How would you interpret the last sentence? Suddenly the waitress was back, unsummoned. “You’re the writer, aren’t you? I’m crazy about your books.” “What writer?” “Harrison Shepherd?” “That’s so strange. You’re the second person to ask me that.” “Oh. Sorry, my mistake.” She floated away, an unmoored skiff, and disappeared through a door at the back. Artie reorganized his sigmoidal curve against the bar, the better to stare at his dimwit companion. “What’s wrong with you? She’s a sugar pie.” “I know it. I’m grateful. To all these girls, I really am.” “So, you could sign a damn cocktail napkin. It would have made her day.” “That’s what I can’t see, Artie. What thrilled her was a book—she wants a hero. Not some tin whistle double-gaiter on a barstool.” “So. In a pinch, you stand in.” How would you interpret the last sentence: In a pinch, you stand in? PS: The man was really an author. He and Artie were drinking in a bar. Thanks! And it’s from The Lacuna.