Bring your legs with you

the long version

"Tommy Rooke has a killer instinct. He's just not so sure if he has the heart of a fighter. As a young man he took the boxing world by storm, winning bout after bout, garnering both fame and infamy as he knocked his opponents cold, leaving them damaged and bleeding on the mat. Some people said he had murder in his hands, that he hurt other fighters too much. Sometimes Tommy thought he just didn't know when to quit - so he decided to retire, build a roofing company, and start a family." "Bring Your Legs with You presents a series of nine interconnected stories that delve deeply into the life of this flawed but intelligent hero, a man devoted to his friends and family but lost in a violent world." "Told by various narrators, the stories are filled with such characters as Carl T. Plugg, a sharp-dressed, smooth-talking, non-hustling pool shark; Spinoza, a philosophical day laborer with "Department of Big Thoughts" lettered on the door of his pickup; Gus, a man who has never seen his son box despite an insatiable fascination with the sweet science; and Jane, a movie-star look-alike who is deeply in love with her sometimes ex-husband and wants to get married in Las Vegas but be from someplace else."--BOOK JACKET.