“I'm a heart surgeon, sure, but I'm just a mechanic. I go in and I fuck around and I fix things. Shit.” LoveHeartWorkCareerMechanicSwearingFix Book:Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories Source: Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories
“I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone's heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark.” LoveHumansHeartMovingDarkRoomsMy HeartNoiseSatHeart Beating Book:Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories Source: Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories
“If we're lucky, writer and reader alike, we'll finish the last line or two of a short story and then just sit for a minute, quietly. Ideally, we'll ponder what we've just written or read; maybe our hearts or intellects will have been moved off the peg just a little from where they were before. Our body temperature will have gone up, or down, by a degree. Then, breathing evenly and steadily once more, we'll collect ourselves, writers and readers alike, get up, "created of warm blood and nerves" as a Chekhov character puts it, and go on to the next thing: Life. Always life.” IfsWritingHeartLittlesHas BeensTwoCharacterStoriesBodyLastsNextLinesGoneWrittenBloodMinutesGoes OnReaderLuckyDegreesMovedWarmIntellectGet UpBreathingNervesShort StoryTemperaturePonderingChekhovPegBody Temperature Book:Where I'm Calling From Source: Where I'm Calling From
“My heart is broken,” she goes. “It’s turned to a piece of stone. I’m no good. That’s what’s as bad as anything, that I’m no good anymore.” HeartPiecesBrokenMy HeartStonesMy Heart Is Broken Book:Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories Source: Where I'm Calling From: Selected Stories