And life is a good thing for a writer. It's where we get our raw material, for a start. We quite like to stop and watch it.

We...we could be friends.' We COULD be rare specimens of an exotic breed of dancing African elephants, but we're not. At least, I'M not.

Let us begin this letter, this prelude to an encounter, formally, as a declaration, in the old-fashioned way: I love you. You do not know me (although you have seen me, smiled at me). I know you (although not so well as I would like. I want to be there when your eyes flutter open in the morning, and you see me, and you smile. Surely this would be paradise enough?). So I do declare myself to you now, with pen set to paper. I declare it again: I love you.

Even the proudest spirit can be broken with love.

He was alone in the darkness once more, but the darkness became brighter and brighter until it was burning like the sun.

The only advice I can give you is what you're telling yourself. Only, maybe you're too scared to listen.

None of this is truly happening," he said to Shadow. He sounded miserable. "It's all in your head. Best not to think of it.