“A torrent of language, a spring off the near-infinite stream of confessions he had harbored half his life, all of hers.”

“He thought he might say more, but something in her face had closed off, and the opportunity passed.”

“Between them was fifteen or so feet of frozen space, bounded by his window and hers, but it was as if the windows had liquefied, or else the air had, and his vision skewed and rippled and it was all he could do to put the Newport into gear and ease forward to let the next car in.”

“He was failing at everything important. A room away his daughter was sitting with her face in her hands and he could not go to her.”

“Her smile was genuine-looking and later he would mull her question over and over in his head until it mushroomed into something larger.”

“All the events of his life were compressing to singularity: one night, one hour.”

“The dread that had been rising all morning rose higher in his throat as if by capillary action.”