I found myself smiling. It was a sad smile, but a smile. I wished somehow I could convey to him, without pride, that all my life I’d been menaced by this and that adversary, all but murdered by those I’d loved, and even almost destroyed by my own despair. I always survived. I really didn’t know what fear was, not as any permanent fixture in my heart. I just didn’t “get” fear. I didn’t “get” caution.
