Table for Two

by Amor Towles

At each crossing, faced with the decision of whether to go left, right, or straight ahead, the young man may rely upon the advice he has been given as a child, or the sum of his experiences, or the flip of a coin. But of all the forces that are likely to influence him as he proceeds from one fork to the next, there are few more powerful than the moderate increase in income.

As Tommy talked, I was nodding my head to express my general amazement—my amazement at the doggedness of character, at the death-defying acrobatics of the male ego, and at a wife’s unflagging ability to be surprised by what should no longer be surprising.

—I suppose I was in the mood for a bit of adventure. —Well, you have come to the right place. Teddy Roosevelt and Ernest Hemingway traveled all the way to Africa to see the creatures of the wild, to join in the hunt and put themselves in mortal danger. I tell you, they need only have come to this lobby.

Are there elements of stardom that I miss? Why, there are elements of boarding school that I miss. There are elements of my most catastrophic romances that I miss. So let us agree that missing is not at the heart of the matter.

No, thought Eve, one can’t count on the sands of the desert or the winds of the Santa Ana to undo the works of the single-minded. For the world to have any sense of justice, a team of artisans had to come forward with their hammers and paintbrushes and pumice stones in order to patiently unmake the palaces of the proud.