The waitress approaches. “Can I get you anything else?” “How about another life,” he suggests. Tactfully, the waitress walks away, pretending she didn’t hear him.

The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.

I say: “Have a nice day.” “Likewise,” he replies, and then smiles. “Not to mention a nice life.” I smile, and then walk away, still smiling. Who the hell does this guy think he is, saying something like that? How dare he say something like that. Unless he means it. No one says something like that. Unless they are actually, inconceivably content. I’m still smiling, but then a sobering thought sideswipes me (again): That man is a way I’ll never be.