"The most fatal thing a man can do is try to stand alone." — Carson McCullers

Next to music beer was best.

Because of the insolence of all the white race he was afraid to lose his dignity in friendliness.

She wished there was some place where she could go to hum it out loud. Some kind of music was too private to sing in a house cram full of people. It was funny, too, how lonesome a person could be in a crowded house.