“Sitting at the table, watching the cards being dealt, I heard a man say that the difference between an amateur and a pro is that the pro doesn't have an emotional reaction to losing anymore. It's just the other side of winning. I guess I'm a farmer now, because I'm used to loss like this, to death of all kinds, and to rot. It's just the other side of life. It is your first big horse and all he meant to you, and it is also his bones and skin breaking down in the compost pile, almost ready to be spread on the fields.”

“You never know beforehand what people are capable of, you have to wait, give it time, it's time that rules, time is our gambling partner on the other side of the table and it holds all the cards of the deck in its hand, we have to guess the winning cards of life, our lives.”

“I'm just full of surprises." Watching her, he waved the wrapped bar from side to side. "You can have the candy if you sit on my lap."That sounds like something perverted old men say to young, stupid girls."I'm not old, and you're not stupid." He sat, patted his knee. "It's Belgian chocolate."Just because I'm sitting on your lap and eating your candy doesn't mean you can cop a feel," she said as she folded into his lap.”

“I'm an amateur at life. I'll let you know when I go pro. ”

“I want to sit on the other side of the table from him so he doesn't think I'm interested, but there's no room on the other side so I sit as far away from him as I can and try to have an out-of-body experience.”

“There's a hell all right. It's just not where people say it is....It's here. It's life, or it's what we turn life into, I guess. It's like we have to pass through all this painful stuff to get to where we're supposed to be, on the other side.”