theparisreview:

“We were driving to a late dinner. It was foggy and rainy and dark. I was there with John and  Beverly and their friend Paul Wheeler, who was driving. He was with a woman in a dress that was much too pretty. Out the window we could see Nick driving somewhere in a battered white Chevy. We waved and honked, but I don’t think he saw us. Maybe he didn’t want to see us.

“‘He’s like a phantom,’ I said.

“‘The flying Dutchman,’ Paul Wheeler agreed.

“‘Jesus,’ John snapped, ‘why does everyone think he’s so gloomy? What, do you think he’s off to wander through some abandoned graveyard and just look at tombstones and think about eternity? That’s not who he is! That’s not what he’s doing!’

“But that, in fact, was exactly what he was doing.”

Brian Cullman,“Things Behind the Sun”