We split a bottle of Norman cider. Not everybody sells Norman cider by the bottle.

'All Our Yesterdays' was unquestionably the best work I have ever done. And the reading public stayed away in droves.

You do the best you can and you deal with the consequences. It's all there is.

Well, you give me too much credit for foresight and planning. I haven't got a clue what the hell I'm doing.

Yeah. Floyd is his batman." His what?" Batman, like in the British army, each officer had a batman, a personal servant." You spend too much time reading, Spenser. You know more stuff that don't make you money than anybody I know.

For David Parker and Daniel Parker, with the respect and admiration of their father, who grew up with them.

This is not a screenplay. I don't do twenty drafts. I'm not going to show this to you until it's published or accepted for publication. You can make whatever suggestions you want, but I probably will ignore them entirely.