Step by Step Read online

Attitude? I wasn’t trying to set a new personal record. At Salt Lake City and again in Vancouver, it occurred to me from time to time that I’d walked New Orleans the first time in five hours and seventeen minutes. It now seemed to me like an accomplishment I’d achieved in a prior incarnation. Yes, I’d done it, but the year was 1798, and I was a Wexford rebel serving with Kelly, the Boy from Killane, so things were different then.

  Was it easier with the pressure off? Well, maybe, but I was still trying to get to the finish line as quickly as I could, and I was able to manage negative laps, doing the second half of each race in less time than the first.

  The hell with it. For one reason or another, my body and spirit seemed to like the way I’d prepared for these races—walking every day, never for less than a half-hour, rarely for more than an hour. That’s what I’d done, and it had served me well, so that’s what I decided I’d keep doing.

  THIS BOOK SET OUt to be an examination of a year of walking, and one thing led to another. It’s taken longer and run longer than I’d anticipated, and, like a race on an ill-marked course, it has occasionally wandered far afield. I never thought my childhood would find its way into this book, or my teen years.

  Sitting in that hotel room in Anchorage, I’d known how the book would end—with that twenty-four-hour race in Grapevine, Texas. Triumphantly, I hoped, with another record-breaking performance; if that wasn’t in the cards, I figured I’d settle for bittersweet.

  Go know. It ends instead in midstride.

  And that, it seems to me, is as it should be. Because it’s the walking that’s important, not the time, not the distance. Not the medals, not the trophies, not the T-shirts.

  You must go on. I can’t go on. I’ll go on.

  Right.

  Acknowledgments

  And with thanks to Rocky and the pooch.

  About the Author

  LAWRENCE BLOCK is one of the most widely recognized names in the mystery genre. He has been named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and is a four-time winner of the prestigious Edgar and Shamus Awards, as well as a recipient of prizes in France, Germany, and Japan. He received the Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writers’ Association—only the third American to be given this award. He is a prolific author, having written more than fifty books and numerous short stories, and is a devoted New Yorker and an enthusiastic global traveler.

  www.lawrenceblock.com

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  ALSO BY LAWRENCE BLOCK

  Keller’s Greatest Hits

  Hit Man • Hit List • Hit Parade • Hit and Run

  The Matthew Scudder Novels

  The Sins of the Fathers • Time to Murder and Create • In the Midst of Death

  • A Stab in the Dark • Eight Million Ways to Die • When the Sacred Ginmill Closes • Out on the Cutting Edge • A Ticket to the Boneyard • A Dance at the Slaughterhouse • A Walk among the Tombstones • The Devil Knows You’re Dead • A Long Line of Dead Men • Even the Wicked • Everybody Dies • Hope to Die • All the Flowers Are Dying

  The Bernie Rhodenbarr Mysteries

  Burglars Can’t Be Choosers • The Burglar in the Closet • The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling • The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza • The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian • The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams • The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart • The Burglar in the Library • The Burglar in the Rye • The Burglar on the Prowl

  The Adventures of Evan Tanner

  The Thief Who Couldn’t Sleep • The Canceled Czech Tanner’s Twelve Swingers • The Scoreless Thai • Tanner’s Tiger • Tanner’s Virgin • Me Tanner, You Jane • Tanner on Ice

  The Affairs of Chip Harrison

  No Score • Chip Harrison Scores Again • Make Out with Murder • The Topless Tulip Caper

  Other Novels

  After the First Death • Ariel • Cinderella Sims • Coward’s Kiss • Deadly Honeymoon • A Diet of Treacle • The Girl with the Long Green Heart • Grifter’s Game • Killing Castro • Lucky at Cards • Not Comin’ Home to You • Random Walk • Ronald Rabbit Is a Dirty Old Man • Small Town • The Specialists • Such Men Are Dangerous • The Triumph of Evil • You Could Call It Murder

  Collected Short Stories

  Sometimes They Bite • Like a Lamb to Slaughter • Some Days You Get the Bear • Ehrengraf for the Defense • Enough Rope • One Night Stands and Lost Weekends

  Writing for Performance

  My Blueberry Nights (feature film) • Tilt! (episodic television) • How Far and Someday I’ll Plant More Walnut Trees (one-act stage plays)

  Books for Writers

  Writing the Novel from Plot to Print • Telling Lies for Fun & Profit • Write for Your Life • Spider, Spin Me a Web

  Anthologies Edited

  Death Cruise • Master’s Choice • Opening Shots • Master’s Choice 2 • Speaking of Lust • Opening Shots 2 • Speaking of Greed • Blood on Their Hands • Gangsters Swindlers Killers & Thieves • Manhattan Noir • Manhattan Noir 2

  Credits

  Jacket design by Bradford Foltz

  Jacket photograph by Maremagum/Getty Images

  Copyright

  STEP BY STEP. Copyright © 2009 by Lawrence Block. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  Adobe Digital Edition April 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-187715-5

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.

  25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)

  Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au

  Canada

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900

  Toronto, ON, M5R, 3L2, Canada

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca

  New Zealand

  HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited

  P.O. Box 1

  Auckland, New Zealand

  http://www.harpercollins.co.nz

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  77-85 Fulham Palace Road

  London, W6 8JB, UK

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  10 East 53rd Street

  New York, NY 10022

  http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Contents

  If I Remember Correctly…

  Part I

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  Part II

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  Part III

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Other Books by Lawrence Block

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publishe
r