And I would try and walk far enough away that people would not assume I was with him.

"Ocean" is more about ... powerlessness and hopelessness. When we're very small we can't actually do anything - we have no say in what happens, we have no money or resources, we sometimes have no idea what's going on.

If you have something specific and visible to fear, rather than something that could be anything, it is easier.

Because there are mysteries. Because there are things that people are forbidden to speak about. Because there are things they do not remember.

In reality the world is made of thousands of groups of about five hundred people, all of whom will spend their lives bumping into each other, trying to avoid each other, and discovering each other in the same unlikely teashop in Vancouver. There is an unavoidability to this process. It's not even coincidence. It's just the way the world works, with no regard for individuals or propriety.

For a moment he thought she was about to hit him, which would have been bad, or even start crying, which would have been much, much worse.

What would be the fun in doing things you know are going to work?