Trojan Force

Eric Neel: "At some point — maybe after your parents have died and you're not trying to please them anymore — at some point you have to decide what truly matters to you and what you believe in. And then you have to have the balls to commit to it."

There's something testimonial about the way he says it, plainly, over a bowl of chocolate ice cream, straight-up, as if it were something already said. I don't know whether we're talking about him or me.

"Meeting's at 3 tomorrow. See you there," Carroll says. He walks away, maybe six or seven steps down the hall, and turns back. "You know what 3 is, right?" I look at him quizzically. "It's 2:45," he says.