He's Unusually Wild

In the height of summer at seventeen, he stood beneath the old locust tree, a fried dough stick between his teeth and defiance in his eyes. Later, he met so many people: gentle, considerate, thoughtful in every way. Yet something always made him stop short for a moment. They were all wonderful, but none had ever passed through that boyish breeze, none had made his heart stumble at the sight of them like a crumpled sheet of draft paper. Once you’ve been dazzled, everything after can only be settling for less.