Death Wish
“Sam Kreutzer called at ten that morning to tell him about it. “How are you getting along?”
“I’m all right.”
“It’s a rotten time. Is there anything at all we can do, Paul?”
“No. Nothing.”
“Maybe you’d like to come over and have dinner with us one night this week.”
“Can I let you know later on in the week, Sam? Right now I don’t much want to see anybody.” He wanted to evade the kindnesses of friends. It hadn’t happened to them; it was secondhand to them. You only bled from your own wounds. There ...was a saccharine quality to people’s sympathy, they couldn’t help it, and pity was a cruel emotion at best.
He called Jack. Carol was still asleep. Paul said he’d telephone again later; he probably wouldn’t come there to eat unless she was feeling much better—otherwise a raincheck?
He went out to buy the Times. Walked up the avenue to Seventy-second and over to the newsstand by the subway station on Broadway. It was quite warm. He narrowly watched the flow of people on the streets, wondering for the first time in his life which of them were killers, which were addicts, which were the innocent.MoreLess
“I’m all right.”
“It’s a rotten time. Is there anything at all we can do, Paul?”
“No. Nothing.”
“Maybe you’d like to come over and have dinner with us one night this week.”
“Can I let you know later on in the week, Sam? Right now I don’t much want to see anybody.” He wanted to evade the kindnesses of friends. It hadn’t happened to them; it was secondhand to them. You only bled from your own wounds. There ...was a saccharine quality to people’s sympathy, they couldn’t help it, and pity was a cruel emotion at best.
He called Jack. Carol was still asleep. Paul said he’d telephone again later; he probably wouldn’t come there to eat unless she was feeling much better—otherwise a raincheck?
He went out to buy the Times. Walked up the avenue to Seventy-second and over to the newsstand by the subway station on Broadway. It was quite warm. He narrowly watched the flow of people on the streets, wondering for the first time in his life which of them were killers, which were addicts, which were the innocent.MoreLess
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