He didn't say, 'Show me! Make me cluck like a chicken!
-- Ellen (chapter 1 paragraph 2)

Importance: Ellen is so pleased that Patrick takes her career seriously. Not everyone she knows, including her own mother, thinks that hypnosis is a serious form of treatment for people's problems.

She always puts on this pathetic act, as if we just happened to run into each other. You'd think she'd look like a crazy bag lady, with, you know, crazy hair, but she looks so normal, so together. It makes me doubt myself, as if I'm imagining the whole thing. She's a successful career woman. Well respected. Can you believe it? I always wonder what her colleagues would think if they knew what she did in her spare time.
-- Patrick (chapter 1 paragraph 5)

Importance: Patrick describes his stalker to Ellen and why it is difficult for anyone to believe that she has this bad habit. She doesn't seem like a typical stalker type...