11 Only the Dead Know Brooklyn by Thomas Wolfe

The narrator once met a big guy. The big guy tried to know everything about Brooklyn by traveling with his map. The narrator thought that he was crazy, because no one will ever know Brooklyn even if he lived in Brooklyn all his life. While they were on the train, the big guy asked the narrator whether he knows how to swim or not. The narrator said of course he knows, because his older brother pushed him into the water when he was 8 years old. He had to swim or he would drown. He swam. The big guy asked him what he would do when a man is drowning. The narrator said that he would pull him out of the water. The big guy asked what happened to people after they drowned in Brooklyn. The narrator said that it is impossible to drown here. That big guy was finding "Drowning" in the end, and the narrator got off the train to stay away from him. He remarked that only the dead might know whole Brooklyn, but most likely he will never know it all.