Apple Snake

I played the song my mother played. And just like my mother, I didn’t stop for death.

Accompaniment: Brahms, Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 39, No. 15

US 1903

The snaking conscience, writhing through men who have no business being cruel—that being another’s game—slithered into my mind that night. It took me by surprise. I’d always thought of myself as being cold-blooded, but somewhere along the way, I’d lost my desire to do harm. Now, when I l…