“CPR dummy looked like him and had clearly been stabbed. Repeatedly. In the groin. He thought she might have used the dummy for target practice, and tried not to be offended. Key word: tried.”

“Men and swords. My father said that if you put any able-bodied man, no matter how peaceful, into a room with a sword and a practice dummy and leave him alone, eventually the man would pick up the sword and try to stab the dummy. It is human nature.”

“Often he had the impression that the person answering questions from the scratchy armchair was a dummy he was controlling, that this had been true throughout his life, and that his life had become so involved with operating the dummy that he, the ventriloquist, had ceased to have a personality, becoming just an arm stuffed up the puppet's back.”

“Dummy, dummy, go out now and fill your tummy.”

“I had a good teacher.""Better not have been Myrnin or I'll have to kick his predatory ass.""I mean you, dummy.”

“I’d let the dummy comment slide, partly because I felt like a dummy and partly because I couldn’t think of an eloquent way to say asshole.”