“Jack nodded. 'No,' he said.Was that a trick answer?”

“Jack, get a grip of yourself.'I have a grip of myself.' Jack took a grip of himself. It was a most intimate grip; not the kind of grip that you usually take of yourself in public.”

“Still,' whispered Jack, 'you have to keep at it. Overcome the miseries of vomiting and the whirling pit. Pay your dues and work towards the real rewards of big-time adult drinking. Something to look forward to.”

“As real as,' said Eddie.'As real as what?' said Jack.'Wish I knew,' said Eddie. 'But I can't do corroborative nouns. None of us are perfect, are we? I can get started. As big as, as obscene as, as foul as. But I can't get any further. But that's life for you again. As unfair as...”

“Omally, as ever, slept the sleep of the just, which was quite unjust of him, considering he had no right to do it.”

“It was joy, joy, happy joy.Happy, happy joy.A big fat smiley sun rose above the rooftops and beamed down its blessings onto the borough known as Brentford.”

“There were large and small ones too. And some quite in-between. But all of equal nastiness.And smelliness and ghastliness.For they would eat a fellow up, as one might fish and chips”