“‘I’m pleased to meet you,’ the old woman said. ‘Name Lucynell Crater and daughter Lucynell Crater. What you doing around here, Mr. Shiftlet?’

“He judged the car to be about a 1928 or ’29 Ford. ‘Lady,’ he said, and turned and gave her his full attention, ‘lemme tell you something. There’s one of these doctors in Atlanta that’s taken a knife and cut the human heart–the human heart,’ he repeated, leaning forward, ‘out of a man’s chest and held it in his hand,’ and he held his hand out, palm up, as if it were slightly weighted with the human heart, ‘and studied it like it was a day-old chicken, and lady,’ he said, allowing a long significant pause in which his head slid forward and his clay-colored eyes brightened, ‘he don’t know no more about it than you or me.’

“‘That’s right,’ the old woman said.”

–Flannery O’Connor, “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”