Sputnik Sweetheart

I'm writing this letter at an outdoor cafe on a side street in Rome, sipping espresso as thick as the devil's sweat, and I have this strange feeling that I'm not myself anymore. It's hard to put it into words, but I guess it's like I was fast asleep, and someone came, disassembled me, and hurriedly put me back together again.

from Sputnik Sweetheart
by Haruki Murakami
translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel
Vintage International, 2002