Otherwise my mom will die,” she continued. “No time to explain.” Then she logged off.

We passed the next three seconds in utter silence.

“I actually need to, uh, repark my car, but you two have fun on the crossword,” said Arashi, who promptly vanished as well.

I looked at Bushrang, who gazed back at me through the screen.

“Well Bush,” I said brightly, “I guess that leaves the two of us. But it’ll be okay! Not enough for cosel.io anymore, but we can still get through the crossword just fine—”

“Grace?” said Bushrang. “I’m sorry.”

Then he left.