John Irving Quote

Had no idea that Mr. Meany was capable of such precise craftsmanship. I’d also had no idea that Mr. Meany was familiar with Latin—Owen, naturally, had been quite a good Latin student. There was a tingle in the stump of my right index finger when I said to Mr. Meany: You’ve done some very fine work with the diamond wheel. He said: That ain’t my work—that’s his work! He done it when he was home on leave. He covered it up—and told me not to look at it, not so long as he was alive, he said. I looked at the stone again. So you added just the date—the date of death? I asked him; but I already had the shivers—I already knew the answer. I added nothin’! said Mr. Meany. He knew the date. I thought you knew that much. I knew that much, of course—and I’d already looked at the diary and satisfied myself that he’d always known the exact date. But to see it so strongly carved in his gravestone left no room for doubt—he’d last been home on leave for Christmas, 1967; he’d finished his own gravestone more than half a year before he died! If you can believe Mister Meany, the Rev. Lewis Merrill said to me, when I told him. As you say, the man