“There weren't any curtains in the windows, and the books that didn't fit into the bookshelf lay piled on the floor like a bunch of intellectual refugees.”

“How many Sundays – how many hundreds of Sundays like this – lay ahead of me? “Quiet, peaceful and lonely,” I said aloud to myself. On Sundays i didn't wind my spring.”

“The weather service reported that there weren't any atmospheric conditions present that might have led to fish raining from the sky.”

“Like the sound of a velvet curtain being drawn aside on a peaceful morning to let sunlight wake someone very special to you.”

“It's like a kid standing at the window watching the rain.”

“Six pull-tabs lay in the ashtray like scales from a mermaid.”

“I get up out of bed. I pull back the old, faded curtain and openthe window. I stick my head out and look up at the sky. Sureenough, a mouldy-coloured half-moon hangs in the sky. Good.We’re both looking at the same moon, in the same world. We’reconnected to reality by the same line. All I have to do is quietlydraw it towards me.”