“Will somebody hold me?”
“None of us offered to shake hands. There was no advantage to letting somebody get hold of you.”
“Time to set forth alone and find out what sort of man I was, instead of being a mirror to somebody else. Swearing a blood oath, even as I clung to this ghost embrace, that I would never hold another man who wouldn't hold me back.”
“Somebody like you taught somebody like me.”
“Somebody needs to pet me, and I guess that somebody is me. My cat is busy sleeping.”
“I need someone. I need to hold somebody close. And I need more than this holding. I need someone to understand how I feel at a time like now. And the understanding must be part of the holding.”