“It almost rained Saturday.The clouds hung low over the farm.The air felt thick.It smelled like rain.In town,the sidewalks got damp, that was all.”

“Air grew heavy, damp, almost solid. I was breathing bricks.”

“His sadness was almost palpable, like moisture in the air before it rains. Although this was Manchester, it was probably about to rain anyway.”

“After an orange cloud — formed as a result of a dust storm over the Sahara and caught up by air currents — reached the Philippines and settled there with rain, I understood that we are all sailing in the same boat.”

“The sweet-smelling aroma of the island spices still hung in the air. It filled his nostrils and titillated his appetite all over again. His appetite drove him mad for something much more than food.”

“Suddenly the air got colder, and a black cloud appeared - the black cloud that you saw before, since Snodrog was, at bottom, a cheapskate. Only this time the cloud looked like an overdone hamburger, and it hovered low over the Shuffly's head. Then Snodrog's devious machine spread under the Shuffly's unsuspecting feet a glistening patina of Generalizations, and the immobilized hulk slid the hill into the valley below, ricocheting off trees with a sound like wet sponges being slapped on kitchen sinks.”