It’s said that sport is the civilised society’s substitute for war, and also that the games we play as children are designed to prepare us for the realities of adult life. Certainly it’s true that my brother thrived in the capitalist kindergart...
On to the library. And all through his time at the card catalog, combing the shelves, filling out the request cards, he danced a silent, flirtatious minuet of the eyes with a rosy-cheeked redhead in the biology section, pages of notes spread before h...
[Avi, Tony, and Rosebud watch Boris on the video monitor] Bullet Tooth Tony: This guy's a handful. Rosebud: I hate Russians. I'll take care of him. Bullet Tooth Tony: He's all yours, Rosebud me old son. Rosebud: Not a problem. [Cut to a few minutes l...
Brendan Conlon: That's Tess. And that's Emily and Rosie. They're your nieces, Tommy. Tom Conlon: Don't know 'em. Brendan Conlon: I know you don't know them. Of course you don't know them. Tom Conlon: Why am I looking at pictures of people I don't kno...
Me dad planted that tree,’ she said absently, pointing out through the old cracked window. The great beech filled at least half the sky and shook shadows all over the house. Its roots clutched the slope like a giant hand, holding the hill in place....
Gritting my teeth as if it requires actual physical strength, I push the memory of him dying in my arms down, deep down. It almost seems to fight me, to want to surge into the forefront of my mind, and I sigh. Long ago I came to the realization that ...
Sometimes it seemed as if he'd always been very old. People said that time lasted for ever when you were young. That was lies. Lies and rosy spectacles. His spectacles were steel frames and time was those tattoos on Vasco's arm. They were more like t...
Frank treated customers with the contempt Rosy had only seen before at airport passport control. Even then, she’d never heard an immigration official refer to anybody as baldy. “Hey, baldy,” Frank had said and whistled to call a customer back a...
At first we had so much to catch up on we were talking a hundred words a second, barely even listening to the ends of one another's sentences before moving onto the next. And there was laughing. Lots of laughing. Then the laughing stopped and there w...
Bennett Marco: What's your name? Eugenie Rose Chaney: Eugenie. Bennett Marco: Pardon? Eugenie Rose Chaney: No kidding, I really meant it. Crazy French pronounciation and all. Bennett Marco: It's pretty. Eugenie Rose Chaney: Thank you. Bennett Marco: ...
Asshole.” “Just for that, I expect you to wrap that dirty mouth of yours around my cock tonight.” He narrowed his eyes on me. I couldn’t believe he’d just said that to me in a fancy restaurant where anyone might overhear. “Are you kidding...
If I have told you these details about the asteroid, and made a note of its number for you, it is on account of the grown-ups and their ways. When you tell them that you have made a new friend, they never ask you any questions about essential matters...
Jane: [reading advertisement for a new nanny] "Wanted: a nanny for two adorable children." George Banks: Adorable. Well that's debatable, I must say. Jane: [singing] If you want this choice position, have a cheery disposition... George Banks: Jane, I...
Mary Poppins: You *are* the father of Jane and Michael Banks, are you not? [pause] Mary Poppins: I said, you *are* the father of Jane and Michael Banks. Mr. Banks: Well, really - yes, of course. And you brought your references, I presume; may I see t...
