“I felt on the verge of something, a mystery that surrounded me like gauze, something I was beginning to unwind.”

“I was on the verge of something numinous and profound and in one more second the universe was going to crack open and arcana would rain down on my head like grace and all the cosmic mysteries were going to be revealed.”

“I felt inquisitive, keyed up with interest and excitement that foreign surroundings always induced in me, and in a sense I felt at home, too, for there is something familiar about a port to any seasoned traveller - the sights, smells, activities even the sprawl of streets and wharves that surround and owe their existence and livelihoods to it.”

“Something like hope begins to burn in me and I try to snuff it out.”

“Something in my gut twisted so hard that it felt like I was being tickled by an invisible hand, and it took me a moment to realize what it was. Hope. It had been so long since I'd felt it that the sensation was like something living inside me, something wonderful waiting to break free, just like I was.”

“Looking at him like that, I felt like I needed something from him, or somebody, and that probably meant that he also needed something from me, or somebody, but the revelation was like looking at spots on a slide. Knowing that it meant something to somebody wasn't the same as it meaning something to you.”