Bill Clinton 
End State Maintenance and Other Stories 

You didn’t know what this book was about until it was done. It’s about time and chance and choices. You improvised it all. 

You are drinking wine. Red. Enjoying music. Blue. Maybe some more wine. You are daydreaming. An idea dances around in your head. You follow it. More wine, more music. You begin to improvise a narrative on the idea. You conjure up some characters to live the story. More wine- who’s counting? You start upbeat, comical, absurd; then some sadness. Life is not all fun and games, you say. You struggle, and always hope. You rule your world and you are having a great time making it up. But how do you get out of here? Okay, enough wine. You can’t end the story until you stop improvising. Literature is tough work you say as you adjust the couch pillows. You’ve got it! The perfect conclusion. You fall asleep, wake up, finish the wine and write it all down. There you go.