Choke

by Chuck Palahniuk

Doesn’t he need to build it on paper, first? I say, don’t you need a plan? There’s permits and inspections you have to get. You have to pay fees. There’s building codes you have to know. And Denny says, “How come?” He rolls around rocks with his foot, then finds the best one and fits it in place. You don’t need a permit to paint a picture, he says. You don’t need to file a plan to write a book. There’re books that do more damage than he ever could. You don’t need your poem inspected. There’s such a thing as freedom of expression. Denny says, “You don’t need a permit to have a baby. So why do you need to buy permission to build a house?” And I say, “But what if you build a dangerous, ugly house?” And Denny says, “Well, what if you raise a dangerous, ass-holey kid?”