"Okay," she said, "Try this one on: Gerald Farlin was actually a bum. When you look closely at anything he supposedly did you find out that he really didn't. Sure, he died young-but that, as you know, is the cheapest path to immortality, and for him it was the only path. He couldn't paint, at least not very well, he didn't really write anything to speak of beyond a couple of Twineball stories that you seem to have thrown out anyway, he wasn't...