the last book I ever read (Jim Harrison's The River Swimmer, excerpt eight)

from The River Swimmer: Novellas (The River Swimmer) by Jim Harrison:

“I admire you. Do what you want. Fais ce que tu voudras, as the French say,” said the least vocal of the fishermen, drinking from a pint of schnapps. “These guys make a lot of money but they haven’t done sh*t. Keep the Lexus washed. I didn’t do much but when I was fourteen I rode my bicycle to the Upper Peninsula, then way over west to Duluth with a friend camping all the way. These were balloon tire bikes.”

“We’ve heard this before,” a fellow fisherman said.

“Well, hear it again. What the f*ck have you done? Go to Princeton and trade stocks. In a good society you would have been executed three years ago.”