I didn’t want to listen to this. I had my own dying to dwell upon, independent of fantasies. Not that I thought Grappa’s remarks were ill-founded. His sense of conspiracy aroused in me a particular ripple of response. This is what we forgive on our deathbeds, not loveless-ness or greed. We forgive them for their ability to put themselves at a distance, to scheme in silence against us, do us, effectively, in.
