In the Distance

by Hernan Diaz

And he had learned that pity was insatiable—a false virtue that always craved more suffering to show how limitless and magnificent it could be.

Every evening, when they bivouacked, as they built a fire and made dinner, he found it almost miraculous to be seen by someone, to be in someone’s brain, to reside in someone’s consciousness.

He seldom considered his body or his circumstances—or anything else, for that matter. The business of being took up all of his time.