A Novelist Has Two Lives-- A Reading

Twenty-five, He Was. Twenty-five Tomorrow. Some Years The Snow Had Melted For His Birthday, But Not This Year, And So It Had Been A Long Winter Full Of Cows.

Like Most Of The Educated, I Do Harbor A Fondness For The Sins Of My Ignorant Past.

You Know What Getting Married Is? It's Agreeing To Taking This Person Who Right Now Is At The Top Of His Form, Full Of Hopes And Ideas, Feeling Good, Looking Good, Wildly Interested In You Because You're The Same Way, And Sticking By Him While He Slowly Disintegrates. And He Does The Same For You. You're His Responsibility Now And He's Yours. If No One Else Will Take Care Of Him, You Will. If Everyone Else Rejects You, He Won't. What Do You Think Love Is? Going To Bed All The Time?

With Any Novel That You Begin, You Can't Foresee How Difficult Or Easy It's Going To Be, And You Can't Really Prepare Yourself. You Just Have A Take It One Step At A Time And Know That It's All Right To Keep Going - You Can Always Fix It.

A Child Who Is Protected From All Controversial Ideas Is As Vulnerable As A Child Who Is Protected From Every Germ. The Infection, When It Comes- And It Will Come- May Overwhelm The System, Be It The Immune System Or The Belief System.