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 Hook = He told people the rifle story because he enjoyed seeing how people reacted. Or had told it. He had not told it for years. At one time, he had kept dogs. House dogs, not outdoor dogs. Dogs that lived in his house and waited for him to come home. Near the holidays, he had the dogs photographed in Christmas hats and Christmas sweaters. If anyone said anything bad about the food, he could not eat it. If anyone said anything questionable about the food, he could not eat it. He was with what was right then and now was wrong or with what was wrong then and now was right. Now he was with what was right now and would later be wrong or with what was wrong now and would later be right. The idea of putting forward that story long past when the story’s done as though the story were still alive when it was not. And make my beaker a pitcher, he’d read, that I might tumble down. Even the archaic language of drink sounding now like prayer. Definition like a broken cookie on a glass coffee table. Now I am going to get drunk, he said. ...

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