What Is All This?: Uncollected Stories

Начало книги

It’s been a long time. I don’t know since when. Just a long time. That should be enough to explain it. To say that: a long time. Very long. Since I’ve been here, I mean. How could I forget? In this room. In this house. On this street. In this city. This state, to be sure. This country, of course. Naturally, this hemisphere. On earth, goes without saying. This solar system, what can I add? This universe, I won’t even go into. Wouldn’t try. We all go a long way. Very possibly we all go the same way. Maybe we all add up to the same thing. This time: who can say? Nobody, I think. Maybe some people try. Maybe a lot of people try and some succeed. I don’t know. But what is it I began to say? That I’ve never left this room? No, I’ve gone out. Several to many times. But the number of times isn’t important. Let’s say I’ve only been out of this room once. But stayed away for eighty years only to return and never go out again. It would mean I’ve been out a long time by anybody’s standards but only went out once. But that’s not what I began to say. It was something about myself in this room. But too late, at least for now. Because my next-door neighbor comes in.

Читать дальше →