Are you ready?
I've been asked this question hundreds of times in my lifetime - from weighing my options at the deli counter to taking a military plunge from a rumbling train trestle into the shallow waters below.
Hank himself had asked me this question on many occasion, but unlike any other time, there was an unsteadiness in his voice that held significance - like my answer would change the very course of time, and the moments before my response would wash over the two of us in a continuum of that deeply rooted uncertainty that lives at the base of your belly.