“Anton's bowels tightened in fear and he prayed to the Elders he would be able to find the courage to explain to Marcus how his two most senior warriors had been ambushed by an uncouth horde of half-breed mongrels.”

“...he had found the courage once in his life to seize a chance at love from a person who knew how to give it. Lena prayed on these two moons that she would find that same courage.”

“His name is Marcus: he is four and a half and possesses that deep gravity and seriousness that only small children and mountain gorillas have ever been able to master.”

“That night, before he tried to sleep, Louie prayed. He had prayed only once before in his life, in childhood, when his mother was sick and he had been filled with a rushing fear that he would lose her. That night on the raft, in words composed in his head, never passing his lips, he pleaded for help.”

“You don’t have the courage of a half-bred mongrel.”

“Did I tell you about Anton?" Loots said.Anton?" I shook my head.It was a week ago, Loots said. There had been a knock on the door of his apartment and when he opened it his old friend Anton was standing there. Anton was a clown. He belonged to a circus that toured the provinces, playing to small towns and villages. They talked about the old days for a while, but Anton became increasingly restless and distracted. In the end Loots had to ask him if there was something wrong.This is going to sound strange." The clown coughed nervously into his fist. "It's The Invisible Man. He's disappeared."Loots stared at his friend.He just vanished," Anton said, "into thin air."The Invisible Man?" Loots said.Yes."He's disappeared?"I told you it would sound strange," Anton said.”