"I mean that sometimes what you see is pain. Pain in its cruelest, purest form. Without drugs or sleep or even shock or coma to dull it for you. You see it and you take it in. And then it's you. You're host to a long white worm that gnaws and eats, growing, filling your intestines until finally you cough one morning and up comes the blind pale head of the thing sliding from your mouth like a second tongue."
Chap. 1, p. 5

"I'm going to try to change that now, if I can. I'm going to tell our little story. Straight as I can from here on in, and no interruptions. And I'm writing this for you, Ruth. Because I never got to pay you back, really. So here's my check. Overdue and overdrawn. Cash it in hell."
Chap. 2, p. 16

"The the wheel began turning and she laughed...