Banter - The Art of Mental Fencing

A statement is made.

Eyes sparkling, I send back a related statement playing on words – filled with double entendre.
  “En garde”
  A smile echoes my own and my parry is met.
  The round has begun.  
  A smile and a sparkle of the eyes precede the return of a statement equally as ripe with possibilities for word play.
  Swords clicking and the fanciest of footwork displayed, we move back and forth through the world of words, meanings, and mental connection.  Sparks fly as the tempo increases – one line statements fly.  
  Parry, thrust, retreat…
  A weakness is identified.  I can win this match.  I lunge and thrust…
  Only to find that, what I thought was without response, did, in deed, have a response.  
  I return to my corner to change strategies; to posture and identify my next move.  “Ah ha” I thrust…
  There is no return statement.  
  I am left, a bit sadly, deflated.  
  Banter… the play on words, the mental connection, the spirited one line statements most often between men and women…
  Banter, like a round of fencing, it is about mental jousts and parries.  It is about thrusts and retreats.  
  Like a fencing round, at some point, it ends – but only for the moment.  The chance will arise to match wits once again.

“En garde”