The runner took the turn slowly, watching ducks collect near the footbridge where a girl was scattering bread. The path roughly followed the outline of the pond, meandering through stands of trees. The runner listened to his even breathing. He was young and knew he could go harder but didn't want to spoil the sense of easy effort in the dying light, all the day's voices and noises drained out in steady sweat.
-Don DeLillo, "The Runner," in The Angel Esmeralda: Nine Stories
Related posts:
DeLillo's Short Stories
Baseball Writing
Nice. Now I have to buy this book!
ReplyDeleteI've read five of the nine stories so far. I would rate one of them as truly outstanding, another one as extremely strong, two of them as very good, and one of them as a bore.
ReplyDeleteFor a short story collection, that's a compliment.
I'll post a full review once I finish reading, possibly some time this week.