“The dog approached again, cautiously. I found the bologna sandwich, ripped off a chunk, wiped the cheap watery mustard off, then placed it on the sidewalk.The dog walked up to the bit of sandwich, put his nose to it, sniffed, then turned and walked off. This time he didn't look back. He accelerated down the street.No wonder I had been depressed all my life. I wasn't getting proper nourishment. ”

“Fay had a spot of blood on the left side of her mouth and I took a wet cloth and wiped it off. Women were meant to suffer; no wonder they asked for constant declarations of love.”

“i g l o o his name was Eddie and he had abig white dogwith a curly taila huskielike one of those that pulled sleighsup near the north poleIgloo he called himand Eddie had a bow and arrowand every week or twohe'd send an arrowinto the dog's sidethen run into his mother's housethrough the yelpingsaying that Igloo had fallen onthe arrow.that dog took quite a few arrows andmanaged tosurvivebut I saw what really happened and didn'tlike Eddie very much.so when I broke Eddie's legin a sandlot football gamethat was my way of getting evenfor Igloo.his parents threatened to sue myparentsclaiming I did it on purpose becausethat's what Eddietold them.well, nobody had any money anyhowand when Eddie's father got a jobin San Diegothey moved away and left thedog.we took him in.Igloo turned out to be rather dumbdid not respond to very muchhad no life or joy in himjust stuck out his tonguepantedslept most of the timewhen he wasn't eatingand although he wiped his assup and down the lawn afterdefecatinghe usually had a large fragrant smear ofbrownunder his tailwhen he was run over by anicecream truck3 or 4 months laterand died in a stream of scarletI didn't feel more than theusual amount of griefand lossand I was still glad that Ihad managed tobreak Eddie's leg.”

“He asked, "What makes a man a writer?" "Well," I said, "it's simple. You either get it down on paper, or jump off a bridge.”

“I like the way Mahler wandered about in his music and still retained hispassion. He must have looked like anearthquake walking down the street.”

“I lapsed into my pathetic cut-off period. Often with humans, both good and bad, my senses simply shut off, they get tired, I give up. I am polite. I nod. I pretend to understand because I don’t want anybody to be hurt. That is the one weakness that has lead me into the most trouble. Trying to be kind to others I often get my soul shredded into a kind of spiritual pasta.No matter. My brain shuts off. I listen. I respond. And they are too dumb to know that I am not there.”

“I got up and walked back to my roominghouse. The moonlight was bright. My footsteps echoed in the empty street and it sounded as if somebody was following me, I looked around. I was mistaken. I was quite alone.”