“Dennis looked at the puppy in the window. We both did. It was the oddest thing. Normally, puppies in pet store windows sleep or pee or roll around on top of other dogs. This one ignored us its window-mates and was instead sitting with its nose pressed against the glass, looking at us with an extremely serious little expression on its face. An expression that seemed to me to be saying, "I am a sacred cow. Get out your wallet.”

“How's your foot?” Hadrian asked.“It hurts.”“He had a good hold.”“Bit right through my boot.”“Yeah, that looked painful.”“So why exactly didn't you help?”Hadrian shrugged. “It was a dog, Royce. A cute, little dog. What did you want me to do, killan innocent little animal?”Royce tilted his head, squinting into the light of the late evening sun to focus on his friend.“Is that a joke?”“It was a puppy.”“It was not a puppy, and it was eating my foot.”“Yeah, but you were invading his home.” ....“You know, you didn't have to throw it out the window,” Hadrian said as they walked.Royce, who was still preoccupied with his foot, looked up. “What did you want me to dowith it? Scratch behind the little monster’s ears as it gnawed my toes off? What if it started barking?That would have been a fine mess.”“It's a good thing there was a moat right under the window.”Royce stopped. “There was?”

“(M)uch as we might imagine we can leave the past behind, it has a nasty way of pressing its hoary old face against the window just as we were sitting down to the feast.”

“Three o'clock in the morning. The soft April night is looking at my windows and caressingly winking at me with its stars. I can't sleep, I am so happy.”

“He stops in his tracks, face expressing major disappointment. "Wait - seriously? That's it? We don't get to do a stealthy tiptoe as we slip around back? No sneaking through a cracked window, or arguing over who gets to crawl through the dogie door to let the other one in?”

“But I was awake, sitting by the window looking down at the trailer and Mr. Zoltan's truck. I could not sleep. That is how it is with folks my age. We take naps during the day, and then we cannot sleep at night. I think that it is because God is getting us ready for the grave. Is that right? Did He ever tell you? ("The Little Stranger")”