“I want a campfire box.”

“The cowboy has now gone to worlds invisible; the wind has blown away the white ashes of his campfires; but the empty sardine box lies rusting over the face of the Western earth.”

“You think Tide is better, or All?''Which has a prettier box?' I ask.'I don't want a pretty box. I want a dude box.'Uh-huh,' I deadpan. 'You want a dude box of laundry detergent.''Yes, I do.''Good luck with that.”

“If the box contains a diamond,I desire to believe that the box contains a diamond;If the box does not contain a diamond,I desire to believe that the box does not contain a diamond;Let me not become attached to beliefs I may not want.”

“Are you going to tell me what that was about?” Adam asked as we went back upstairs.“Sometime,” I told him. “When we're telling ghost stories around a campfire, and I want to scare you.”

“Sometimes the embers are better than the campfire.”