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d5515a4
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Now, go shovel some shit.
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Sara gruen |
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2e28637
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but it's no use. I m already on my feet. She drags me onto the dance floor, jiving and snapping her fingers. When we're surrounded by other couples she turns to me. I take a deep breath and then take her in my arms. We wait a couple beats and then we're off, floating around the dance floor in a swirling sea of people. She's light as air--doesn't miss a step, and that's a feat considering how clumsy I am. And it's not as though I don't know ..
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Sara Gruen |
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2d02c0a
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The thought has cheered me, and I'd like to hang onto that. Must protect my little pockets of happiness.
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Sara Gruen |
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e9205dc
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Hey! Shouts Camel. There ain't no woman in the world worth two bottles of whiskey!
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humor
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Sara Gruen |
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d6a9e1e
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I scan the room. Catherine is writing quickly, her light brown hair falling over her face. She is left-handed, and because she writes in pencil her left arm is silver from wrist to elbow.
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writing
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Sara Gruen |
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9aaec41
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My platitudes don't hold their interest and I can hardly blame them for that. My real stories are all out of date. So what if I can speak firsthand about the Spanish flu, the advent of the automobile, world wars, cold wars, guerrilla wars, and Sputnik -- that's all ancient history now. But what else do I have to offer? Nothing happens to me anymore. That's the reality of getting old, and I guess that's really the crux of the matter. I'm not..
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Sara Gruen |
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8fa5185
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Bathing is even more embarrassing, because I have to strip down to my birthday suit in front of a nurse. Now, there are some things that never die, so even though I'm in my nineties my sap sometimes rises. I can't help it. They always pretend not to notice. They're trained that way, I suppose, although pretending not to notice is almost worse than noticing. It means they consider me nothing more than a harmless old man sporting a harmless o..
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Sara Gruen |
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29266a9
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When I first submerged my feet into frigid water, they hurt so badly I yanked them out again. I persisted, dunking them for longer and longer periods, until the cold finally blistered.
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Sara Gruen |
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cf60fcc
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To be sure, I'm not perfect wife material: I'm neurotic. I'm compulsive. I speak before I think and can't cook worth a damn. I'm messy and germaphobic all at once, and it's not entirely unheard of for me to get hold of the wrong end of the stick and then hang there like a pitbull.
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Sara Gruen |
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f8bcb2e
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Although, pretending not to notice is almost worse than noticing.
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Sara Gruen |
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169d647
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She looks at her watch - a real one, with arms. Those digital ones came and went, thank God. When will people learn that just because you can make something doesn't mean you should?
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Sara Gruen |
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c1b8f26
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So what if I'm ninety-three? So what if I'm ancient and cranky and my body's a wreck? If they're willing to accept me and my guilty conscience, why the hell shouldn't I run away with the circus? It's like Charlie told the cop. For this old man, this is home.
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Sara Gruen |
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cbdfb34
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All I can do is put in time waiting for the inevitable, observing as the ghost of my past rattle around my vacuous present. They crash and bang and make themselves at home, mostly because there's no competition. I've stopped fighting them. They're crashing and banging around in there now. Make yourselves at home, boys. Stay awhile. Oh, sorry- I see you already have. Damn ghost.
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Sara Gruen |
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4b261e0
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But it all zipped by. One minute Marlena and I were up to our eyeballs, and the next thing we knew the kids were borrowing the car and fleeing the coop for college. And now, here I am. In my nineties and alone.
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Sara Gruen |
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6024abf
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Sometimes I think that if I had to choose between an ear of corn or making love to a woman, I'd choose the corn. Not that I wouldn't love to have a final roll in the hay - I am a man yet, and something never die - but the thought of those sweet kernels bursting between my teeth sure sets my mouth to watering. It's fantasy, I know that. Neither will happen. I just like to weight the options, as though I were standing in front of Solomon: a f..
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Sara Gruen |
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f71a31b
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Age is a terrible thief.
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Sara Gruen |
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af06c4f
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They grew fat and happy--the horses, not the children, or Marlena for that matter.
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Sara Gruen |
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ef92710
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The monster--if there was one--never revealed itself to me again. But what I had learned over the past year was that monsters abound, usually in plain sight.
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Sara Gruen |
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825655c
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At this moment, the story in his head was perfect. He also knew from experience that it would degenerate the second he started typing, because such was the nature of writing.
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Sara Gruen |
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6f22523
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Do you have any idea how much an elephant drinks?
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Sara Gruen |
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e623f7c
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The sky the sky- same as it always was.
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Sara Gruen |
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11a731d
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Sometimes the monotony of bingo and sing alongs, ancient dusty people parked in the hallway in wheelchairs makes me long for death, particularly when -- remember that I'm one of the ancient dusty people, filed away like some worthless chotski.
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Sara Gruen |
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f253953
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But it wasn't long before the old familiar discontent started creeping up on me. I suppose it was always there, somewhere in the background. All I've done, my whole life, is keep it temporarily at bay.
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Sara Gruen |
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d020410
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He only had the imperfect medium of words.
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Sara Gruen |
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b3a9aa2
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All right. Let's give you something to tell your grandkids about. Or great-grandkids. Or great-great-grandkids." I snort with glee, delirious with excitement. Charlie winks and pours me another finger's worth of whiskey. Then, on second thought, he tips the bottle again. I reach out and grab its neck. "Better not," I say. "Don't want to get tipsy and break a hip."
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water-for-elephants
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Sara Gruen |
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46bb8fc
|
Jacob: I've never seen so much manure. Wade: Baggage stock horses. They pack'em in 27 a car. Jacob: how do you stand the smell? Wade: what smell?
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life
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Sara Gruen |
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c0b046b
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I was always searching, always seeking the next big thing, because that was the thing that was going to make everything all right again. And while I was working toward it, it gave me something to think about other than that thing I couldn't put my finger on. But it always came back.
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Sara Gruen |
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028df24
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It seems there's nothing so good or pure it can't be taken without a moment's notice. And then in the end, it all gets taken anyway.
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Sara Gruen |
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02fd40e
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The business of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable" was one of the aphorisms his boss liked to quote."
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Sara Gruen |
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2ee1243
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Even as your body betrays you, your mind denies it
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Sara Gruen |
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187195e
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I paused beneath the arched entrance, where the drawbridge had once been, imagining all the people who had passed in and out over the centuries, every one of them carrying a combination of desire, hope, jealousy, despair, grief, love, and every other human emotion; a combination that made each one as unique as a snowflake, yet linked all of them inextricably to every other human being from the dawn of time to the end of it.
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Sara Gruen |
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e487f6b
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I have to convince myself that this is not a pointless life, even the body is telling me so.
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Sara Gruen |
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cdb422e
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We traveled for two weeks with a pickled hippo.
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Sara Gruen |
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6e5bfe9
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Life. There it was. In all its beautiful, tragic fragility, there was still life, and those of us who'd been lucky enough to survive opened our arms wide and embraced it.
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Sara Gruen |
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a357592
|
I hate this bizarre policy of protective exclusion, because it effectively writes me off the page.
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Sara Gruen |
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38e2e5f
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Sometimes when you get older--and I'm not talking about you, I'm talking generally, because everyone ages differently--things you think on and wish on start to seem real. And then you believe them, and before you know it they're a part of your history, and if someone challenges you on them and says they're not true--why, then you get offended.
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history
life
truth
challenge
offended
belief
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Sara Gruen |
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c8c627f
|
I'm afraid to breathe in case I break the spell.
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Sara Gruen |
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0562c0c
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You do right by me, I'll show you a life most suckers can't even dream of.
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live
quote
life
love
book
jacob
marlena
water-for-elephants
laugh
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Sara Gruen |
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b31837a
|
Life is the greatest show on earth
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Sara Gruen |
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0f1f39b
|
When she comes to retrieve me [in the nursing home], after the tan-colored pudding with edible oil topping has sat for a while and been removed...
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Sara Gruen |
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8f4fa2c
|
Always carry a large flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite, and further, always carry a small snake.
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Sara Gruen |
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cd4cd32
|
I get poked and prodded like this every morning. I'm like a piece of meat unearthed from the back of the fridge, suspect until proven otherwise.
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Sara Gruen |
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1bbd7e7
|
I realize the blackness of sleep is circling my head. It's been there a while, biding its time and growing closer with each revolution. I give up on rage, which at this point has become a formality, and make a mental note to get angry in the morning.
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Sara Gruen |
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7f46b0e
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He whispers in her ear, and she basks in his attention, trumpeting happily at the sight of him. Doesn't she remember?
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Sara Gruen |