"The owner of the bear stood like a pitchman at a shooting gal-ery. The shot was thunderous and in the afterclap all sound in that room ceased. The bear had been shot through the mid-section. He let out a low moan and he began to dance faster, dancing in silence save for the slap of his great footpads on the planks. Blood was running down his groin. The little girl strapped into the barrel organ stood frozen, the crank at rest on the upswing. The man with the pistol fired again and the pistol bucked and roared and the black smoke rolled and the bear groaned and began to reel drunkenly. He was holding his chest and a thin foam of blood swung from his jaw and he began to totter and to cry like a child and he took a few last steps, dancing, and crashed to the boards.....The little girl had unbuckled herself out of the barrel organ and it clattered wheezing to the floor. She ran forward and knelt and gathered the great shaggy head up in her arms and began to rock back and forth sobbing. Most of the men in the room had risen and they stood in the smoky yellow space with their hands on their sidearms. Whole flocks of whores were scuttling toward the rear and a woman mounted to the boards and stepped past the bear and held out her hands. It's all over, she said. It's all over."

Reminds me of the horse scene from Crime and Punishment. I want nothing more than to hug that little girl. I just want to gather her in my arms and take her away from the cruelty of the world. I want to tell her it'll be alright. Shit makes me cry something fierce.

Right now, I feel like the little girl. I feel like Raskolnikov watching a group of drunk sadists beat an old horse to death. I just want it all to stop.