Apropos of nothing

by folkbum

This, if you must know, is perhaps my favorite paragraph in all of the English language:

He had a habit throughout the twenty-seven years of making a narrow remark which, like a plumber’s snake, could work its way through the ear down the throat, halfway to my heart. He would then disappear, leaving me choking with equipment. What I mean is, I sat down on the library steps and he went away.