Meg Elison

Ernest Hemingway shot himself in Idaho in 1961. \r\n\r\nIn 1964, Hunter S. Thompson visited the house in Ketchum to investigate the author's death, which had been reported as an accident. Hemingway did not die by accident. He had made the decision to put an end to the pain in which he lived. Thompson knew that and admired it. When he left that house, he stole a pair of antlers that Hemingway had hanging on the wall of his writing room. \r\n\r\nThompson wrote under those antlers until 2005, when he decided to opt out just as Hemingway had done. Thompson shot himself in his house in Woody Creek, Colorado. \r\n\r\nIn 2005, I was living in Portland, Oregon. I loved the rain and the casual alcoholism and weirdness of the city. I shared an apartment with my monstrously selfish gay best friend, but I couldn't stand to go home most nights. I was drinking in a bar by the airport and eavesdropping the night that it happened.\r\n\r\nThere was this tall, thin guy. He was standing with one knee up in that pose that makes a man look like he's trying to air out his testicles, leaning over a woman who was far too young for him. \r\n\r\n\