Eve Babitz

In the cab going into Manhattan, though, she allowed herself to inhale the skyscrapers across the East River, looking so empty and silent at 7 a.m. in the clear morning sun glaze. Already she felt the bristling of desire come flooding through her veins.

Hemingway, in his typical grandiose way, said that courage was grace under pressure.

Jacaranda wondered if she’d ever be impressed again or if she was too jaded to regain her innocence.