The conversation based on stories–the historical conversation–attests to this difficulty. Instead of an organic dialog arising between self and other, each subject subjects the other to metanarrativity. One hears the difference in the deferral of meaning-to-say. The different stories of a building, for example, upon whose facade a story is related and portended–the building as book–reveal the inadequacy of this dialog about dialog. Should one simply read the facade, or should one augur the signs while signaling toward a greater significance like a frenetic semaphore about semaphore? One would prefer the reading, simple or not. The organic conversation comes with its own magic decoder ring that unravels the otherwise difficulty of inaugural conversations. The conversations about conversations close in on the participants who have abdicated the basic skill of reading the signs as they attempt to ascend the spiral staircase of friendship.