“I saw an old drunk fall in front of the laundrimat at Elizabeth and Fleming. He cracked his head open and made a terrible pool of blood. Someone seemed to know he wouldn’t die from it. But I looked down through spinning air filled with Frangipanti and rock and roll and saw how quickly you are alone, how quickly that can be shown to you in an instant. I think for a long time that it was my business to drive this into relief, that this is what I did for my time, poured blood from my head so that others could form a circle.”

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Thomas McGuane