Why the hell shouldn't I run away with the circus?
The more distressing the memory, the more persistent it's presence.
Sometimes I think that if I had to choose between an ear of corn or making love to a woman, I'd choose the corn.
My father felt it his duty to continue to treat animals long after he stopped getting paid. He couldn’t stand by and watch a horse colic or a cow labor with a breech calf even though it meant personal...
Life is the greatest show on earth!
Jacob: I've never seen so much manure.Wade: Baggage stock horses. They pack'em in 27 a car.Jacob: how do you stand the smell?Wade: what smell?
It was the only secret I kept from her and eventually it became impossible to fix. With a secret like that, at some point the secret becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it does not.
In your thirties something strange starts to happen. It’s a mere hiccup at first, an instant of hesitation. How old are you? Oh, I’m — you start confidently, but then you stop. You were going to say t...
I've decided it's not about me at all. It's a protective mechanism for them, a way of buffering themselves against my future death, like when teenagers distance themselves from their parents in prepar...
I came home poorer by several hundred dollars and richer by more books than I could carry.
Do you have any idea how much an elephant drinks?
Dear God. Not only am I unemployed and homeless, but I also have a pregnant woman, bereaved dog, elephant, and eleven horses to take care of.
But it wasn't long before the old familiar discontent started creeping up on me. I suppose it was always there, somewhere in the background. All I've done, my whole life, is keep it temporarily at bay...
At home, she sulked with extravagance, and I learned early that silence was anything but peaceful. She was always upset about some slight, real or imagined, and more than capable of creating a full-bl...
Anna’s parents were staunch Wee Frees, and she wasn’t even allowed to wear face powder, never mind attend a dance. Music itself was not allowed, except on Sundays, and then it had to be for the sake o...
And then I laugh, because it’s so ridiculous and so gorgeous and it’s all I can do to not melt into a fit of giggles. So what if I’m ninety-three? So what if I’m ancient and cranky and my body’s a wre...
All I can do is put in time waiting for the inevitable, observing as the ghost of my past rattle around my vacuous present. They crash and bang and make themselves at home, mostly because there's no c...
A gaggle of old ladies is glued to the window at the end of the hall like children or jailbirds. They're spidery and frail, their hair as fine as mist. Most of them are a good decade younger than me,...
How hard can it be to find a girl and an elephant for Christ's sake?
Then I lie down on the horse blanket and drift into a dream about Marlena that will probably cost me my soul.