“she is no longerthe beautiful womanshe was. she sendsphotos of herselfsitting upon a rockby the oceanalone and damned.I could have hadher once. I wonderif she thinks Icould havesaved her?”

“She was desperate and she was choosey at the same time and, in a way, beautiful, but she didn't have quite enough going for her to become what she imagined herself to be.”

“She could talk. If she was a sphinx she could have talked, if she was a stone she could have talked. I wondered when she'd get tired and leave. Even after I stopped listening it was like being battered with tiny pingpong balls.”

“I was only kidding about the hundred," she says.oh," I say, "what will it cost me?"she lights her cigarette withmy lighter and looks at methrough the flame:her eyes tell me.look," I say, "I don't think Ican ever pay that price again.”

“Her violence frightened me. She always claimed that I was the jealous one, and I was often jealous, but when I saw things working against me I simply became disgusted and withdrew. Lydia was different. She reacted. She was the Head Cheerleader at the Game of Violence.”

“jan was an excellent fuck...she had a tight pussy and she took it like it was a knife that was killing her.”

“I can't blame her. butwonder why she's here with me? where are the other guys? how can you be lucky? having someone theothers have abandoned?”