Literary Quote of the Day

"Grandfather Hawken," I said, "you've been around a long time.  What have you learned in this life?"
He kept staring at the Big Hole Mountains in the west.  His mouth moved, like he was chewing the words before he spit them out.  "I can mend a fence and fix windmills.  Know how to shoe a horse, tan a cow, and stick a pig.  Can roll a real tight Bugle cigarette.  Used to be able to drive a car, but can't anymore."
I thought about this.  It wasn't the answer I had in mind.  "But what's important, Grandpa?  What are the priorities of your value system?"
"Value system?"
"What matters?"
The little bent man squirmed around on the fence, waving his head from side to side.  He lifted himself up on his hands, then lowered himself again.  He seemed angry.  He shook one finger at the sun.  "Do you see that?" he said urgently.  "Do you see what's going on over there?"
"The sun's going down."
His wiry fingers clamped hard on my wrist.  "The sun is going down," he shouted.  "That's a fucking miracle, boy.  A miracle.  It'll be an even bigger miracle if it comes back up tomorrow.  You ain't never going to see anything more amazing than a sunset."  He released my wrist.
Grandpa shook so hard, he almost fell off the fence.
"Now look at this," he demanded.  "Look at it."  Grandpa held his penis in both hands.  It was a giant of penises, a leathery rattlesnake crawling from between his legs; even the head was snakelike.  "This is for sex!  Use it every chance you get...This" - he shook the snake - "and sunsets are all there is.  There ain't nothing else."
"By that do you mean appreciation of nature and romantic love?"
His eyes shook and popped.  "You idiot," Grandpa thundered.  "I mean sex and sunsets.  You take in some of each every day, and you'll never go crazy."
"Are you crazy, Grandfather?" I asked.
"Of course not," he said, stroking the great coil.


~ Tim Sandlin, Sex and Sunsets