“Tell me, ' he continued, 'would it be true that you are an itinerant dentist and that you came on a tricycle?''It would not, ' I replied.'On a patent tandem?''No.'[...]'Then maybe you are no ...dentist at all, ' he said, 'but only a man after a dog licence or papers for a bull?''I did not say I was a dentist, ' I said sharply, 'and I did not say anything about a bull.”

“You did this on purpose," I said to Justin as the man continued to strap me in."Maybe," he said."What is it you're playing at? Your girlfriend is down there at the river.""Let's jump together.""Come on Lenah!" Tony called from below."If you jump with me, Tracy will know."Justin stood up. "Know what?""I mean , she'll think you did it on purpose.""I did do it on purpose," he said."You two," the bungee man said. "Keep you eyes open if you're jumping together. Don't bash heads or anything. I hate cleaning up blood.""If you jump with me-" I started to say."I don't care anymore.”

“What do people mean when they say, 'I am not afraid of God because I know He is good'? Have they never even been to a dentist?”

“Did you forget a dentist appointment or something, big guy? Where the hell did you hop off to?”

“If you don’t care about something, one way to demonstrate your feelings is to say the word and then repeat the word with the letters S-C-H-M replacing the first letters. Somebody who didn’t care about dentists, for instance could say ‘Dentist, schmentists.”

“Did I ever tell you what came between your mother's heart and mine?""I don't think this is the time--""Your friend would disagree," she said, almost playfully, her attention darting to Tybalt. Focusing in me again, she said, "He all but burns with what he doesn't say to you, and my time is mine to spend.”