He hadn’t been sure if he was supposed to fight back or just take the beating, if he could dodge the blows or cover his face or what, but it wound up not mattering.

Place a man and a woman in a train carriage together and the mind doggedly closes in—but between him and Katharine there had been something else.

They were not fancy girls, but they did love the absolute best of things, and also appreciated the simple pleasures the earth had to offer: good red dirt, full-fat Coca-Cola.

Their standard pattern of operation involved making a sum of money, losing it, and then starting over.

I was supposed to middle-man these people into a situation of potential annoyance—if not harassment? Me? The poor kid from Jersey?

He feels almost like he’s in mourning. For months, more than a year, in fact, the hotel idea has been the main thing in his life.

The man read and read, moving his lips; now and then his whole body started moving and then the words entered him like spirits, and began to work their mischief.

Stephen suggested that they have sex on the kitchen table but Susan declined. She hadn’t brushed her teeth yet.

It must have burned him up to hear Waldy brag to the girl who kicked his tooth out.

It was a glimpse of an adult world so alien to me; what could I think?