He started out friendly, telling me about the time not long before when he was tooling along Sunset Boulevard on his motorcycle and a car turned left directly across his path. The impact sent him flying over the car; he hit the ground so hard that his leg broke halfway between knee and ankle, with the lower part bent backward at a ninety-degree angle. The doctors and therapists worked on restoring his leg for five months, until finally Eric told them to go ahead and amputate it. But the prosthesis was so good that after physical therapy in rehab, he was able to walk without a noticeable limp.