In his beautiful essay “Why Write”, Paul Auster, who died this week, recalled trying to get the autograph of the baseball star Willie Mays but not having a pencil:
“Sorry, kid,” he said. “Ain’t got no pencil, can’t give no autograph.” And then he walked out of the ballpark into the night.
The young Auster was crushed:
Not only did I not have Willie Mays’ …