Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people.

A. At this time he married his first wife and started a family. Dubus's collections include: Separate Flights (1975) Adultery and Other Choices (1977) Finding a Girl in America (1980) The Times Are Never So Bad (1983) Voices from the Moon (1984) The Last Worthless Evening (1986) Selected Stories (1988) Broken Vessels (1991) Dancing After Hours (1996) and Meditations from a Movable Chair (1998).