George Saunders

Angels again, yeah.

The afterlife or death?

You know, I mean, yes, I've always been death obsessed.

As a little kid, I remember being in Amarillo, Texas and staying with my grandparents.

And the room I was in was one room away from theirs.

And they were ancient.

They were like 40 or something, you know.

And I was sleeping and I could hear them both breathing, breathing.

And I'm like, oh, God.

And it just occurred to me that that breathing was what kept them here and that they were old.

And at any minute, they could stop breathing.

And kind of listening for that, you know, and just finding that totally unacceptable and strange, you know.

So I'm thinking about it a lot.

I mean, I think it's— And what are the thoughts?

I'm just so happy it's not going to happen to me.

No, I mean, I think sometimes, like, you know, when your first memory—

You're kind of sure that you're in a movie and you're the star of it.

Your mom and dad are co-stars and there's a cast of millions out there, all kinds of sets.

But you're the main thing.

Also, there's that second idea that you're not leaving.