Rules of Civility

by Amor Towles

But still, you have to ask yourself: If it’s such an uplifting song, then why did Billie Holiday sing it so well?

As far as I was concerned, the notion of Tinker rising alone for a sunrise that he wanted to share, and of Eve showing up at the very last minute from the other side of a night on the town, spoke to the very best in both of them.

He always looked his best, I thought to myself, when circumstances called for him to be a boy and a man at the same time.