And than suddenly he was there, charging down the hallway like death in a cowboy duster.

Except, now that I don’t have a car, I can’t really make good on my birthday promise.” Sydney thought about it for several moments. “Well. I’ve got a car.” An hour later, I vowed I’d never make fun of that Mazda again.

So far I’m not seeing a lot of difference between me and a carnival con-man.

Besides, when not hard at work with this research, I'm actually conducting a side experiment on how cigarettes and gin increase charisma. As you might guess, the results are looking very promising.

You're better than this. Better than whatever it is you're going to do now.

For once, you're going to hear something that doesn't fit into your neat, compartmentalized world of order and logic and reason.

Escape plan number seventeen," I told her. "Run away and open a juice stand in Fresno." "Why Fresno?" "Sounds like the kind of place people drink a lot of juice.