So the good people maintained the illusion of democracy and wrote another hymn to America. They sang loud enough to drown out dissent. They sang loud enough to overpower their own doubts. There were n...
She smiled as sweetly as a show poster for the glorified, all-American Ziegfeld girl just before dumping her second cigarette into Wally’s fresh cup of coffee.
She is the elephant’s eyebrows,
Reality is a state of mind. To the banker, the money in his ledger book is all very real, though he doesn't actually see it or touch it. But to the Brahma, it simply doesn't exist the way the air and...
Please do not strain yourself, Miss Doyle. I won't have my girls going cross-eyed in the name of art.
On TV, talking heads wrung their hands over a lack of traditional feminine values and wondered if girls’ sports were to blame. Then they cut to a commercial featuring a sexy college coed vacuuming her...
Okay. That’s fair. Abso-tive-ly fair. Let’s say the tables were turned. If I were about to walk off a cliff, what would you do?Evie pursed her lips. Push?I don’t believe that.You would on the way down...
No. It is impossible to maintain a smile in my brother's presence. Monks haven't the sort of patience required.
No. I like my girls fully conscious when I kiss ’em. I’m funny that way,
Mrs. Nightwing glances at the box in my hands. She clears her throat.I understand you've decided against Mr. Middleton....It's best to be sure, through and through, she says, keeping her eyes steadfas...
Miss McCleethy stands to address us. Thank you, Miss Bradshaw. That was a nice start to our day.A nice start? It was lovely. Perfect, in fact. Miss McCleethy has no passion at all, I decide. I shall b...
Might. Is there any opiate more powerful than that word?
Memphis—it’s just a bird. Birds fly around, brother. It’s what they do. It’s not following you, and it’s not a sign. Unless you really did give it candy and flowers, in which case you are one strange...
Maybe he would kill one of them for fun. Maybe not. Mood was everything.
Los asesinatos eran una razón más para pasar la noche bebiendo y bailando. Eran muy buenos para los negocios.
Little clue: wasted on me. What? I’m into girls. Oh. Oh! Chu said. Right. Got it. That’s cool. I’ve got a cousin who’s gay. Amy Liu. Know her? Jennifer laughed. Oh, sure. I’ll just look her up in the...
Like, it’s so much pressure all the time and if you get upset or angry, people say, ‘Are you on the rag or something?’ And it’s like I want to say, ‘No. I’m just pissed off right now. Can’t I just be...
I’ve spent the last two hours worried that you were bleeding to death in a ditch, Evie continued. Now that I know you’re okay, I just want you to be bleeding to death in a ditch.Aww, Lamb Chop, you mi...
I’m not that kind of Indian, Shanti said, her practiced smile never leaving her face, though it faltered just a bit, and in that slight wobble was something hard and angry, something that looked like...
I’m coming with you, Kartik insists. You’ll get yourself killed, I argue. Then it’s a good day to die, he says,