"His eyes closed with a sinnister grin?" Rabbit said. "What does that even mean? His eyes were grinning? Or the grinning caused his eyes to close? I don't get it. The imagery just doesn't pop and imagery needs to pop, or at least not be this strange Cheshire cat thing."

"A what kind of cat?" Weasel said.

"Cheshire. A Cheshire cat, like in Alice in Wonderland."

"Oh, I've never seen that."

Rabbit looked at him, mouth open. "Regardless of having seen it or not, or even better, having read the book, since you are trying to be a writer, you might think you had read books when you were a kid. The Cheshire cat is something that exists almost independently in culture. Everyone knows exactly what anyone else means when they say Cheshire cat."

Rabbit slurped at his coffee. Weasel looked out the window, trying not to appear hurt.

"Look, I'm sorry," Rabbit said. "I had an awful morning. I didn't mean to take it out on you."