“The three of them left the noodle shop and went to a nearby love hotel. It was on the edge of town, on a street where love hotels alternated with gravestone dealers.”

“A hotel is serious business.”

“I often dream about the Dolphin Hotel.”

“We returned to the hotel and had intercourse. I like that word intercourse. It poses only a limited range of possibilities.”

“Where I went in my travels, it's impossible for me to recall. I remember the sights and sounds and smells clearly enough, but the names of the towns are gone, as well as any sense of the order in which I traveled from place to place.”

“Itwas all so complicated, like something out of an existentialplay. Everything hit a dead end there, no alternatives left.”

“Confidence; as a teenager? Because I knew what I loved. I loved to read; I loved to listen to music; and I love cats. Those three things. So, even though I was an only kid, I could be happy because I knew what I loved. Those three things haven't changed from my childhood. I know what I love, still, now. That's a confidence. If you don't know what you love, you are lost.”