Then the sun broke above the crest of the hills and the entire countryside looked soaked in blood, the arroyos deep in shadow, the cones of dead volcanoes stark and biscuit-colored against the sky. I could smell pinion trees, wet sage, woodsmoke, cattle in the pastures, and creek water that had melted from snow. I could smell the way the country probably was when it was only a dream in the mind of God.

God bless the Reference Librarians

In that moment, when watches and clocks misbehave and you feel a cold vapor wrap itself around your heart, you unconsciously draw a line at the bottom of a long column of numbers and come up with a sum. Perhaps it's one that fills you with contentment and endows you with a level of courage and an acceptance that you didn't know you possessed.Or maybe not.

There's nothing like rejection to make you do an inventory of yourself.

My experience has been that people who die for causes have few friends in death.

You have two choices in life. You either die or do something with your time. You're going to be doing something - why not write?

If we break promises to God, shouldn't we be allowed an occasional violation of our word to our friends and superiors?