I write this in the moonlight, straining my ears to hear beyond the cold mechanical clock to the warm biological noises of the night, but my being is attuned only to one thing, the relentless rhythm of time. If I could only smash the clock and stop t...
I'm not ill like that," she groaned. He sat on her bed, peeling back the blanket. A servant entered, frowning at the mess on the floor, and shouted for help. "Then it what way?" “I,uh..." Her face was so hot she thought it would melt onto the floor...
Here You always belonged here. You were theirs, certain as a rock. I’m the one who worries if I fit in with the furniture and the landscape. But I “follow too much the devices and desires of my own heart.” Already the curves in the road are fam...
Abby must have been the one who found the safe house, because Townsend didn't like it. "The building across the street is under construction," he snarled as soon as we'd carried our bags inside. "The elevator has key card access, and I've hacked into...
I’d felt this before, when my granddad was in the hospital before he died. We all camped out in the waiting room, eating our meals together, most of us sleeping in the chairs every night. Family from far-flung places would arrive at odd hours and w...
Now drawing four fingers up the sides of her stomach, my hands create a kind of invisible wave that sounds beneath her skin. Molding her torso every which way as if it were clay for me to experiment, I study the lines of her iridescent form flowing i...
At the end of her life she was aware of heat but not pain. She had time to consider his eyes, eyes of that blue which is the color of the sky at first light of the morning. She had time to think of him on the Drop, riding Rusher flat out with his bla...
We were breathing sooty air. The soot was composed of incinerated glass and steel but also, we knew, incinerated human flesh. When the local TV news announced that rescue workers sorting through the rubble in search of survivors were in need of tooth...
It seems like as we stand there I’m watching my whole life with Hana, our entire friendship, fall away: sleepover parties with forbidden midnight bowls of popcorn; all the times we rehearsed for Evaluation Day, when Hana would steal a pair of her f...
I noticed some scratch marks and faded blood stains high up on a wall. “What happened there?” “An inmate must have tried to escape. I saw a guy use two suction devices like the ones used to carry glass sheets to help lever himself up. He reache...
If you want to know if someone was meant to be in your future, then remove all the worldly things about them from your mind. Don’t think about their looks, the intimate moments or their personality. Now, think about how they made you feel, how they...
Rule number one: wear loose clothing. No Problem. Rule number two: no alcohol for the next three days. Slight problem. I'll miss my evening glass of wine but figure I can go for three days without and compensate later. And the last rule: absolutely n...
I've got two neptunes here," said Harry after a while, frowning down at his piece of parchment, "that can't be right, can it?" "Aaaaah," said Ron, imitating Professor Trelawney's mystical whisper, "when two neptunes appear in the sky, it is a sure si...
That was enough dialogue for a few pages - he had to get into some fast, red-hot action. There weren't any more hitches now. The story flowed like a torrent. The margin bell chimed almost staccato, the roller turned with almost piston-like continuity...
Sometimes I think that creativity is a matter of seeing, or stumbling over, unobvious similarities between things—like composing a fresh metaphor, but on a more complex scale. One night in Hiroshima it occurred to me that the moon behind a certain ...
Aunt Marge: [to Vernon] You mustn't blame yourself about how this one turned out, Vernon. It's all to do with blood. Bad blood will out. [to Petunia] Aunt Marge: What is it the boy's father did, Petunia? Aunt Petunia: Nothing. He didn't work. He was ...
Stanley Goodspeed: Oh, just some terrorists decided to send a little care package. Box of goodies. Which had to be neutralized before blowing up the office... [plucks a harsh note on his guitar] Stanley Goodspeed: So I took the rest of the day off. G...
[Dr. Cawley has asked the marshals about their preferred drinks] Teddy Daniels: Soda and ice, please, thanks. Dr. Jeremiah Naehring: Oh. You don't indulge in alcohol? I'm surprised. Isn't it common for men in your profession to imbibe? Teddy Daniels:...
Marwood: Where is he? Withnail: Sulking up the hill. He says he won't come in for lunch without an apology. Marwood: Suits me, he can eat his fucking radish. Uncle Monty: [suddenly appearing at Marwood's shoulder] It's all your fault. You lead him as...
[1885 - Marty walks into a saloon, dressed in the outfit that Doc Brown gave him in 1955] Saloon Old-Timer #1: Take a look and see what just breezed in the door. Saloon Old-Timer #2: Why, I didn't know the circus was in town. Saloon Old Timer #3: Mus...
Eddie Adams: Jack, I was thinking about my name, y'know? Jack Horner: Yeah? Eddie Adams: I was wondering if you had any ideas. Jack Horner: I've got a few, but you tell me. Eddie Adams: Well, my idea was, y'know, I want a name, I want it so it can cu...