Details are our business as writers. Your heart leaps when you see a detail that can go somewhere - Joan Didion

"I promised myself that I would maintain momentum.
"Maintain momentum" was the imperative that echoed all the way downtown.
In fact I had no idea what would happen if I lost it.
In fact I had no idea what it was."

When we lose that sense of the possible we lose it fast.

When I saw the photograph I realized for the first time why the obituaries had so disturbed me.
I had allowed other people to think he was dead.
I had allowed him to be buried alive.