Editor’s Notes:

Context: Two young cowboys, Rawlins and John Grady, have hit the trail, headed for Mexico.  In this exchange, Rawlins gets a little philosophical.

I like this. There’s simple, transparent writing.  There’s meaning. There’s humor. Yep.

And the missing punctation is on Cormac McCarthy, not me.

You ever get ill at ease, said Rawlins.

About what?

I don’t know. About anything.

Sometimes. If you’re someplace you aint supposed to be to be I guess you’d be ill at ease. Should be anyways.

Well suppose you were ill at ease and didn’t know why. Would that mean that you might be someplace you wasnt supposed to be and didnt know it?

What the hell’s wrong with you?

from All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy