For me, family means the silent treatment. At any given moment, someone is always not speaking to someone else.' Really,' I said. We're passive-aggressive people,' she explained, taking a sip of her coffee. 'Silence is our weapon of choice. Right now...
Then one morning she’d begun to feel her sorrow easing, like something jagged that had cut into her so long it had finally dulled its edges, worn itself down. That same day Rachel couldn’t remember which side her father had parted his hair on, an...
As the sun shines low and red across the water, I wade into the ocean. The water is still high and brown and murky with the memory of the storm, so if there’s something below it, I won’t know it. But that’s part of this, the not knowing. The su...
Yes, an actual full-sized camel. If you find that confusing, just think how the criosphinx must have felt. Where did the camel come from, you ask? I may have mentioned Walt’s collection of amulets. Two of them summoned disgusting camels. I’d met ...
His eyes darkened in frustration. "I'm tired of waiting, Thalia. I'm not a patient person. You have to know." "What do you mean, Keal? You know I like Joss." I tried to move away again, but his hands on either side of me pinned me in. Keal's determin...
What did you see when you died?" He has that tenative half smile, like he's almost embarrassed by what he's saying. "Because I'm guessing it wasn't the Sea of Tranquility." And when I look at him, I'm not so sure it wasn't. “Where did you go?" His ...
He took the hand that wasn’t holding the bouquet of wildflowers and stared at it, holding it so tightly that she thought he might crack her bones. Then his hold gentled. He slipped a gold ring onto her finger and lifted his gaze to hers. “I’m...
Fabre stood up. He placed his fingertips on d‘Anton’s temples. “Put your fingers here,” he said. “Feel the resonance. Put them here, and here.” He jabbed at d’Anton’s face: below the cheekbones, at the side of his jaw. “I’ll teach...
Being exposed to those beauty queens and Praying Mantises at the same time made me ask myself some hard questions. Would I have been so radical had I not been so fat? Could I have been one of the women on the other side parading my beauty of which I ...
At the high school a pretty girl strolled across the parking lot to her black stallion, let her cigarette dangle from her lips while she put on her helmet, adjusted her goggles. Throwing a slender white leg over the side she jacked her little backsid...
But she was so happy in her gilded cage, wasn’t she? She ate well, slept well, enjoyed herself She lacked nothing. And then, look, a bunch of mental cases turn her away from her happiness and send her to -- how did you put it? -- to ‘blow herself...
Why shouldn't Mom trust me, Dad" Why are you so determined to make me out to be the bad guy all the time?" I stared at the side of his face, willing him to make eye contact. He didn't. "I've been doing really good late and you don't even care." "Yet ...
Think of my Pleasure in Solitude, in comparison of my commerce with the world - there I am a child - there they do not know me not even my most intimate acquaintance - I give into their feelings as though I were refraining from irritating a little ch...
Capt. Jack Doyle: Do you have any children, Miss Gennaro? Angie Gennaro: No, sir. Capt. Jack Doyle: My only child was murdered. She was twelve. Did you hear about it? What you probably didn't hear, and what I hope you never have to deal with, Miss Ge...
Gozer: The Choice is made! Dr. Peter Venkman: Whoa! Ho! Ho! Whoa-oa! Gozer: The Traveller has come! Dr. Peter Venkman: Nobody choosed anything! [turns to Egon] Dr. Peter Venkman: Did you choose anything? Dr. Egon Spengler: No. Dr. Peter Venkman: [to ...
George Bailey: [on Mary being caught naked in the bushes after her robe slips off] This is a very interesting situation! Mary: Please give me my robe. George Bailey: A man doesn't get in a situation like this every day. Mary: I'd like to have my robe...
[Pepper is reaching into Tony's chest cavity] Tony Stark: Okay now, the copper wire - you got it? Virginia 'Pepper' Potts: Yeah, I've got it. Tony Stark: Now pull it out, gently, and just make sure you don't touch the s... [BUZZ!] Tony Stark: AH! - i...
Police Officer: [cops drive up after the drug dealer shoot-out] Whaddaya got, Riggs? Martin Riggs: There's three down, and one loose in here, he's got black hair and a red shirt... Police Officer: Okay, let's go! I'm coverin' the left side... [Riggs ...
Sam Spade: If you kill me, how are you going get the bird? And if I know you can't afford to kill me, how are you going to scare me into giving it to you? Kasper Gutman: Well, sir, there are other means of persuasion besides killing and threatening t...
John Mason: [Mason and Goodspeed are defusing a poison gas rocket] What exactly does this stuff do? Stanley Goodspeed: If the rocket renders it aerosol, it could take out the entire city of people. John Mason: Really? And what happens if you drop one...
Anakin Skywalker: [after killing Mace Windu and in disarray] What have I done? Darth Sidious: You are fulfilling your destiny, Anakin. Become my apprentice. Learn to use the dark side of the Force. There's no turning back now. Anakin Skywalker: I wil...
