"He was a quiet man. I think the thing I most remember him for were his silences. It was as if he was always listening to something inside, some voice. He never talked about it so I never knew what it was. Oh, he was a good man, he lived as if he was a stranger here, I mean, he never let anything touch him. Became absorbed in things, his job, mostly. He worked hard, he became more detached. There was a look around his eyes as if he was trying to say something, I don't know what. Protest against what he'd surrendered his life to? I never knew what he wanted, and I don't think he ever knew. He fought so hard for what he'd been taught to want. And when he got it he just grew more and more confused. The silences grew longer."
