“Her lips was hot, like the ridge of a cooking dish.”

“Jazz. Here in Germany it become something worse than a virus. We was all of us damn fleas, us Negroes and Jews and low-life hoodlums, set on playing that vulgar racket, seducing sweet blond kids into corruption and sex. It was a plague sent out by the dread black hordes, engineered by the Jews. Us Negroes, see, we was only half to blame - we just can't help it. Savages just got a natural feel for filthy rhythms, no self-control to speak of. But the Jews, brother, now they cooked up this jungle music on purpose. All part of their master plan to weaken Aryan youth, corrupt its janes, dilute its bloodlines.”

“She laughed. I closed my eyes. It sounded damn mournful, that laugh of hers echoing off the square.”

“The kid come in at a strange angle, made the notes glitter like crystal.”

“It's like that, I guess, when the past come to collect what you owe.”

“I guess mercy is a muscle like any other. You got to exercise it, or it just cramp right up.”

“It ain't really Czechoslovakian,' I said, coughing. 'We used to call it the Cheque. Like, you drink it up now, you pay for it later.”