There are not many stories from which one can remember an actual line. Something that has made such an impression, no pun intended (you’ll see), that it keeps a permanent place in your mind. In this case it’s “Talk into my bullet hole. Tell me I’m fine.” The guy has the scar of a bullet hole on the side of his face. It’s a retort by a world-weary inmate to someone trying to cheer him up while giving him a haircut.
First published in Jesus’ Son, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992
A Personal Anthology 