“I stroked his long, appreciative back, all the way to the tip of his striped tail, and thought how frustrating it was that we can take such liberties with animals, but not with people. I wanted to stroke her head -this girl I secretly knew was called Flynn.”

“Feeling her strength return right along with her annoyance, Dagmar stepped back and raised her foot, slamming it down on the tip.“Ow! Evil barbarian viper!” He rose on his hind legs, his front claws grasping his tail. “You are aware this is attached to me?”“Yes. That’s how I knew it was taking liberties!”

“She idly stroked his head in the way one might stroke a dog.”

“But with this woman it is as if there is no interior, only a surface across which I hunt back and forth seeking entry. Is this how her torturers felt hunting their secret, whatever they thought it was? For the first time I feel a dry pity for them: how natural a mistake to believe that you can burn or tear or hack your way into the secret body of the other! The girl lies in my bed, but there is no good reason why it should be a bed. I behave in some ways like a lover—I undress her, I bathe her, I stroke her, I sleep beside her—but I might equally well tie her to a chair and beat her, it would be no less intimate.”

“Warner’s head is on my lap. His face is smooth and calm and peaceful in a way I've never seen it and I almost reach out to stroke his hair before I remember exactly how awkward this actually is.”

“I wanted to reach out and stroke her, to be gentle and tender towards her. Take care of her.”