Pushcart 2026 L: Avigayl Sharp, “Diane” from Granta #168

I loved the anonymous chat app. I downloaded it on my computer. I downloaded it on my phone. I was lonely, and the anonymous chat app made me less lonely. I couldn’t sleep, and the anonymous chat app said, Who cares! When I felt helpless, when I despaired, when my breath caught horribly in my chest, the anonymous chat app told me: The whole world suffers. Everyone is unemployed. The whole world is sexless inside of its body. The whole world longs for sleep. When it sleeps, the whole world has terrible nightmares. And when it wakes, the whole world is so, so grateful for the opportunity to chat privately with strangers online. A slacker story by any other name. Jack/Dan isn’t really a slacker. He’s married and responsibly employed, but he’s having what used to be called a nervous breakdown. I don’t know what they call it now. The primary symptom seems to be panic attacks, though from the description they sound more like temper tantrums without the anger. One of the somewhat absurdist…