Early Autumn

Too much positive is either scared or stupid or both. Reality is uncertain.

The urban renewers had struck again. They'd evicted me, a fortune-teller, and a bookie from the corner of Mass. Ave. and Boylston, moved in with sandblasters and bleached oak and plant hangers, and last I looked appeared to be turning the place into a Marin County whorehouse.

In the bank they did the same kind of stuff the fortune-teller and the bookie had done. But they dressed better.

Businessmen learn the way businessmen are supposed to be. Professors learn the way professors are supposed to be. Construction workers learn how construction workers are supposed to be. They spend their lives trying to be what they’re supposed to be and being scared they aren’t. Quiet desperation.

The Mass. Ave. Bridge is open... Some MIT students once measured it by repeatedly placing an undergraduate named Smoot on the ground and marking off his length. Every six feet or so there is still the indication of one smoot, two smoots, painted on the pavement. I could never remember how many smoots long the bridge was.

Her toenails were painted. It didn’t help much. Never saw a toenail I liked.

if you lay back and let oblivion roll over you, it will be your fault.

We’re not ordinary. No one else is like us.

A way of living better is to make the decisions you need to make based on what you can control. When you can.

I could not love thee, dear, so much,’ ” I said, “ ‘loved I not honor more.’

tape on and the car trembled with percussion all the way to Saugus, where Hawk pulled into a Martignetti’s off Route 1 and bought three

The point is not to get hung up on being what you’re supposed to be. If you can, it’s good to do what pleases you.

Then why don’t you get married?” “I’m not sure. Mostly it’s a question of how we’d affect each other, I suppose. Would