If you ask a human being what makes his flesh creep more, a bat or a bomb, he will say the bat. It is difficult to experience loathing for something merely metal, however ominous. We save these sensations for those with skin and flesh: a skin, a flesh, unlike our own.
So instead she’s sitting remembering how much she can no longer remember, of who she used to be, who she thought she would turn into when she grew up.
It causes a jolt of terror to run through him, this absence of official time. Nobody nowhere knows what time it is.
What I miss is what she’d say. What she would have said.
The bad bones have been bad, so they are better left unsaid. They are better left unsaying. But they were never happy, they always wanted more, they were always hungry. They can smell the words, the words coming out of your mouth all warm and yeasty. They want some words of their own. They’ll be back.
That’s the nice thing about me. I’m very flexible, I’m the universal substitute.
Most people are good underneath if they have a chance to show their goodness.
And there we were, in a kind of harmony; and the evening was so beautiful, that it made a pain in my heart, as when you cannot tell whether you are happy or sad; and I thought that if I could have a wish, it would be that nothing would ever change, and we could stay that way forever.
Paul shrugs. “He is just gone,” he says. “I go there one day to see him, the door is open, the boats is there, I think maybe he is off somewheres near and I wait awhile. Next day I go back, everything the same, I begin to worry, where he is, I don’t know.
If it hurts and you feel sick and it’s making you ugly, take this, from HelthWyzer; if you’re ugly and it hurts and you feel sick about it, take that, from AnooYoo.
Dearly beloved, gathered here together in this closed drawer, fading now, I miss you. I miss the missing, those who left earlier. I miss even those who are still here. I miss you all dearly. Dearly do I sorrow for you.
They may not like me, but they respect me. Respect is better than like.
The protector was her – the greater power was her – the universe that took an interest was her as well – always her.
Beads can be used for counting. As in rosaries. But I don’t like stones around my neck.
Miss Scace died years ago.” “Appearances can be deceptive. She only looks dead.
Why would I care about the tittle-tattle of the uninformed?
After we’re gone the work of our knives will survive us.
Avenging a toad. Pointing at a tree. Who could handle that kind of thing, in a mother?
You were such a sensitive child. So easily wounded. So I told you those things. I didn’t want you to feel defenseless in the face of life. Life can be harsh. I wanted you to feel protected, and to know that there was a greater power watching over you. That the Universe was taking a personal interest.
At least,” I said, “she’s got what she thinks she wants, and I suppose that’s something.