1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,129 what I'd like to do is read excerpts 2 00:00:02,129 --> 00:00:05,430 from three of my books and then if 3 00:00:05,430 --> 00:00:07,080 people are interested I'm happy to spend 4 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:08,460 some time just chatting with you 5 00:00:08,460 --> 00:00:11,130 answering questions about my my writing 6 00:00:11,130 --> 00:00:13,099 life publishing life reading life 7 00:00:13,099 --> 00:00:18,029 whatever you're curious about um so the 8 00:00:18,029 --> 00:00:21,750 brief history of the Dead was a novel 9 00:00:21,750 --> 00:00:25,010 that Josh mentioned that came out in 10 00:00:25,010 --> 00:00:31,980 2006 yes 2006 and this is a novel that 11 00:00:31,980 --> 00:00:34,800 has two strands one of those strands 12 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,980 follows a woman named Laura bird who is 13 00:00:37,980 --> 00:00:41,760 a researcher and has been isolated in 14 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,219 the Antarctic where she gradually 15 00:00:44,219 --> 00:00:46,980 discovers that a calamity has befallen 16 00:00:46,980 --> 00:00:50,219 the rest of the human race the other 17 00:00:50,219 --> 00:00:53,090 strand takes place in the afterlife 18 00:00:53,090 --> 00:00:55,949 specifically in a city of the dead but 19 00:00:55,949 --> 00:00:58,859 not yet forgotten so the idea is that 20 00:00:58,859 --> 00:01:01,680 once you pass away you move on to this 21 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,069 other place and you remain there so long 22 00:01:05,069 --> 00:01:07,470 as you're remembered by somebody who's 23 00:01:07,470 --> 00:01:09,960 still alive once you've been forgotten 24 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:12,390 by the living then you move on to 25 00:01:12,390 --> 00:01:15,900 whatever might come next and I'd like to 26 00:01:15,900 --> 00:01:18,240 read just the opening couple pages of 27 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:20,970 this book to you and these pages take 28 00:01:20,970 --> 00:01:23,430 place in that city of the dead but not 29 00:01:23,430 --> 00:01:27,119 yet forgotten and the chapter is called 30 00:01:27,119 --> 00:01:33,299 the city when the blind man arrived in 31 00:01:33,299 --> 00:01:35,220 the city he claimed that he had 32 00:01:35,220 --> 00:01:38,420 travelled across a desert of living sand 33 00:01:38,420 --> 00:01:42,720 first he had died he said and then snap 34 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:46,920 the desert he told the story to everyone 35 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,649 who would listen bobbing his head to 36 00:01:49,649 --> 00:01:52,430 follow the sound of their footsteps 37 00:01:52,430 --> 00:01:56,479 showers of red grit fell from his beard 38 00:01:56,479 --> 00:01:59,189 he said that the desert was bare and 39 00:01:59,189 --> 00:02:01,500 lonesome and that it had hissed at him 40 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:05,579 like a snake he had walked for days and 41 00:02:05,579 --> 00:02:08,459 days until the dunes broke apart beneath 42 00:02:08,459 --> 00:02:11,210 his feet surging up around him 43 00:02:11,210 --> 00:02:15,320 lash at his face then everything went 44 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:20,000 still and began to beat like a heart the 45 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,190 sound was as clear as any he had ever 46 00:02:22,190 --> 00:02:26,720 heard it was only at that moment he said 47 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:29,450 with a million arrow points of sand 48 00:02:29,450 --> 00:02:32,870 striking his skin that he truly realized 49 00:02:32,870 --> 00:02:38,540 he was dead Jim a singer who managed the 50 00:02:38,540 --> 00:02:40,930 sandwich shop in the monument district 51 00:02:40,930 --> 00:02:43,310 said that he had felt a prickling 52 00:02:43,310 --> 00:02:45,980 sensation in his fingers and then 53 00:02:45,980 --> 00:02:50,180 stopped breathing it was my heart he 54 00:02:50,180 --> 00:02:54,160 insisted dumping firmly on his chest 55 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:59,540 took me in my own bed he had closed his 56 00:02:59,540 --> 00:03:02,480 eyes and when he opened them again he 57 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:05,270 was on a train the kind that trolleys 58 00:03:05,270 --> 00:03:07,580 small children around in circles at 59 00:03:07,580 --> 00:03:11,600 amusement parks the rails were leading 60 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:13,820 him through a thick forest of gold brown 61 00:03:13,820 --> 00:03:16,880 trees but the trees were actually 62 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:19,430 giraffes and their long necks were 63 00:03:19,430 --> 00:03:23,290 reaching like branches into the sky a 64 00:03:23,290 --> 00:03:26,660 wind rose up and peeled the spots from 65 00:03:26,660 --> 00:03:29,900 their backs the spots floated down 66 00:03:29,900 --> 00:03:32,810 around him swirling and dipping in the 67 00:03:32,810 --> 00:03:36,470 wake of the train it took him a long 68 00:03:36,470 --> 00:03:38,360 time to understand that the throbbing 69 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,270 noise he heard was not the rattling of 70 00:03:41,270 --> 00:03:46,370 the wheels along the tracks the girl who 71 00:03:46,370 --> 00:03:48,440 like to stand beneath the poplar tree in 72 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,500 the park said that she had died into an 73 00:03:51,500 --> 00:03:56,240 ocean the color of dried cherries for a 74 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:58,460 while the water had carried her weight 75 00:03:58,460 --> 00:04:01,250 she said and she had lain on her back 76 00:04:01,250 --> 00:04:04,520 turning and meaningless circles singing 77 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:06,710 the choruses of the pop song she 78 00:04:06,710 --> 00:04:10,610 remembered but then there was a drum of 79 00:04:10,610 --> 00:04:13,900 thunder and the clouds split open and 80 00:04:13,900 --> 00:04:16,730 the ball bearings began to Pelt down 81 00:04:16,730 --> 00:04:21,399 around her tens of thousands of them 82 00:04:21,399 --> 00:04:23,590 she had swallowed as many as she could 83 00:04:23,590 --> 00:04:26,290 she said stroking the cracked trunk of 84 00:04:26,290 --> 00:04:31,440 the poplar tree she didn't know why she 85 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,930 filled like a canvas sack and sank 86 00:04:34,930 --> 00:04:38,970 slowly through the layers of the ocean 87 00:04:38,970 --> 00:04:42,520 shoals of fish brushed past her they're 88 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:44,680 blue and yellow scales the single 89 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,460 brightest thing in the water and all 90 00:04:48,460 --> 00:04:51,729 around her she heard that sound the one 91 00:04:51,729 --> 00:04:55,120 that everybody heard the regular pulsing 92 00:04:55,120 --> 00:05:00,220 of a giant heart the stories people told 93 00:05:00,220 --> 00:05:02,289 about the crossing where as varied and 94 00:05:02,289 --> 00:05:06,190 elaborate as their ten billion lives so 95 00:05:06,190 --> 00:05:07,750 much more particular than those other 96 00:05:07,750 --> 00:05:10,419 stories the ones they told about their 97 00:05:10,419 --> 00:05:15,400 deaths after all there were only so many 98 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:18,699 ways a person could die either your 99 00:05:18,699 --> 00:05:22,440 heart took you or your head took you or 100 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:27,220 it was one of the new diseases but no 101 00:05:27,220 --> 00:05:29,020 one followed the same path over the 102 00:05:29,020 --> 00:05:33,970 crossing live Bailey said that he had 103 00:05:33,970 --> 00:05:35,949 watched his atoms break apart like 104 00:05:35,949 --> 00:05:39,070 marbles roll across the universe then 105 00:05:39,070 --> 00:05:41,020 gathered themselves together again out 106 00:05:41,020 --> 00:05:45,400 of nothing at all han Bingley said that 107 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:47,740 he woke inside the body of an aphid and 108 00:05:47,740 --> 00:05:50,229 lived an entire life in the flesh of a 109 00:05:50,229 --> 00:05:56,080 single peach Graciella Cavazos would say 110 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:59,229 only that she began to snow for words 111 00:05:59,229 --> 00:06:02,830 and smile bashfully whenever anyone 112 00:06:02,830 --> 00:06:07,360 pressed her for details no two reports 113 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:11,020 were ever the same and yet always there 114 00:06:11,020 --> 00:06:15,370 was the drum like thumping noise some 115 00:06:15,370 --> 00:06:17,789 people insisted that it never went away 116 00:06:17,789 --> 00:06:21,099 that if you concentrated it did not turn 117 00:06:21,099 --> 00:06:23,770 your ear from the sound you could hear 118 00:06:23,770 --> 00:06:27,150 it faintly behind everything in the city 119 00:06:27,150 --> 00:06:30,060 the brakes in the horns 120 00:06:30,060 --> 00:06:33,139 the bells on the doors of restaurants 121 00:06:33,139 --> 00:06:36,150 the clicking and slapping of different 122 00:06:36,150 --> 00:06:40,350 kinds of shoes on the pavements groups 123 00:06:40,350 --> 00:06:42,810 of people came together in parks or on 124 00:06:42,810 --> 00:06:46,410 rooftops just to listen for it sitting 125 00:06:46,410 --> 00:06:48,480 quietly with their backs turned to one 126 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:56,580 another but dumb but um but um it was 127 00:06:56,580 --> 00:06:58,860 like trying to keep a bird in sight as 128 00:06:58,860 --> 00:07:02,310 it lifted blurred and faded to a dot in 129 00:07:02,310 --> 00:07:07,110 the sky so that's a couple pages from 130 00:07:07,110 --> 00:07:10,139 the brief history of the Dead next I'd 131 00:07:10,139 --> 00:07:12,900 like to read a couple pages from my most 132 00:07:12,900 --> 00:07:16,979 recent book save one I have a book 133 00:07:16,979 --> 00:07:19,740 coming out in april of next year um but 134 00:07:19,740 --> 00:07:21,960 my most recent to date is a novel called 135 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,530 the illumination and the illumination is 136 00:07:25,530 --> 00:07:28,139 a book about what happens to the world 137 00:07:28,139 --> 00:07:31,139 when people who are in pain begin to 138 00:07:31,139 --> 00:07:34,050 generate light so that you can see when 139 00:07:34,050 --> 00:07:36,979 the people around you are suffering 140 00:07:36,979 --> 00:07:39,120 specifically it follows the fortunes of 141 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,050 six characters there's a data analyst 142 00:07:42,050 --> 00:07:44,640 photojournalist school child a 143 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,010 missionary a writer in a street vendor 144 00:07:47,010 --> 00:07:49,590 and all of these characters are enduring 145 00:07:49,590 --> 00:07:52,500 injuries of one kind or another many of 146 00:07:52,500 --> 00:07:54,000 them physical injuries but some of them 147 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,190 psychological or spiritual injuries and 148 00:07:56,190 --> 00:07:58,260 they all feel that this phenomenon 149 00:07:58,260 --> 00:08:00,539 changes their way of thinking about 150 00:08:00,539 --> 00:08:03,389 their own place in the world and the 151 00:08:03,389 --> 00:08:04,919 places of all the people that surround 152 00:08:04,919 --> 00:08:08,940 them and then the pages I'd like to read 153 00:08:08,940 --> 00:08:12,180 to you are from the photojournalists 154 00:08:12,180 --> 00:08:14,729 chapter his name is Jason Williford and 155 00:08:14,729 --> 00:08:17,010 in these pages you'll witness this 156 00:08:17,010 --> 00:08:20,130 phenomenon of the illumination at it 157 00:08:20,130 --> 00:08:24,440 begins to play out inside his body 158 00:08:32,159 --> 00:08:35,039 in the accident he had cracked his 159 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:38,549 sternum and three of his ribs dislocated 160 00:08:38,549 --> 00:08:41,969 his right shoulder fractured his pelvis 161 00:08:41,969 --> 00:08:46,050 and not identical wedge-shaped fragments 162 00:08:46,050 --> 00:08:50,160 out of his front teeth the steering 163 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:53,540 column had crushed his right knee a 164 00:08:53,540 --> 00:08:56,699 ballpoint pen flung loose from the coin 165 00:08:56,699 --> 00:09:01,920 tray had perforated his stomach the side 166 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,350 curtain airbag had bruised his left eye 167 00:09:04,350 --> 00:09:07,829 and at first after the swelling went 168 00:09:07,829 --> 00:09:10,410 down he presumed that the light he saw 169 00:09:10,410 --> 00:09:13,319 leaking from his injuries was a result 170 00:09:13,319 --> 00:09:15,629 of the contact lens the doctor had 171 00:09:15,629 --> 00:09:18,720 prescribed designed to keep the scab 172 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,089 beneath his eyelid from scratching his 173 00:09:21,089 --> 00:09:25,670 cornea then someone told him about the 174 00:09:25,670 --> 00:09:28,649 illumination and he understood that the 175 00:09:28,649 --> 00:09:30,720 same thing was happening all over the 176 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:35,670 world everywhere everywhere in bars 177 00:09:35,670 --> 00:09:38,880 locker rooms parks and emergency wards 178 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:43,949 the wounded were burning with light he 179 00:09:43,949 --> 00:09:46,230 could see his own lesions shining 180 00:09:46,230 --> 00:09:49,319 through the bandages on his shoulder the 181 00:09:49,319 --> 00:09:52,350 cotton compress on his abdomen the pins 182 00:09:52,350 --> 00:09:56,339 and netting of his leg harness he was 183 00:09:56,339 --> 00:09:59,160 aware of the pain but ever since he woke 184 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:01,740 from surgery his senses had been buoyed 185 00:10:01,740 --> 00:10:05,579 up on a sea of narcotics and as he lay 186 00:10:05,579 --> 00:10:07,470 there staring at the contours of his 187 00:10:07,470 --> 00:10:09,839 limbs it seemed to him that he was 188 00:10:09,839 --> 00:10:12,569 watching a distant cloud Bank flashing 189 00:10:12,569 --> 00:10:17,069 with lightning somewhere far away the 190 00:10:17,069 --> 00:10:20,910 rain was falling straight and hard the 191 00:10:20,910 --> 00:10:24,990 sand was pockmarked with raindrops it 192 00:10:24,990 --> 00:10:30,389 was all so lovely and mysterious and yet 193 00:10:30,389 --> 00:10:32,610 for the nurses who came every few hours 194 00:10:32,610 --> 00:10:35,339 to change his dressing and adjusts his 195 00:10:35,339 --> 00:10:40,189 drainage tubes he had only one question 196 00:10:40,189 --> 00:10:43,220 can I see my wife 197 00:10:43,220 --> 00:10:47,400 will you check on her for me her name is 198 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:54,210 Patricia Patricia williford patty I'll 199 00:10:54,210 --> 00:10:57,050 have someone look into that for you sir 200 00:10:57,050 --> 00:11:00,420 she'll be worried about me I need to let 201 00:11:00,420 --> 00:11:03,720 her know that I'm all right for now 202 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:05,490 let's just concentrate on taking care of 203 00:11:05,490 --> 00:11:10,200 that body of yours okay it was like that 204 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,080 every time he asked about her as if his 205 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:14,610 questions had slid through some 206 00:11:14,610 --> 00:11:17,370 invisible crack in the air and vanished 207 00:11:17,370 --> 00:11:21,570 into another world had they spoken to 208 00:11:21,570 --> 00:11:24,990 his wife yet I'm sure the doctor will be 209 00:11:24,990 --> 00:11:28,350 in to talk to you soon what was her 210 00:11:28,350 --> 00:11:31,830 condition are you feeling any discomfort 211 00:11:31,830 --> 00:11:34,590 mr. williford how are those painkillers 212 00:11:34,590 --> 00:11:39,540 working for you evidently a decision had 213 00:11:39,540 --> 00:11:41,520 been made that he was too fragile to 214 00:11:41,520 --> 00:11:45,570 know the truth by the time his doctor 215 00:11:45,570 --> 00:11:47,550 finally sat down to explain what had 216 00:11:47,550 --> 00:11:50,280 happened to her he was only waiting for 217 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:54,330 someone to say the words out loud i'm 218 00:11:54,330 --> 00:11:58,020 sorry mr. williford we did everything we 219 00:11:58,020 --> 00:12:00,120 could but your wife's injuries were too 220 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:07,290 extensive she didn't make it his 23 days 221 00:12:07,290 --> 00:12:09,990 in the hospital were spent watching his 222 00:12:09,990 --> 00:12:14,250 bones heal and his scars form trying to 223 00:12:14,250 --> 00:12:16,740 forget who he was in what had happened 224 00:12:16,740 --> 00:12:21,330 to him he couldn't cough or even breathe 225 00:12:21,330 --> 00:12:24,120 too deeply without feeling that his ribs 226 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:28,470 were about to split open hiccups were a 227 00:12:28,470 --> 00:12:33,300 terror the one time he sneezed his 228 00:12:33,300 --> 00:12:37,340 vision blurred and he nearly passed out 229 00:12:37,340 --> 00:12:40,500 whenever he shifted his weight he saw 230 00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:43,680 two long serrations of lights opening 231 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:45,810 through the thin blue cotton of his exam 232 00:12:45,810 --> 00:12:50,850 gown one across his sternum another over 233 00:12:50,850 --> 00:12:53,490 his left hip 234 00:12:53,490 --> 00:12:56,650 the ballpoint pen had left a small round 235 00:12:56,650 --> 00:12:59,170 mark on the white field of his stomach 236 00:12:59,170 --> 00:13:02,560 and he discovered that the seat belt had 237 00:13:02,560 --> 00:13:04,870 printed his torso with a crisply 238 00:13:04,870 --> 00:13:07,540 bordered bruise like a soldier's 239 00:13:07,540 --> 00:13:11,200 bandolier its ammunition sash glinting 240 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:15,940 in the sunlight day by day he watched as 241 00:13:15,940 --> 00:13:19,450 it turned blue then green then spread 242 00:13:19,450 --> 00:13:21,790 over his skin in a grotesque yellow 243 00:13:21,790 --> 00:13:24,700 stain that gradually lost its shine and 244 00:13:24,700 --> 00:13:28,870 color the radiance that had filtered 245 00:13:28,870 --> 00:13:32,140 from his mouth ceased to show as soon as 246 00:13:32,140 --> 00:13:35,820 his incisors were capped with porcelain 247 00:13:35,820 --> 00:13:39,130 suddenly to his relief he could 248 00:13:39,130 --> 00:13:44,260 pronounce his FS and his visa gehen it 249 00:13:44,260 --> 00:13:46,360 was his kneecap that took the longest 250 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:51,040 time to mend for nearly two weeks it 251 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:53,320 sent an excruciating silver spike 252 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:55,690 through his leg every time he moved in 253 00:13:55,690 --> 00:13:59,860 his harness just when it seemed the pain 254 00:13:59,860 --> 00:14:02,380 was beginning to abate his physical 255 00:14:02,380 --> 00:14:04,300 therapist decided that the day had come 256 00:14:04,300 --> 00:14:08,590 for him to try walking again she lowered 257 00:14:08,590 --> 00:14:11,260 his leg onto the bed and measured him 258 00:14:11,260 --> 00:14:15,310 for crutches they might be somewhat 259 00:14:15,310 --> 00:14:17,110 uncomfortable for you at first she 260 00:14:17,110 --> 00:14:19,450 cautioned but won't it feel good to 261 00:14:19,450 --> 00:14:22,720 leave here on your own two feet now hold 262 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:24,580 your horses until I come back she said 263 00:14:24,580 --> 00:14:28,420 and he lay there thinking about what it 264 00:14:28,420 --> 00:14:31,600 would be like to open his front door to 265 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,030 collect the mail an attempt to revive 266 00:14:34,030 --> 00:14:38,260 the plans the name he had been 267 00:14:38,260 --> 00:14:40,990 struggling to ignore rose up and sign 268 00:14:40,990 --> 00:14:45,820 him and pressed at his lips her name is 269 00:14:45,820 --> 00:14:52,230 Patricia Patricia willeford patty 270 00:14:52,450 --> 00:14:56,090 only his long habit of silence and the 271 00:14:56,090 --> 00:14:58,940 abrasions lingering in his mouth kept 272 00:14:58,940 --> 00:15:04,250 him from repeating it out loud soon the 273 00:15:04,250 --> 00:15:06,110 physical therapist returned with a pair 274 00:15:06,110 --> 00:15:10,280 of metal crutches chromium she said with 275 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:15,680 gel polymer tips the best we have she 276 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:19,610 insisted that he tests the mound as he 277 00:15:19,610 --> 00:15:21,860 wobbled across the room she carefully 278 00:15:21,860 --> 00:15:24,950 laid out her instructions presenting 279 00:15:24,950 --> 00:15:27,260 them one by one like a waiter placing 280 00:15:27,260 --> 00:15:31,130 dishes on a table nice and easy that's 281 00:15:31,130 --> 00:15:34,670 right balance yourself on your left leg 282 00:15:34,670 --> 00:15:38,690 your left leg if it hurts that means 283 00:15:38,690 --> 00:15:40,130 you're not letting the crutches do the 284 00:15:40,130 --> 00:15:43,310 work you want to avoid placing any 285 00:15:43,310 --> 00:15:48,200 weight on that injured knee of yours he 286 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,200 found that if he ignored her advice if 287 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:54,080 instead he leaned into the pain when it 288 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:58,340 came his leg would flood with a glow so 289 00:15:58,340 --> 00:16:02,410 strong he was unaware of anything else 290 00:16:02,410 --> 00:16:05,510 for a few seconds he seemed to be 291 00:16:05,510 --> 00:16:07,070 nothing more than the light of that 292 00:16:07,070 --> 00:16:11,020 shattered bone white and expansive 293 00:16:11,020 --> 00:16:14,690 pulsing within its own radiance and his 294 00:16:14,690 --> 00:16:18,940 wife's name faded entirely from his mind 295 00:16:18,940 --> 00:16:21,710 the agony was nearly indistinguishable 296 00:16:21,710 --> 00:16:27,140 from bliss so that's a couple pages from 297 00:16:27,140 --> 00:16:30,050 his section of the illumination finally 298 00:16:30,050 --> 00:16:33,200 I'd like to read a piece from a fairly 299 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:34,940 recent story collection called the view 300 00:16:34,940 --> 00:16:37,520 from the seventh layer this one came out 301 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,760 in 2008 and it's a collection of 13 302 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:46,190 stories of disparate modes pursuing very 303 00:16:46,190 --> 00:16:49,420 different aims but four of them are 304 00:16:49,420 --> 00:16:53,480 short fantasies that I hope have kind of 305 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:55,820 an air of classical fairy tales about 306 00:16:55,820 --> 00:17:01,280 them and fables is how I think of them 307 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:03,050 even though they're not animal stories 308 00:17:03,050 --> 00:17:03,779 necessary 309 00:17:03,779 --> 00:17:05,970 but they're all these very short 310 00:17:05,970 --> 00:17:10,119 fantastic stories with these unwieldy 311 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:15,189 titles so there's one called a fable 312 00:17:15,189 --> 00:17:16,630 ending in the sound of a thousand 313 00:17:16,630 --> 00:17:20,289 parakeets a fable with a photograph of a 314 00:17:20,289 --> 00:17:23,888 glass mobile on the wall a fable 315 00:17:23,888 --> 00:17:25,809 containing a reflection the size of a 316 00:17:25,809 --> 00:17:28,929 match head in its pupil and then finally 317 00:17:28,929 --> 00:17:30,940 the one I'd like to read is called a 318 00:17:30,940 --> 00:17:33,970 fable with slips of white paper spilling 319 00:17:33,970 --> 00:17:46,840 from the pockets once there was a man 320 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:51,039 who happened to by God's overcoat he was 321 00:17:51,039 --> 00:17:53,110 rummaging through a thrift store when he 322 00:17:53,110 --> 00:17:54,909 found it hanging on a rack by the fire 323 00:17:54,909 --> 00:17:58,360 exits nestled between a birch colored 324 00:17:58,360 --> 00:18:01,120 fisherman sweater and a cotton blazer 325 00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:05,190 with a suede patch on one of the elbows 326 00:18:05,190 --> 00:18:07,659 though the sleeves were a bit too long 327 00:18:07,659 --> 00:18:10,120 for him and one of the buttons was 328 00:18:10,120 --> 00:18:13,179 cracked the code fit him well across the 329 00:18:13,179 --> 00:18:16,539 chest and shoulders lending him a regal 330 00:18:16,539 --> 00:18:18,730 look that brought a pleased yet 331 00:18:18,730 --> 00:18:22,570 diffident smile to his face so the man 332 00:18:22,570 --> 00:18:26,130 took it to the register and paid for it 333 00:18:26,130 --> 00:18:29,200 he was walking home when he discovered a 334 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,850 slip of paper in one of the pockets in 335 00:18:32,850 --> 00:18:36,909 old receipt he thought or maybe a to-do 336 00:18:36,909 --> 00:18:39,250 list forgotten by the coats previous 337 00:18:39,250 --> 00:18:43,840 owner but when he took it out he found a 338 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:47,760 curious note typed across the front 339 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:50,320 please help me figure out what to do 340 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:55,570 about Albert the man wondered who had 341 00:18:55,570 --> 00:18:57,610 written the nodes and whether in fact 342 00:18:57,610 --> 00:18:59,830 that person had figured out what to do 343 00:18:59,830 --> 00:19:03,429 about Albert but not it must be said for 344 00:19:03,429 --> 00:19:08,409 very long after he got home he folded 345 00:19:08,409 --> 00:19:10,169 the slip of paper into quarters and 346 00:19:10,169 --> 00:19:13,120 dropped it in the ceramic dish where he 347 00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:17,179 kept his breath mints and his car keys 348 00:19:17,179 --> 00:19:19,950 it might never have crossed his mind 349 00:19:19,950 --> 00:19:22,770 again had his fingers not fallen upon 350 00:19:22,770 --> 00:19:25,260 two more slips of paper while he was 351 00:19:25,260 --> 00:19:26,940 writing the elevator up to his office 352 00:19:26,940 --> 00:19:32,279 the next morning one red don't let my 353 00:19:32,279 --> 00:19:33,720 nerves get the better of me this 354 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:38,159 afternoon and the other I'm asking you 355 00:19:38,159 --> 00:19:40,919 with all humility to keep that boy away 356 00:19:40,919 --> 00:19:45,779 from my daughter the man shut himself in 357 00:19:45,779 --> 00:19:47,909 his office and went through the coat 358 00:19:47,909 --> 00:19:51,720 pocket by pocket it had five 359 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:54,840 compartments all together to front flat 360 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:57,179 the pockets each of which lay over an 361 00:19:57,179 --> 00:19:59,580 angled hand warmer pockets with the 362 00:19:59,580 --> 00:20:02,210 fleece almost completely worn away as 363 00:20:02,210 --> 00:20:05,730 well as a small inside pockets above the 364 00:20:05,730 --> 00:20:09,990 left breast he routed through them one 365 00:20:09,990 --> 00:20:12,120 by one until he was sure they were 366 00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:15,450 completely empty uncovering seven more 367 00:20:15,450 --> 00:20:20,220 slips of paper the messages typed across 368 00:20:20,220 --> 00:20:23,010 the front all seem to be wishes or 369 00:20:23,010 --> 00:20:27,600 requests of one sort or another please 370 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:32,309 let my mom know I love her I'll never 371 00:20:32,309 --> 00:20:34,470 touch another cigarette as long as I 372 00:20:34,470 --> 00:20:36,990 live if you'll just make the lump go 373 00:20:36,990 --> 00:20:44,179 away give me back the joy I used to know 374 00:20:44,419 --> 00:20:47,370 there was a tone of quiet intimacy to 375 00:20:47,370 --> 00:20:51,659 the nodes a starkness an open-hearted 376 00:20:51,659 --> 00:20:54,210 pleading that seemed familiar to the man 377 00:20:54,210 --> 00:20:59,240 from somewhere prayers he realized 378 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:05,010 that's what they were prayers but where 379 00:21:05,010 --> 00:21:09,899 on earth did they come from he was 380 00:21:09,899 --> 00:21:11,460 lining them up along the edge of his 381 00:21:11,460 --> 00:21:14,330 desk when isley from technical support 382 00:21:14,330 --> 00:21:16,830 rapped on the door to remind him about 383 00:21:16,830 --> 00:21:20,549 the ten o'clock meeting half an hour of 384 00:21:20,549 --> 00:21:22,789 coffee and spreadsheet displays he said 385 00:21:22,789 --> 00:21:26,820 should be relatively painless and he 386 00:21:26,820 --> 00:21:28,960 winked firing an imaginary 387 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:33,789 pistol at his head as soon as I slept 388 00:21:33,789 --> 00:21:36,279 the man felt the prickle of an obscure 389 00:21:36,279 --> 00:21:39,100 instinct and checked the pockets of his 390 00:21:39,100 --> 00:21:42,909 coat again he found a slip of paper 391 00:21:42,909 --> 00:21:45,789 reading the only thing I'm asking is 392 00:21:45,789 --> 00:21:50,429 that you give my Cindy another few years 393 00:21:51,059 --> 00:21:54,549 Cindy was I sleaze cat familiar to 394 00:21:54,549 --> 00:21:55,990 everyone in the office from his 395 00:21:55,990 --> 00:21:58,299 Christmas cards and his online photo 396 00:21:58,299 --> 00:22:04,059 diary a simple coincidence somehow he 397 00:22:04,059 --> 00:22:08,529 didn't think so for the rest of the day 398 00:22:08,529 --> 00:22:10,980 the man kept the code close at hand 399 00:22:10,980 --> 00:22:13,240 draping it over his arm when he was 400 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,909 inside and wearing it buttoned to the 401 00:22:15,909 --> 00:22:20,110 collar when he was out by the time he 402 00:22:20,110 --> 00:22:22,360 locked his office for the night he 403 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:24,159 believed he had come to understand how 404 00:22:24,159 --> 00:22:28,779 it worked the coat was or seemed to be a 405 00:22:28,779 --> 00:22:33,250 repository for prayers not unerringly 406 00:22:33,250 --> 00:22:36,070 but often enough when the man passed 407 00:22:36,070 --> 00:22:38,830 somebody on the street or stepped into a 408 00:22:38,830 --> 00:22:41,740 crowded room he would tuck his hands 409 00:22:41,740 --> 00:22:44,380 into the coats pockets and feel the thin 410 00:22:44,380 --> 00:22:47,140 flexed form of a slip of paper brushing 411 00:22:47,140 --> 00:22:51,220 his fingers he took a meeting with one 412 00:22:51,220 --> 00:22:52,840 of the interns from the marketing 413 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,330 division and afterward discovered a note 414 00:22:55,330 --> 00:22:57,789 that read please oh please keep me from 415 00:22:57,789 --> 00:23:02,409 embarrassing myself he grazed the arm of 416 00:23:02,409 --> 00:23:04,929 a man who was muttering obscenities his 417 00:23:04,929 --> 00:23:08,289 feet planted flat on the sidewalk and a 418 00:23:08,289 --> 00:23:10,750 few seconds later found a note that read 419 00:23:10,750 --> 00:23:14,049 why do you do it why can't you stop 420 00:23:14,049 --> 00:23:19,809 torturing me that afternoon on his way 421 00:23:19,809 --> 00:23:22,419 out he was standing by the bank of 422 00:23:22,419 --> 00:23:25,210 elevators next to the waiting room when 423 00:23:25,210 --> 00:23:29,320 he came upon yet another prayer all I 424 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:33,070 want just this once is for somebody to 425 00:23:33,070 --> 00:23:36,700 tell me how pretty I look today 426 00:23:36,700 --> 00:23:41,450 he glanced around the only person he 427 00:23:41,450 --> 00:23:44,810 could see was Jenna the receptionist who 428 00:23:44,810 --> 00:23:46,760 was sitting behind the front desk with 429 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:49,010 her purse in her lap and her fingers 430 00:23:49,010 --> 00:23:53,360 covering her lips he stepped up to her 431 00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:56,930 and said by the way that new girl from 432 00:23:56,930 --> 00:24:02,230 supplies was right right about what I 433 00:24:02,230 --> 00:24:04,580 heard her talking about you in the break 434 00:24:04,580 --> 00:24:07,310 room she was saying how pretty you look 435 00:24:07,310 --> 00:24:10,970 today she was right that's a beautiful 436 00:24:10,970 --> 00:24:15,470 dress you're wearing the brightness in 437 00:24:15,470 --> 00:24:17,870 her face was like the reflection of the 438 00:24:17,870 --> 00:24:21,350 Sun in a pool of water you could toss a 439 00:24:21,350 --> 00:24:24,200 stone in and watch it fracture into a 440 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,830 thousand pieces throwing off sparks is 441 00:24:27,830 --> 00:24:32,540 it gathered itself back together so that 442 00:24:32,540 --> 00:24:35,390 was one prayer and the man could answer 443 00:24:35,390 --> 00:24:38,330 it but what was he to do with all the 444 00:24:38,330 --> 00:24:42,920 others in the weeks that followed he 445 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,510 found thousands upon thousands more 446 00:24:46,510 --> 00:24:49,520 prayers for comforts in prayers for 447 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:53,840 wealth prayers for love in prayers for 448 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:57,740 good fortune it seemed that at any one 449 00:24:57,740 --> 00:25:00,200 time half the people in the city were 450 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:04,250 likely to be praying some of them were 451 00:25:04,250 --> 00:25:06,220 praying for things he could understand 452 00:25:06,220 --> 00:25:09,920 even if he could not provide them like 453 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:12,170 the waitress who wanted some graceful 454 00:25:12,170 --> 00:25:15,290 way to back out of her wedding or the 455 00:25:15,290 --> 00:25:18,410 UPS driver who asked for a single night 456 00:25:18,410 --> 00:25:22,190 of unbroken sleep while some were 457 00:25:22,190 --> 00:25:23,630 praying for things he could not even 458 00:25:23,630 --> 00:25:28,250 understand let the voice choose lunch 459 00:25:28,250 --> 00:25:32,780 this time either Amy sussan or Amy 460 00:25:32,780 --> 00:25:39,129 goodale nothing less than thirty percent 461 00:25:39,250 --> 00:25:41,720 he walked past a ring of elementary 462 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,850 school students playing duck duck goose 463 00:25:44,850 --> 00:25:47,070 and collected a dozen notes reading pick 464 00:25:47,070 --> 00:25:50,970 me pick me along with one that read I 465 00:25:50,970 --> 00:25:55,890 wish you would kill Matthew brandman he 466 00:25:55,890 --> 00:25:57,300 went to a one-man show with the 467 00:25:57,300 --> 00:25:59,820 repertory theater sitting directly next 468 00:25:59,820 --> 00:26:03,060 to the stage and afterward found a 469 00:26:03,060 --> 00:26:04,740 handful of notes and contained nothing 470 00:26:04,740 --> 00:26:09,390 but the lines the actor had spoken he 471 00:26:09,390 --> 00:26:11,100 made the mistake of wearing the coat to 472 00:26:11,100 --> 00:26:13,770 a baseball game and had to leave at the 473 00:26:13,770 --> 00:26:16,020 top of the second inning when slips of 474 00:26:16,020 --> 00:26:17,670 white paper began spilling from his 475 00:26:17,670 --> 00:26:22,500 pockets like confetti soon the man 476 00:26:22,500 --> 00:26:24,420 realized that he was able to detect the 477 00:26:24,420 --> 00:26:26,850 pressure of an incoming prayer before it 478 00:26:26,850 --> 00:26:30,630 even arrived the space around him would 479 00:26:30,630 --> 00:26:33,750 take on a certain elasticity as though 480 00:26:33,750 --> 00:26:36,120 thousands of tiny sinews were being 481 00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:38,160 summoned up out of the emptiness and 482 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:42,030 drawn tight and he would know suddenly 483 00:26:42,030 --> 00:26:44,820 and without question that someone was 484 00:26:44,820 --> 00:26:49,320 offering his yearning up to the air it 485 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:51,480 was like the invisible resistance he 486 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:53,610 remembered feeling when he tried to 487 00:26:53,610 --> 00:26:55,710 bring the common polls of two magnets 488 00:26:55,710 --> 00:27:00,360 together the sensation was unmistakable 489 00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:04,320 and it seemed that the stronger the 490 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:06,630 force of the prayer the greater the 491 00:27:06,630 --> 00:27:10,650 distance it was able to travel there 492 00:27:10,650 --> 00:27:12,330 were prayer that he received only when 493 00:27:12,330 --> 00:27:14,190 he skimmed directly up against another 494 00:27:14,190 --> 00:27:17,580 person but there were others that had 495 00:27:17,580 --> 00:27:19,470 the power to find him even when he was 496 00:27:19,470 --> 00:27:21,720 walking alone through the empty soccer 497 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:24,240 field in the middle of the park his 498 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:26,040 footsteps setting little riffles of 499 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:30,240 birds into motion he wondered whether 500 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:31,800 the prayers were something he had always 501 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:35,250 subconsciously felt he and everyone else 502 00:27:35,250 --> 00:27:37,920 in the world stirring around between 503 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:41,460 their bodies like invisible Eddie's but 504 00:27:41,460 --> 00:27:42,660 which none of them had ever had the 505 00:27:42,660 --> 00:27:44,630 acuity to recognized for what they were 506 00:27:44,630 --> 00:27:48,300 or whether he was able to perceive them 507 00:27:48,300 --> 00:27:50,340 only because he had happened to find the 508 00:27:50,340 --> 00:27:53,970 overcoat in the thrift store he just 509 00:27:53,970 --> 00:27:55,910 didn't know 510 00:27:55,910 --> 00:27:59,630 at first when the man had realized what 511 00:27:59,630 --> 00:28:02,600 the coat could do he had indulged in the 512 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,610 kind of fantasies that used to fill his 513 00:28:04,610 --> 00:28:08,870 daydreams as a child he would turn 514 00:28:08,870 --> 00:28:11,410 himself into the benevolent stranger 515 00:28:11,410 --> 00:28:14,120 answering people's wishes without ever 516 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:17,570 revealing himself to them or he would 517 00:28:17,570 --> 00:28:19,700 use the pockets to read people's 518 00:28:19,700 --> 00:28:23,120 fortunes somehow he hadn't yet figured 519 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:26,930 out the details or he would be the 520 00:28:26,930 --> 00:28:30,410 mysterious slightly menacing figure who 521 00:28:30,410 --> 00:28:32,780 would take people by the shoulder locked 522 00:28:32,780 --> 00:28:36,200 gazes with them and say I can tell what 523 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:40,430 you've been thinking but it was not long 524 00:28:40,430 --> 00:28:44,480 before he gave up on those ideas there 525 00:28:44,480 --> 00:28:47,330 were so many prayers there was so much 526 00:28:47,330 --> 00:28:50,270 longing in the world and in the face of 527 00:28:50,270 --> 00:28:55,730 it all he began to feel helpless one 528 00:28:55,730 --> 00:28:58,070 night the man had a dream that he was 529 00:28:58,070 --> 00:29:01,340 walking by a hotel swimming pool beneath 530 00:29:01,340 --> 00:29:03,680 the sky the same lambent blue is the 531 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:07,640 water when he recognized God spread out 532 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,070 like a convalescent in one of the hotels 533 00:29:10,070 --> 00:29:15,410 deck chairs you the man said what are 534 00:29:15,410 --> 00:29:18,920 you doing here I have your coat don't 535 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:23,450 you want it back God set his magazine 536 00:29:23,450 --> 00:29:25,580 down on his lap folding one of the 537 00:29:25,580 --> 00:29:29,510 corners over and shook his head it's 538 00:29:29,510 --> 00:29:33,680 yours now they're all yours now I don't 539 00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:37,730 want the responsibility anymore but 540 00:29:37,730 --> 00:29:40,040 don't you understand the man said to him 541 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:43,370 we need you down here how could you just 542 00:29:43,370 --> 00:29:49,040 abandon us and God answered I came to 543 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:50,660 understand the limitations of my 544 00:29:50,660 --> 00:29:55,190 character it was shortly after two in 545 00:29:55,190 --> 00:29:59,090 the morning when the man woke up in the 546 00:29:59,090 --> 00:30:01,130 moonlight he could see the laundry 547 00:30:01,130 --> 00:30:04,340 hamper the clay a bowl in the dozens of 548 00:30:04,340 --> 00:30:06,590 cardboard boxes that covered the floor 549 00:30:06,590 --> 00:30:07,890 of his bedroom 550 00:30:07,890 --> 00:30:10,660 all of them filled with slips of white 551 00:30:10,660 --> 00:30:15,090 paper he could not bear to throw away 552 00:30:15,330 --> 00:30:18,550 the next day he decided to place an ad 553 00:30:18,550 --> 00:30:22,780 in the classified pages purchased at 554 00:30:22,780 --> 00:30:26,680 thrift store one overcoat sable brown 555 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:31,320 with chestnut buttons pockets worn 556 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:35,170 possibly of sentimental value wish to 557 00:30:35,170 --> 00:30:40,240 return to original owner he allowed the 558 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:43,690 ad to run for a full two weeks going so 559 00:30:43,690 --> 00:30:45,850 far as to pin copies of it to the 560 00:30:45,850 --> 00:30:47,500 bulletin boards of several nearby 561 00:30:47,500 --> 00:30:50,620 churches but he did not receive an 562 00:30:50,620 --> 00:30:54,850 answer nor it must be said had he 563 00:30:54,850 --> 00:30:58,960 honestly expected to the code belonged 564 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:02,920 to him now it had changed him into 565 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:07,690 someone he had never expected to be he 566 00:31:07,690 --> 00:31:10,030 found it hard to imagine turning back to 567 00:31:10,030 --> 00:31:13,120 the life he used to know a life in which 568 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:15,660 he saw people everywhere he went in 569 00:31:15,660 --> 00:31:18,190 which he looked into their faces and 570 00:31:18,190 --> 00:31:21,550 even spoke to them but was only able to 571 00:31:21,550 --> 00:31:26,890 guess at what lay in their souls one 572 00:31:26,890 --> 00:31:29,470 Saturday he took a train to the city's 573 00:31:29,470 --> 00:31:34,540 pedestrian mall it was a mild day the 574 00:31:34,540 --> 00:31:37,420 first gleam of spring after a long in 575 00:31:37,420 --> 00:31:40,660 frigid winter and though he did not 576 00:31:40,660 --> 00:31:43,630 really need the code he had grown so 577 00:31:43,630 --> 00:31:45,790 used to wearing it that he put it on 578 00:31:45,790 --> 00:31:50,470 without a second thought the pedestrian 579 00:31:50,470 --> 00:31:53,380 mall was not far from the airport and as 580 00:31:53,380 --> 00:31:55,600 he arrived he watched a low plane 581 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,570 passing overhead dipping through the lee 582 00:31:58,570 --> 00:32:03,340 waves above the river a handful of notes 583 00:32:03,340 --> 00:32:07,540 appeared in his pockets please don't let 584 00:32:07,540 --> 00:32:12,720 us fall please keep us from going down 585 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:15,430 let this be the one that makes the pain 586 00:32:15,430 --> 00:32:17,730 go away 587 00:32:18,559 --> 00:32:21,169 the shops restaurants and street cafes 588 00:32:21,169 --> 00:32:23,769 along the pavement were quiet at first 589 00:32:23,769 --> 00:32:27,110 but as the afternoon took hold more and 590 00:32:27,110 --> 00:32:31,129 more people arrived the man was walking 591 00:32:31,129 --> 00:32:33,470 down a set of steps toward the center of 592 00:32:33,470 --> 00:32:35,990 the square when he discovered a prayer 593 00:32:35,990 --> 00:32:38,809 that read let someone speak to me this 594 00:32:38,809 --> 00:32:46,610 time anyone anyone at all or else the 595 00:32:46,610 --> 00:32:49,700 prayer was a powerful one is taught as a 596 00:32:49,700 --> 00:32:54,619 steel cord in the air it appeared to be 597 00:32:54,619 --> 00:32:56,330 coming from the woman sitting on the 598 00:32:56,330 --> 00:32:59,119 edge of the drive fountain her feet 599 00:32:59,119 --> 00:33:01,009 breaking two straight lines in the 600 00:33:01,009 --> 00:33:05,539 leaves the man sat down beside her and 601 00:33:05,539 --> 00:33:11,330 asked or else what she did not seem 602 00:33:11,330 --> 00:33:13,659 surprised to hear him raise the question 603 00:33:13,659 --> 00:33:19,490 or else she said quietly he could tell 604 00:33:19,490 --> 00:33:21,799 by the soreness in her voice that she 605 00:33:21,799 --> 00:33:27,769 was about to cry or else he took her by 606 00:33:27,769 --> 00:33:31,340 the hand come on why don't I buy you 607 00:33:31,340 --> 00:33:35,509 some coffee he led her to the coffee 608 00:33:35,509 --> 00:33:38,240 house hanging his coat over the back of 609 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:41,169 a chair and listening to her talk and 610 00:33:41,169 --> 00:33:44,149 before long he had little question what 611 00:33:44,149 --> 00:33:48,110 the or else was she seemed so 612 00:33:48,110 --> 00:33:54,110 disconsolate so terribly isolated he 613 00:33:54,110 --> 00:33:55,669 insisted she spend the rest of the 614 00:33:55,669 --> 00:33:59,929 afternoon with him he took her to see 615 00:33:59,929 --> 00:34:02,450 the wooden boxes that were on display at 616 00:34:02,450 --> 00:34:05,600 a small art gallery and then the 617 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,239 Victorian lamps in the front room of an 618 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:12,440 antique store a movie was playing at the 619 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:15,619 bargain theater a comedy and he bought a 620 00:34:15,619 --> 00:34:18,349 pair of tickets for it and after it was 621 00:34:18,349 --> 00:34:20,569 finished the two of them settled down to 622 00:34:20,569 --> 00:34:25,699 dinner at a chinese restaurant finally 623 00:34:25,699 --> 00:34:27,379 they picked up a bag of freshly roasted 624 00:34:27,379 --> 00:34:30,099 pecans from a pushcart down 625 00:34:30,099 --> 00:34:34,059 by the river by then the Sun was falling 626 00:34:34,059 --> 00:34:37,889 and the woman seemed in better spirits 627 00:34:37,889 --> 00:34:41,168 he made her promise to call him the next 628 00:34:41,168 --> 00:34:44,518 time she needed someone to talk to I 629 00:34:44,518 --> 00:34:48,009 will she said tucking her chin into the 630 00:34:48,009 --> 00:34:51,929 collar of her shirt like a little girl 631 00:34:51,929 --> 00:34:55,089 though he wanted to believe her he 632 00:34:55,089 --> 00:34:57,700 wondered as he rode the train home if he 633 00:34:57,700 --> 00:35:02,289 would ever hear from her again it was 634 00:35:02,289 --> 00:35:04,749 the next morning before he realized his 635 00:35:04,749 --> 00:35:09,130 overcoat was missing he went to the Lost 636 00:35:09,130 --> 00:35:11,109 and Found counter at the train station 637 00:35:11,109 --> 00:35:14,529 and when he was told that no one had 638 00:35:14,529 --> 00:35:16,960 turned it in traveled back to the 639 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:21,819 pedestrian mall to retrace his steps he 640 00:35:21,819 --> 00:35:23,710 remembered draping the coat over his 641 00:35:23,710 --> 00:35:26,529 chair at the coffee house but none of 642 00:35:26,529 --> 00:35:30,670 the baristas there had seen ends nor had 643 00:35:30,670 --> 00:35:34,329 the manager of the movie theater nor had 644 00:35:34,329 --> 00:35:38,710 the owner of the art gallery the man 645 00:35:38,710 --> 00:35:40,900 searched for it in every shop along the 646 00:35:40,900 --> 00:35:45,880 square but without success that evening 647 00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:49,479 as he unlocked the door of his house he 648 00:35:49,479 --> 00:35:51,460 knew that the coat had fallen out of his 649 00:35:51,460 --> 00:35:55,869 hands for good it was already planed to 650 00:35:55,869 --> 00:35:59,349 him how much he was going to miss it it 651 00:35:59,349 --> 00:36:02,319 had brought him little ease that was 652 00:36:02,319 --> 00:36:04,960 true but it had made his life 653 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,229 incomparably richer and he was not sure 654 00:36:08,229 --> 00:36:13,119 what he was going to do without it we 655 00:36:13,119 --> 00:36:14,890 are none of us so delicate as we think 656 00:36:14,890 --> 00:36:18,249 though and over the next few days as a 657 00:36:18,249 --> 00:36:20,829 dozen new accounts came across his desk 658 00:36:20,829 --> 00:36:25,769 at work the sharpness of his loss faded 659 00:36:25,769 --> 00:36:28,660 he no longer experienced the compulsion 660 00:36:28,660 --> 00:36:32,099 to hunt through his pockets all the time 661 00:36:32,099 --> 00:36:34,869 he stopped feeling as though he had made 662 00:36:34,869 --> 00:36:40,599 some terrible mistake eventually he was 663 00:36:40,599 --> 00:36:42,670 left with only a small ache 664 00:36:42,670 --> 00:36:45,940 back of his mind no larger than a pebble 665 00:36:45,940 --> 00:36:49,090 and a lingering sensitivity to the 666 00:36:49,090 --> 00:36:51,130 currents of hope and longing that flew 667 00:36:51,130 --> 00:36:55,870 through the air and at pang Lin's 668 00:36:55,870 --> 00:36:59,140 Chinese restaurant a new science hoon 669 00:36:59,140 --> 00:37:02,890 appeared in the window custom fortune 670 00:37:02,890 --> 00:37:07,380 cookies made nightly and on the premises 671 00:37:07,380 --> 00:37:10,540 the diners at the restaurant found the 672 00:37:10,540 --> 00:37:12,580 fortune cookies brittle and tasteless 673 00:37:12,580 --> 00:37:16,780 but the messages inside were unlike any 674 00:37:16,780 --> 00:37:19,870 they had ever seen and before long they 675 00:37:19,870 --> 00:37:21,700 developed a reputation for their 676 00:37:21,700 --> 00:37:25,740 peculiarities and their singular wisdom 677 00:37:25,740 --> 00:37:28,240 crack open one of the cookies at paying 678 00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:30,940 Lin's it was said and you never knew 679 00:37:30,940 --> 00:37:34,440 what fortune you might find inside 680 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:39,400 please let the test to be cancelled thy 681 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,680 will be done but I could really use a 682 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:45,820 woman right about now why would you do 683 00:37:45,820 --> 00:37:51,640 something like this to me why Oh make me 684 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:57,120 happy that's 685 00:38:10,190 --> 00:38:13,349 thank you very much so again I'm happy 686 00:38:13,349 --> 00:38:14,819 to spend some time talking with you 687 00:38:14,819 --> 00:38:16,319 answering any questions if you have any 688 00:38:16,319 --> 00:38:18,720 about these books or my others or my 689 00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:20,160 writing like my publishing life my 690 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:24,749 reading life my biography anything you 691 00:38:24,749 --> 00:38:26,999 might be interested in I will request 692 00:38:26,999 --> 00:38:30,150 however that you speak very very loudly 693 00:38:30,150 --> 00:38:33,869 I feel as if I'm you know at the bottom 694 00:38:33,869 --> 00:38:37,650 of a pool listening to things so are 695 00:38:37,650 --> 00:38:40,069 there any questions 696 00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:54,230 so the question is can I talk about the 697 00:38:54,230 --> 00:38:55,820 feeling of wounded loneliness and 698 00:38:55,820 --> 00:38:57,440 dislocation in my writing and where I 699 00:38:57,440 --> 00:38:59,150 think it comes from I'm repeating it in 700 00:38:59,150 --> 00:39:02,780 case people at the back didn't hear you 701 00:39:02,780 --> 00:39:06,980 know last week I attended a reading by a 702 00:39:06,980 --> 00:39:08,630 husband and wife riding team Tom 703 00:39:08,630 --> 00:39:10,490 Franklin and Beth and fennelly both of 704 00:39:10,490 --> 00:39:13,040 them wonderful writers who together have 705 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:15,440 written a novel called the tilted world 706 00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:18,320 and when they were talking about this 707 00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:23,120 book Tom Franklin mentioned that writers 708 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:26,480 will be familiar I with a kind of you 709 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:29,720 know what it's like to have it how the 710 00:39:29,720 --> 00:39:32,110 writing life can be a sad and lonely one 711 00:39:32,110 --> 00:39:34,580 because it's very isolating you know 712 00:39:34,580 --> 00:39:36,410 you're not it's not a social activity 713 00:39:36,410 --> 00:39:39,500 writing you know as much as you feel 714 00:39:39,500 --> 00:39:41,360 you're in Congress with other human 715 00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:45,620 beings you're doing it all alone I think 716 00:39:45,620 --> 00:39:47,450 of this because I happen to be in the 717 00:39:47,450 --> 00:39:48,920 audience for this and I know the two of 718 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:50,930 them and so he said you know Kevin 719 00:39:50,930 --> 00:39:53,240 brockmeier well you know I'm sure be 720 00:39:53,240 --> 00:39:55,280 able to attest to you know the sadness 721 00:39:55,280 --> 00:39:56,960 and loneliness of the writing life so 722 00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:58,580 when I had the two of them signed my 723 00:39:58,580 --> 00:40:00,890 books I I you know I insisted that they 724 00:40:00,890 --> 00:40:05,690 sign it you know in acknowledgment of my 725 00:40:05,690 --> 00:40:08,000 sad loneliness so it's a good you know I 726 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:09,710 think all writers should you know make a 727 00:40:09,710 --> 00:40:11,330 point of speaking about the sadness and 728 00:40:11,330 --> 00:40:14,500 loneliness of me at their events but um 729 00:40:14,500 --> 00:40:19,340 it so I I'm not so sure that it's part 730 00:40:19,340 --> 00:40:23,170 of it i think that experience is 731 00:40:23,170 --> 00:40:25,190 certainly part of the common human 732 00:40:25,190 --> 00:40:26,900 experience I don't know that it's the 733 00:40:26,900 --> 00:40:28,910 central feature of the common human 734 00:40:28,910 --> 00:40:32,600 experience but I think in my case it's 735 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:35,510 something that rises up and me when I'm 736 00:40:35,510 --> 00:40:37,940 sitting down to write I don't always 737 00:40:37,940 --> 00:40:40,460 experience it otherwise and I've been 738 00:40:40,460 --> 00:40:42,850 struggling to understand lately whether 739 00:40:42,850 --> 00:40:47,930 my life is difficult to me and whether 740 00:40:47,930 --> 00:40:50,030 my writing expresses the difficulties of 741 00:40:50,030 --> 00:40:53,450 my life or whether my life manifests the 742 00:40:53,450 --> 00:40:55,610 difficulties of my writing I can't 743 00:40:55,610 --> 00:40:58,280 figure it out so what I'm trying to do 744 00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:00,590 for a book that I just started is to 745 00:41:00,590 --> 00:41:01,780 write happy 746 00:41:01,780 --> 00:41:04,300 um and you know see if it turns my life 747 00:41:04,300 --> 00:41:05,890 around maybe things will be great now 748 00:41:05,890 --> 00:41:10,720 who knows um so it seems to me that for 749 00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:12,940 a long time I've been writing the book 750 00:41:12,940 --> 00:41:15,550 of Revelation over and over again and 751 00:41:15,550 --> 00:41:17,470 I'm trying to write the book of Genesis 752 00:41:17,470 --> 00:41:19,660 now you know beginnings rather than 753 00:41:19,660 --> 00:41:24,790 endings and joy rather than sorrow it is 754 00:41:24,790 --> 00:41:28,480 very much the case that the illumination 755 00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:30,610 in particular is a book that's entirely 756 00:41:30,610 --> 00:41:33,970 oriented around human suffering and the 757 00:41:33,970 --> 00:41:37,500 idea behind that book is it just equates 758 00:41:37,500 --> 00:41:41,590 suffering with light at a very direct 759 00:41:41,590 --> 00:41:46,030 equation and you could take that idea of 760 00:41:46,030 --> 00:41:48,990 the way suffering is bound together with 761 00:41:48,990 --> 00:41:54,660 beauty and pain is bound together with 762 00:41:54,660 --> 00:41:57,880 luminescence and spend this equation 763 00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:00,400 around on itself for you know 270 pages 764 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:02,140 and you would get a book that looks an 765 00:42:02,140 --> 00:42:04,990 awful lot like this book does um but 766 00:42:04,990 --> 00:42:07,270 it's a book that's designed to grapple 767 00:42:07,270 --> 00:42:10,540 with exactly those questions you know 768 00:42:10,540 --> 00:42:14,290 how do we make sense of our lives in the 769 00:42:14,290 --> 00:42:15,910 context of the suffering that life 770 00:42:15,910 --> 00:42:19,420 exposes us to and it's a question that 771 00:42:19,420 --> 00:42:21,040 I've spent some time thinking about and 772 00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:22,900 it was a question that said directly 773 00:42:22,900 --> 00:42:27,760 into this particular book yeah so that's 774 00:42:27,760 --> 00:42:31,440 that who else 775 00:42:34,850 --> 00:42:37,509 yes 776 00:42:49,790 --> 00:42:52,740 from me that the art forms that are at 777 00:42:52,740 --> 00:42:56,060 the center of my life our literature 778 00:42:56,060 --> 00:43:01,109 film and music you know the others like 779 00:43:01,109 --> 00:43:03,180 a visual art I have some appreciation 780 00:43:03,180 --> 00:43:07,079 for but I feel that it's very much kind 781 00:43:07,079 --> 00:43:10,230 of a position that's rooted in my own 782 00:43:10,230 --> 00:43:12,930 ignorance basically um whereas I've 783 00:43:12,930 --> 00:43:15,510 spent a lot of time reading and also a 784 00:43:15,510 --> 00:43:17,339 lot of time movie going and listening to 785 00:43:17,339 --> 00:43:21,060 music now my talents don't don't lie in 786 00:43:21,060 --> 00:43:22,920 kind of filmmaking and they certainly 787 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:27,000 don't lie in music making but just as a 788 00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:29,160 human being I'm very appreciative of 789 00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:31,619 those art forms and it was mentioned in 790 00:43:31,619 --> 00:43:33,060 my introduction that you know I keep 791 00:43:33,060 --> 00:43:35,520 these lists and that is in fact the case 792 00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:38,069 and I you know I'm in the habit of kind 793 00:43:38,069 --> 00:43:39,690 of keeping this list at my 50 favorite 794 00:43:39,690 --> 00:43:42,990 books and handing them out everywhere 795 00:43:42,990 --> 00:43:44,970 but I also keep a list of my 50 favorite 796 00:43:44,970 --> 00:43:47,970 albums and my 50 favorite movies and in 797 00:43:47,970 --> 00:43:49,740 kind of various other lists at this type 798 00:43:49,740 --> 00:43:52,410 and I'm kind of reconsidering them 799 00:43:52,410 --> 00:43:54,089 regularly in the light of new 800 00:43:54,089 --> 00:43:57,359 experiences so those are the art forms 801 00:43:57,359 --> 00:44:00,470 that are most important to me 802 00:44:07,559 --> 00:44:09,749 okay so what was the last book to get 803 00:44:09,749 --> 00:44:17,519 kicked off my list of 50 favorable it's 804 00:44:17,519 --> 00:44:20,099 always hard to remember um you know 805 00:44:20,099 --> 00:44:21,630 there are books that you can just kind 806 00:44:21,630 --> 00:44:22,920 of tell are hanging on by their 807 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:24,989 fingernails and I love them but I know 808 00:44:24,989 --> 00:44:27,089 i'm gonna read something that's going to 809 00:44:27,089 --> 00:44:28,739 demand a space on this list and I'm 810 00:44:28,739 --> 00:44:30,509 sorry George Orwell you're gonna have to 811 00:44:30,509 --> 00:44:33,420 go that's that's that's kind of how it 812 00:44:33,420 --> 00:44:36,059 works so in it might in fact have been I 813 00:44:36,059 --> 00:44:38,759 love Orwell's nonfiction his essays I 814 00:44:38,759 --> 00:44:41,430 think or his greatest work and that his 815 00:44:41,430 --> 00:44:43,410 collection collection of essays that's 816 00:44:43,410 --> 00:44:45,119 the title of Abel a collection of essays 817 00:44:45,119 --> 00:44:46,859 was on this list for a long long time 818 00:44:46,859 --> 00:44:48,930 and it might have been the last one to 819 00:44:48,930 --> 00:44:51,930 get bumped um II and that would have 820 00:44:51,930 --> 00:44:55,589 been this summer jun 29th i always date 821 00:44:55,589 --> 00:44:59,489 these lists so the idea is that it's 50 822 00:44:59,489 --> 00:45:01,890 books alphabetically by the author's 823 00:45:01,890 --> 00:45:03,839 last name with no more than one book per 824 00:45:03,839 --> 00:45:06,420 author and with asterisks beside my 825 00:45:06,420 --> 00:45:09,599 current top 10 so presuming that Orwell 826 00:45:09,599 --> 00:45:11,369 was the last one to be bumped if I'm 827 00:45:11,369 --> 00:45:13,259 right about that he was bumped in favor 828 00:45:13,259 --> 00:45:15,209 of a novel i read this summer by russell 829 00:45:15,209 --> 00:45:18,779 Hoban called turtle diary he was just 830 00:45:18,779 --> 00:45:20,489 republished in a New York Review of 831 00:45:20,489 --> 00:45:23,609 Books edition and it's a beautiful 832 00:45:23,609 --> 00:45:26,939 beautiful book about like there's 833 00:45:26,939 --> 00:45:29,759 there's very little to the plot but it's 834 00:45:29,759 --> 00:45:32,339 about a middle-aged man and a 835 00:45:32,339 --> 00:45:36,239 middle-aged woman who conspire to free 836 00:45:36,239 --> 00:45:39,179 the sea turtles from the London Zoo and 837 00:45:39,179 --> 00:45:41,549 release them into the ocean um and 838 00:45:41,549 --> 00:45:43,699 that's really all there is to the story 839 00:45:43,699 --> 00:45:50,999 but more than that it's just about ah it 840 00:45:50,999 --> 00:45:53,279 was one of these works for when I read 841 00:45:53,279 --> 00:45:55,859 it I kept recognizing features of my own 842 00:45:55,859 --> 00:45:58,260 experience that I thought were entirely 843 00:45:58,260 --> 00:46:01,890 my own um and here they were like part 844 00:46:01,890 --> 00:46:04,140 of Russell hoban's experience and the 845 00:46:04,140 --> 00:46:06,120 experiences of his characters and it 846 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:07,530 just made me feel reading this book you 847 00:46:07,530 --> 00:46:09,240 know I'll be damned I'm a human being 848 00:46:09,240 --> 00:46:12,630 you know it's not just me like I'm part 849 00:46:12,630 --> 00:46:15,780 of the world I'm really an amazing book 850 00:46:15,780 --> 00:46:18,630 and amazing for exactly that feature the 851 00:46:18,630 --> 00:46:20,250 way it makes you feel like you're a part 852 00:46:20,250 --> 00:46:23,700 of human concourse one with everybody 853 00:46:23,700 --> 00:46:26,070 else so I know that that was the book 854 00:46:26,070 --> 00:46:28,140 the last book that el bote its way onto 855 00:46:28,140 --> 00:46:33,150 the list by the way I do have a big 856 00:46:33,150 --> 00:46:35,370 stack of these so if anybody is curious 857 00:46:35,370 --> 00:46:36,900 to know what my 50 favorite books in 858 00:46:36,900 --> 00:46:38,310 alphabetical order by the author's last 859 00:46:38,310 --> 00:46:39,450 name with no more than one book or 860 00:46:39,450 --> 00:46:41,010 author with asterisk beside the nerd top 861 00:46:41,010 --> 00:46:43,860 10 are you're welcome to grab one from 862 00:46:43,860 --> 00:46:48,110 me at the end of the reading who else 863 00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:51,800 yes 864 00:46:58,690 --> 00:47:03,200 what came on yeah that's right yep yeah 865 00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:06,500 um it's so yeah maybe maybe I am turning 866 00:47:06,500 --> 00:47:09,349 things around thank you good sign thank 867 00:47:09,349 --> 00:47:20,089 you who else all right well thank you 868 00:47:20,089 --> 00:47:22,400 very much um there are books for sale at 869 00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:23,869 the table and I'm gonna sit right here 870 00:47:23,869 --> 00:47:26,180 I'll be happy to sign books or talk 871 00:47:26,180 --> 00:47:28,280 one-on-one with anybody and again if 872 00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:29,660 you'd like to grab a copy of this list 873 00:47:29,660 --> 00:47:31,070 I've got a big stack of them and you're 874 00:47:31,070 --> 00:47:34,780 more than welcome to thanks