“On a scale of one to ten, I'd say you rate a one. If the Porta-Potties are ten.”

“You have the most contact with Packard.""No, I don't.""Yes, you do," they say in unison."You just saw him," Helmut says."He had to deliver some gloves to me," I explain.Helmut raises an eyebrow. "And he couldn't have sent them with one of his people?"I don't answer. I'm thinking about those pretty gloves, clearly chosen to match that specific dress of mine. So thoughtful. Did he pick them out himself?Helmut snorts. "And what was he wearing?""A dinner jacket," I say, "but just to blend in with the crowd.""And did you share any food or beverage-""It wasn't a date."Simon tips his glass into his mouth and chews ice loudly."It wasn't a date.”

“Have you ever heard of anybody buying a vacuum cleaner at a vacuum cleaner store?" "One of the unsolved mysteries of the universe," Packard adds.”

“Is only reminding when one forgets.”

“I'm thinking about that afternoon you came to the empty restaurant, that day after the Alchemist. You were so alone." He pauses. I was. I'd never felt so alone. "Nobody saw it, but I did. I always see you. And you came in that door and came up to me and everything was new.”

“Love is a state of the heart, but also, an activity. And quite an awesome one.”

“Up ahead stands the fun house, which you enter through a clown’s smiling mouth.“I would kill myself if I was prisoner here,” Shelby says.“No, you wouldn’t, just out of courtesy,” I say, “because your body would be trapped in there after you die, and your friends would have to watch your corpse rot.”“Hmm,” Shelby says. “Smell it too.”“Well, now we’re looking on the bright side,” Packard says.”