“I felt so aimless―like a tennis ball, bouncing, bouncing―I began to wonder where I'd land. I began to feel that I'd, somewhere, missed the boat." She looked at me. "You know the boat I'm talking about. They make movies about it where I come from. It's the boat that, when you miss it, it's a boat, but when it comes in, it's a ship.”
―
James Baldwin,
Giovanni’s Room
