“Brigadier Driscoll was coming from the pond.  In youth an athlete, Driscoll held himself in past tension, barreled against every challenge.  Wet and near naked, his body was corded by evidence of past exploits, muscles and sinews pushing up through tissue; as roots of an old tree might displace a pavement–the impression confirmed by a trunkish neck, seared by past creases.  On head, chest, limbs, the curled hair was grey.”

-Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire

For Mr. Q