Table of Contents
Introduction Where the Past Begins 1
Prologue The Breaker of Combs 13
I Imagination
Chapter 1 A Leaky Imagination 17
Chapter 2 Music as Muse 41
Quirk Souvenir from a Dream 64
Chapter 3 Hidden Genius 67
Interlude Reorientation: Homer, Alaska 97
II Memory In Emotion
Chapter 4 Genuine Emotions 101
Chapter 5 The Feeling of What It Felt Like When It Happened 117
Quirk A Mere Mortal at Age Twenty-Five 139
Quirk A Mere Mortal at Age Twenty-Six 140
Quirk How to Change Fate: Step 1 141
III Retrieving The Post
Interlude The Unfurling of Leaves 145
Interlude The Auntie of the Woman Who Lost Her Mind 147
Chapter 6 Unstoppable 155
Quirk Time and Distance: Age Twenty-Four 176
Quirk Time and Distance: Age Fifty 176
Quirk Time and Distance: Age Sixty 177
IV Unknown Endings
Chapter 7 The Darkest Moment of My Life 181
Quirk Nipping Dog 187
Chapter 8 The Father I Did Not Know 189
Quirk Reliable Witness 220
V Reading And Writing
Interlude I Am the Author of This Novel 223
Chapter 9 How I Learned to Read 227
Quirk Splayed Poem: The Road 251
Quirk Eidolons 252
Chapter 10 Letters to the Editor 253
Chapter 11 Letters in English 285
Quirk Why Write? 312
VI Language
Chapter 12 Language: A Love Story 315
Quirk Intestinal Fortitude 327
Chapter 13 Principles of Linguistics 329
Epilogue Companions in the House 351
Acknowledgments 358
