I have already lost touch with a couple of people I used to be. -Joan Didion   Manhattan, January 3, 5:14 A.M. This is a love story. The beer bottle smashed against the far side of the room, its sticky remnants dripping down the drywall. A large glass shard wobbled on the beat-up oak side table, lit by the neon Chinese takeout sign right outside the window, an omen of light swayed on the ceiling synchronized with the sharp glass. The whole room adopted a bloodred aura as if we were in a darkroom developing [...]