“There, I've said it, and I said it in front of all these strange and quite scary women and that guy, because I'm less frightened of them than I am of being alone with you and you turning me down.”

“I was on the street. This guy waved to me, and he came up to me and said, 'I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else.' And I said, 'I am.”

“There is nothing to be frightened of," said the Rajah. "Very few tigers are man-eaters.""But I am," said the tiger."You might be lying," said the Rajah."I might be," said the tiger. "But I'm not.”

“Aren't you frightened?" Somehow I expected her to say no, to say something wise like a grownup would, or to explain that we can't presume to understand the Lord's plan. She looked away. "Yes," she finally said, "I'm frightened all the time." "Then why don't you act like it?""I do. I just do it in private.""Because you don't trust me?""No," she said, "because I know you're frightened, too.”

“Don't look at me like that," said Guy."How am I looking at you?" I asked."Like I'm the Grinch who stole Christmas.”

“Sorry," she said. "I'm just ... surprised. It's weird. Sex was never scary to me." She paused. "So what about it do you find scary? Like, penises? Because I can see how those might be a little scary.”