Instead, he saw himself as running away from an overindustrious past and getting free of any steady employment—getting free to ramble in a way that no black person could safely do.

He gives graphic descriptions of the terrors of the Last Judgement and the luxurious wallowings of the blessed in the physical pleasures of Paradise.

DON PEDRO. Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of Signior Benedick. BEATRICE. Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart for a single one: …

Rod didn't quite understand her reaction. 'I thought you were happy at Owl's Nest? I thought you loved it here?' 'I do. But we've been here long enough. It's been two years since it was finished. We always said we'd move on. Onwards and upwards, that's what you said. Don't let the grass grow under your feet, you said.