Quotes from Beirut

Nearby, on a windy Wyoming day, a rifle cracks, but a pheasant strutting across the lawn doesn't flinch. It's deer season.

In Beirut, my daughter reports via email about hearing one Lebanese friend says to another:

"You've changed since the war; you're much more picky." The response: "I have? Since which war?"

Later, when asked why the central district of Beirut had filled with soldiers, an embassy bodyguard shrugs, says:

"What can I tell you! This country is really fucked up."

"So's this one," I think. Just beyond my Wyoming window, sparrows forage among dead leaves while down the road a ways, the shooter stands by his open truck door door, aiming across a barley field. He fires again.