Excerpts

“Frank gazed out the window, hardly looking at the feast in front of him. He knew the bacon would be crisp, the sausage brown and juicy, the home fries soft and peppery, the pancakes huge and light. It was only the eggs he was avoiding, the eggs like two orange probing eyes, daring him to return their stare. Frank turned away from the window and looked down quickly. His stomach churned rapidly. He could feel himself flush with tension.”

From “Over Easy”

“How do you feel about Kant?”

“Kant?”

“Yes, the famous Immanuel. Don’t you remember his famous lyrics? ‘Don’t go for Logic/ Don’t try to be dense/ When you must be defiant/ Just try common sense!’ ”

“I don’t think we’ve heard him lately.” Jean pulled again at the seams of her housecoat. Sweat trickled down my back. I couldn’t keep my mind off the cleaver.

From “Conversations with a Madman”

Perry sobbed as he spoke. “I’m, you don’t know . . . I been with Janice all this time and she, she loves me lots . . . and I do too . . . you know, her. But then Linda came here, so pretty, beautiful and maybe I’d never have, get a chance sometime, well, to meet someone like her again. Not at, at some party . . . but for real. So I just decided to call . . . call it off, with everything, with marriage right now, you know, and all.” He slumped in his chair.

From “The Cooking Lesson”

It was no contest. By eleven fifty-four, Ralph Peterson had finished off his bourbon, climbed to the hayloft, crossed the beam without even one misstep, and went to see Albert to get his prize.

"Damn it all boy, I don’t think I ever seen that much drinking all at one time. And still be able to be up steady like you did. Hope you'll be back again in September."

Ralph’s burp echoed through the barn. He was watching Bobby Smith hanging from the supporting beam, flailing his feet. Joe Templeton had staggered into one of the stalls and fallen asleep in the dusty hay.

"Ya damn well bet I'll be, Mister Albert. Know damn well I will."

From “The Last of the Big-Time Drinking Contests at Albert Lambert’s Barn”

Charu did not want to startle whatever was staring at her. As she started to slowly move backward, the bushes in front of her parted and there, still watching her every move was the largest, most beautiful cat she had ever seen. Its face was orange and white, with black patches over and under its eyes. There were long white whiskers. Its paws were enormous. As it came closer, Charu saw the many stripes over its entire body.

From “The Princess Who Painted Tigers”

“I was in college. Lafayette State. One weekend I skipped class on Friday and went home. My mom and her husband, second husband, were so glad to see me. They had friends over on Saturday, with a big dinner and all. And he, her good wonderful husband, got drunk that night, real drunk. Came in my room when I was asleep. When I got awake he was trying to . . . I mean he’d even pulled my legs apart.”

“Look, I don’t have to know. It’s O.K. Just let it be your secret. I don’t need to know.”

From “All In Good Time”

DAY: FIVE

PERSPECTIVE: UNIVERSAL



IF A MAN SEES ONLY WHAT HE LOOKS FOR, HE WILL NEVER SEE ANYTHING BEYOND HIS EXPECTATIONS. HIS DAYS WILL BE SPENT CONFIRMING HIS NOTION THAT THE WORLD IS JUST AS HE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE.

THE MAN WHO EXPECTS TO SEE NOTHING WILL BE MOST AWARE OF ALL THAT EXISTS IN THE WORLD. HE WILL HOLD NO NOTION OTHER THAN THE WORLD IS JUST AS IT IS.

From “A Layman in Space”

“Then I wondered what it would be like for us, you and me, to stay right here and have children. I know how bad you’d like to have a dog . . . and I like cats too . . . but wondered what it would be like to have our own kids.” Feeling a little more relaxed, Anne smiled before she continued. “Jeff, we had two boys and a girl. I saw them right on the walls up there, being born and growing up right here, and, Jeff, they were beautiful and we loved them so much. Then the walls went blank. I wondered again but they didn’t come back. I bawled like a baby, Jeff. They were ours.”

From “The White Room”

We walked over to the side of the tree and he looked straight at my eyes. His were like a real deep green. “Think about roots”, he said. “Think about where they spend all their time once a tree starts to grow.”

I thought about that. “Well, I guess they’re down in the ground all the time!”

“That’s right, Joonie”, he said, nodding. “Do they ever get to see the sunshine? Do they ever get to feel the breeze on a warm summer evening? Do they ever get to glisten with ice or sparkle with snow in the winter? Do they ever get a chance to crackle under the icy stars or bend and buckle with the winds? Can they ever reach toward the heavens?”

It was real easy to know that he felt a lot about all this, so I just said right back, “No sir, I guess they don’t.”