-from "The Seventh Man," Haruki Murakami's Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman-

"It was the biggest wave I had ever seen in my life," he said. "A strange wave. An absolute giant."
He paused.
"It just barely missed me, but in my place it swallowed everything that mattered most to me and swept it off to another world. I took years to find it again and to recover from the experience-- precious years that can never be replaced."

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