"... along the Champs-Elysées at twilight it is like an outdoor seraglio choked with dark-eyed houris. The trees are in full foliage and of a verdure so pure, so rich, that it seems as though they were still wet and glistening with dew. From the Palais du Louvre to the Etoile it is like a piece of music for the pianoforte.
Walking along the Champs-Elysées I keep thinking of my really superb health. When I say 'health' I mean optimism, to be truthful. Incurably optimistic!
Carl find's it disgusting, this optimism. "I have only to talk about a meal", he say, "and you're radiant!"
It's a fact. A meal! That means something to go on - a few solid hours of work, an erection possibly. I don't deny it. I have health good solid, animal health. The only thing that stands between me and a future is a meal."