“He was healthier than the rest of us, but when you listened with the stethoscope you could hear the tears bubbling inside his heart.”

“The doctor listens in with a stethoscope and hears sounds of a warpath Indian drum. ”

“I'm telling you this because you didn't ask. I've got it all here, growing like a tumor in my throat. I'm telling you because if I don't, I will choke on it. Everybody knows what happened, but nobody asks. And Elvis the EMT doesn't count because when he asked, he didn't even listen to me answer because he was listening to my sister's heart not beat with his stethoscope. I want to tell. It's mine to tell. Even if you didn't ask, you have to hear it.”

“You'd think someone who'd been to medical school would be able to hear through a stethoscope that somebody was empty inside.”

“Listen to this, Nimit. Follow Coleman Hawkins' improvised lines very carefully. He is using them to tell us something. Pay very close attention. He is telling us the story of the free spirit that is doing everything it can to escape from within him. That same kind of spirit is inside me, inside you. There--you can hear it, I'm sure: the hot breath, the shivering heart. (Thailand)”

“There's a drumming noise inside my headThat starts when you're aroundI swear that you could hear itIt makes such an almighty soundThere's a drumming noise inside my headThat throws me to the groundI swear that you could hear itIt makes such an almighty soundLouder than sirensLouder than bellsSweeter than heavenAnd hotter than hell”