City of Dreams

by Don Winslow

Danny doesn’t love his life, but it’s life and who said you were ever going to like it anyway? He isn’t in a cell or a grave, he isn’t killing anybody or getting killed, and maybe that’s all you can ask for in this world. You get that, maybe you keep your head down and your mouth shut, show a little gratitude, a little humility. He’s raising his kid, what he’s doing. Being a father.

Mathematics, Bernie thinks as he makes his way up the aisle to the back of the church. The only tongue that never lies. Numbers are what they are, nothing more, nothing less. A lovely precision. Balance and beauty in an otherwise chaotic and ugly world.

The only thing that could improve golf is snipers. Then those guys wouldn’t wear those stupid clothes, and it would sure as shit speed up the game.

But nothing is more persistent, more patient, than the past. After all, the past has nothing but time.