My circumstances of unrelieved responsibility and permanent distraction necessitated the short story form.

Fiction shows the external effects of internal conditions. Be aware of the tension between internal and external movement.

Ralph also took some classes in philosophy and literature and felt himself on the brink of some kind of huge discovery about himself. But it never came.

And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.

All this, all of this love we're talking about, it would just be a memory. Maybe not even a memory. Am I wrong? Am I way off base? Because I want you to set me straight if you think I'm wrong. I want to know. I mean, I don't know anything, and I'm the first one to admit it.

That morning she pours Teacher's over my belly and licks it off. That afternoon she tries to jump out the window.

My heart is broken,” she goes. “It’s turned to a piece of stone. I’m no good. That’s what’s as bad as anything, that I’m no good anymore.