Great Regulars: Johnnie was stealing a ride on a train,

when he finds himself losing his leg to "[t]he remorseless wheel of the engine" that "[sank] into the crying flesh of [his] leg." Johnnie's anguish, however, is not that his leg was being crushed. That unhappy accident merely triggers his guilt over the act of theft. He suddenly becomes aware that he is paying a karmic debt, and his capability to understand and accept that debt causes him great "anguish."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Edgar Lee Masters' Johnnie Sayre

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