Goines On: Going slow

Background from a painting
by Karin Neuvirth
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A few days after going fast in exultation, Goines found himself going slow. The only thing fast about his walk was the speed of the thoughts swirling in his head.
    There were images of friends’ faces, of nieces and nephews, of cousins, and his wife.
    There were thoughts of his friend whose 50th birthday party he had attended, which had been thrown by his sister. He had been trying to write but was lately showing signs of maybe no longer having it in him....
    ...of his friend in Bulgaria whom he’d never met in person and whose mountain treks were on hold for family reasons and might never resume....