...morbidly, attracted him to strangeness, to recklessnesss, even unhappiness.

I have been here five days. I have decided on a place to eat in at midday, a place to eat in at night, a place to have my drink in after dinner. I have arranged my little life.

Would you like a whiskey?' I say. 'I've got some.' (That's original. I bet nobody's ever thought of that way of bridging the gap before.)

If I was bound for hell, let it be hell. No more false heaven. No more damned magic.

It was like letting go and falling back into water and seeing yourself grinning up through the water, your face like a mask, and seeing the bubbles coming up as if you were trying to speak from under the water. And how do you know what it's like to try to speak from under water when you're drowned?

Of course she had some pathetic illusions about herself or she would not be able to go on living.

Even the one moment that you thought was your eternity fades out and is forgotten and dies.