'There is nothing like a doorbell to precipitate the potential into kinetic. When you stand outside a door and push the button something has to happen. Someone must respond; whatever is inside must be revealed. Questions will be answered, uncertainties and mysteries dispelled. A situation will be started on its way through unknown complications to an unpredictable conclusion. The answer to your summons may be a rush of tearful welcome, a suspicious eye at the crack of the door, a shot through the hardwood, anything.'
Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety, p.32.
