No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail for being in a ship is being in a jail with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room better food and commonly better company.
Somehow knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories to think through certain issues as only a novel can do to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not.