"I don't know that I have any particular story. I am an
American."

"Not American!"

"Why not?"

"Because it is too extraordinary, too much like a Gridley Quayle
coincidence. I am an American!"

"Well, so are a good many other people."

"You miss the point. We are not only fellow serfs--we are fellow
exiles. You can't round the thing off by telling me you were born
in Hayling, Massachusetts, I suppose?"

"I was born in New York."

"Surely not! I didn't know anybody was."

"Why Hayling, Massachusetts?"

"That was where I was born."

"I'm afraid I never heard of it."

"Strange. I know your home town quite well. But I have not yet
made my birthplace famous; in fact, I doubt whether I ever shall.
I am beginning to realize that I am one of the failures."