They would be happy to supply details that, in retrospect, predicted the event: our keenness on reading, that we were on the side of books, were always seen walking around with them, clutching them under an arm, that even on weekends we were seen in cafés reading and would never go out at night without a slim volume dug deep, like a weapon, in a jacket pocket. They would say we were fearful of reality. And, as everyone knows, too much reading can disturb the balance of a healthy mind, lead it astray, and so on.
