“I’m resting my voice today.”

Mateo made that up to avoid talking about his weekend at the office meeting, but now he had to stay quiet afterward, too. He was sitting in the meeting room and only wanted to agree on a deadline for the report. His colleagues were there, along with his manager, Iryna, who started every Monday with a quick round of personal updates. When his turn came, Mateo touched his throat and pointed to his notebook. Iryna nodded and asked him to write at least a couple of words.

He wrote “Nice and restful” and was reaching for his cup when Iryna asked about the report. That answer took three lines. While he wrote, his colleagues waited politely, so Mateo began abbreviating words, then had to explain the abbreviations separately. When he ran out of blank pages, he picked up a small whiteboard and marker from beside the door. The meeting ended, but a colleague from sales caught up with him in the corridor with a follow-up question. Mateo raised the board again: a suddenly healthy voice would need explaining.

By lunchtime, he was carrying the board under his arm. In the kitchen, he wrote “Coffee, please” and showed it to a colleague by the kettle. When asked about sugar, he added “None” underneath. Back at his desk, he had to erase his order to draw the three stages of preparing the report for Iryna. She photographed the diagram: for once, the explanation fitted in a single picture. She asked him to keep the board for their next discussion. Mateo nodded, though his sleeve was already streaked with black because he had been wiping off the writing with a paper napkin while holding the board against himself.

At the last meeting, Mateo put down the marker and said in his normal voice:

“Actually, I just didn’t want to talk about my weekend. But I find it easier to work this way.”

He suggested starting every Monday with half an hour of written questions instead of personal updates. Iryna agreed to try it. The following Monday, Mateo set a clean board and a cloth beside his cup. In answer to the first question about the report, he wrote down the date, underlined it, and calmly finished his coffee while it was still hot.