August 2012
20 posts
“—”It could be anyone.”
“But still.”
Jamie and I took off running, and even after the headlights sliced across the road as the car turned up the bluff, we didn’t stop. We bored through the cold wind, shoulder to shoulder. I wished we were still young enough that a footrace could tell us what we needed to know about each other. We ran on, tennis shoes slapping the boards, the black drum of the water beating to our right. As the end of the boardwalk approached in the dark, I raised my head to see if I was winning.” —Nick Dybek, When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man
“But still.”
Jamie and I took off running, and even after the headlights sliced across the road as the car turned up the bluff, we didn’t stop. We bored through the cold wind, shoulder to shoulder. I wished we were still young enough that a footrace could tell us what we needed to know about each other. We ran on, tennis shoes slapping the boards, the black drum of the water beating to our right. As the end of the boardwalk approached in the dark, I raised my head to see if I was winning.” —Nick Dybek, When Captain Flint Was Still a Good Man
“When we got the car, a Cortina like Henno’s, a black one, Da drove it up and down the road, learning how to drive it, teaching himself. He wouldn’t let us into it.
—Not yet, he said.
He went up to the seafront. We followed him; we could keep up with him. He couldn’t turn it to go back down to the house. He saw us looking and called us over. I thought he was going to kill us. There were seven of us. We all baled in the back and we reversed all the way back to the house. Da sang the Batman music; he was mad sometimes, brilliant mad. Aidan had a bleeding nose when we got out. He was whinging. Da got down on his knees and held Aidan’s shoulders. He wiped his nose with his hankie and got him to blow into it, and told him he’d have great crack picking the dried blood out of his nose when he went to bed later and Aidan started laughing.” —Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
—Not yet, he said.
He went up to the seafront. We followed him; we could keep up with him. He couldn’t turn it to go back down to the house. He saw us looking and called us over. I thought he was going to kill us. There were seven of us. We all baled in the back and we reversed all the way back to the house. Da sang the Batman music; he was mad sometimes, brilliant mad. Aidan had a bleeding nose when we got out. He was whinging. Da got down on his knees and held Aidan’s shoulders. He wiped his nose with his hankie and got him to blow into it, and told him he’d have great crack picking the dried blood out of his nose when he went to bed later and Aidan started laughing.” —Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha