“Go slowly, so that you do not bite your tail by accident.”
“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”
“How do we do this? Do I have to bite you?" I ask, squirming uncomfortably at the thought of doing so."Why, do you want to? If so, by all means go right ahead. I doubt I'd mind much," he laughs. "No, no biting. You watch too many movies.”
“It only takes a few politicians to stoke division, or a few demagogues encouraging hatred to set your kind upon one another. And then before you know it, you have a whole nation biting on its own tail, going round and round until there is nothing left but the snapping of teeth.”
“You’re not going to bite me with your fangs, are you?”
“and you go on toward your ocean, the cigar biting your lips the way love used to.”