The 'Velt is a novel I've been tinkering with for years. Martin France is a well-know cartoonist in his late thirties, whose life, following a bad divorce and the suicide of his teenage son, has emptied out. He begins a downward spiral that results in his developing a cocaine addiction and moving to high crime neighborhood in Staten Island, where he begins to have flash visions of his son, Gabe. In this scene, he confronts his landlord in a dive bar, who he suspect of being engaged in a criminal conspiracy, and reminisces about his failed marriage...