“Her brain was a storm, her usual insight gone.”

“Given her deafness, the auditory part of the brain, deprived of its usual input, had started to generate a spontaneous activity of its own, and this took the form of musical hallucinations, mostly musical memories from her earlier life. The brain needed to stay incessantly active, and if it was not getting its usual stimulation..., it would create its own stimulation in the form of hallucinations.”

“Expecting his usual aloof expression, she saw instead that his smoky eyes were locked on her face and the walls that he usually hid behind were gone. There was something that looked almost like longing in his expression.”

“The storm dropped a house on her head.”

“The usual for me." The usual was a strong infusion of different kinds of Oriental teas, which raised her spirits after her siesta.”

“She stood in the storm, & when the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted her sails.”