“I’m waiting with baited breath to hear that silver tongue of yours.”

“Hold up. I’m bait?”

“No need to flatter me, Miss Price. I believe your bait worked. I’m hooked. Line and sinker.”

“Unhappiness slowly creeps up on you, like a shape-shifting monster waiting in the darkness of your hallway, his bulging eyes watching your every move. The breath on his slimy tongue makes the hairs on your neck stand up.”

“Bait GoatThere is adistance wheremagnets pull,we feel, havingheld them back. Likewisethere is adistance wherewords attract.Set one outlike a bait goat and wait and seven otherswill approach.But watch out:roving packs canpull your wordaway. You find your stake yanked and some rough bunchto thank.”

“I imagined there must be hundreds and thousands and millions of people quiet in the dark out there, waiting with baited breath for me, up on that stage and bathed in colored lights, to say something. I opened my mouth and—hooray—they were going to listen.”