“The blacksmith's boy went out with a rifleand a black dog running behind.Cobwebs snatched at his feet,rivers hindered him,thorn branches caught at his eyes to make him blindand the sky turned into an unlucky opal,but he didn't mind.I can break branches, I can swim rivers, I can stare out any spider I meet,said he to his dog and his rifle.The blacksmith's boy went over the paddockswith his old black hat on his head.Mountains jumped in his way,rocks rolled down on him,and the old crow cried, You'll soon be dead.And the rain came down like mattocks.But he only said,I can climb mountains, I can dodge rocks, I can shoot an old crow any day,and he went on over the paddocks.When he came to the end of the day, the sun began falling,Up came the night ready to swallow him,like the barrel of a gun,like an old black hat,like a black dog hungry to follow him.Then the pigeon, the magpie and the dove began wailingand the grass lay down to pillow him.His rifle broke, his hat blew away and his dog was gone and the sun was falling.But in front of the night, the rainbow stood on the mountain,just as his heart foretold.He ran like a hare,he climbed like a fox;he caught it in his hands, the colours and the cold -like a bar of ice, like the column of a fountain,like a ring of gold.The pigeon, the magpie and the dove flew up to stare,and the grass stood up again on the mountain.The blacksmith's boy hung the rainbow on his shoulderinstead of his broken gun.Lizards ran out to see, snakes made way for him,and the rainbow shone as brightly as the sun.All the world said, Nobody is braver, nobody is bolder,nobody else has doneanything equal to it. He went home as easy as could bewith the swinging rainbow on his shoulder.”

“I’m not going to fucking calm down. I’m going to hunt that bastard down and murderhim.”“Oh fuck,” Hank rocked back on his heels, his eyes went to the ceiling, his hands went to his hips.“What?” I asked.“Nothin’.”“What?” I asked, louder.His eyes came back to me. “You aren’thuntin’ anyone down.”“Wel … no,” I said, staring at him like he was crazy. “I was just saying that because I’m mad as hell. I wouldn’t begin to know how to hunt him down.””

“His own past kept flying up around him like moths; old fears back again, the ghosts’ problems only serving to remind him of his own. Even the little anxieties that nipped at his heels as a boy were back now as sharp-toothed dogs, following him, barking loudly, drawing more and more attention to themselves. Now, as he looked for his dad, Silas felt like he had as a boy: left behind, alone, forgotten. And he could see, now, his personal feelings made his encounters with the dead and his travels through their lands dangerous and filled with the possibility of entrapment.”

“The kitten I got is black and white and has long hair. Really long hair (think Willie Nelson). I decided to call him Cap’n because his markings make him look like a pirate. The majority of his face is white, except over his left eye is a black patch of fur, like an eye patch, and under his chin he has black hair that’s long and comes to a point like a goatee. Also, when I got him he had a parrot on his shoulder and a wooden leg.”

“Reggie made him feel like he was nine years old and out for dinner with his family at the Ponderosa Steak House and he had run into his French teacher and his mother invited her to dine with him.Reggie made him feel like he was sitting in a public bathroom stall and someone had come into the bathroom and began singing a song about what a stinky bastard he was while he was in there sweating it out.Reggie made him feel like someone had taken the red Tonka fire engine he had always wanted and painfully corkscrewed it down the front of his jeans.Reggie made him feel like the ice cream man had just rolled by and all his dead grandparents were mooning him out the truck window.”

“For no good reason, he thought of Xhex. Xhex was a thunderstorm made up of hues of black and iron gray, power leashed but no less lethal for its control. Cormia was a sunny day cast in rainbow of brightness. He put his hand over his heart and bowed to her, then left. As he started up for his room, he wondered whether he liked the storm or the sunshine better.”