0143 (taste of death)

“Come on, run Sugar!”[29-30-21]
Shit, you’ll be dreaming about peanuts. [4-229-17] Shit. [11-180-11] No one can run from death, [14-187-28] and when you taste it, it tastes like shit. [4-212-51] It’s like going up a long flight of stairs, and turning out the light at the top. [26-55-31] Fear gripped me. [16-224-37] Tufts of green fungi popped up in-between the cracked cement joints supposedly holding the concrete slabs in place. [10-133-10] Of course I had no idea what to do. [5-21-30] Vertigo came, spiralled, then retreated. [17-61-32] It was, and then, suddenly, it was not. [8-188-12] The sillier I felt, the madder I got, and the madder I got, the sillier I felt, and all the way back to the office it kept spiralling up, until finally the anger blanketed the silly feeling, and I felt nothing but enraged. [18-50-27]

0017 (rock garden)

It was all about timing, [24-117-22] magic. [11-180-24] ‘Hold it!’ [7-89-6] They would have Hugh outnumbered. [21-310-17] And he was absolutely right. [5-20-34]
But things didn’t work out that way. [4-181-53] Mother woke at five and found he wasn’t beside her and went to look for him. [26-55-25] Inside the station he bought a paper headlined ARTIST SOUGHT and with tepid interest but no surprise read his name in the story that followed. [8-61-18] I hunkered down beside him and tried to look at the rock garden as though I were interested in it. [18-67-12] Miraculously, I’m calm. [28-9-3] I thought, this is unbelievable – the man knows what has just happened to me. [16-225-35]

0144 (scuffle, blow)

“Speak your piece, Myron,” I said. [18-151-20]
“You want to know what I think? [13-73-11] That’s never good.” [21-257-3]
The man stopped moving, the top half of his body three parts of the way round. [7-89-9] He looked cocky; [11-32-15] he threw his head back over his right shoulder, indicating that I should look behind him. [5-171-30] Suddenly I felt a blow to my lower back in the kidney area and instantly seething pain shot through my body. [16-71-18]
Bartlett took a stumbling step forwards. [27-208-12] He revolved once in pure rage, necktie flying, then advanced on her. [8-68-6]

0011 (dropping the bed)

Finally she went to the nearer of the twin beds and half reclined upon it, still wearing her little black hat. [8-27-19] Jason’s powerful build may have been an advantage as far as brute strength was concerned. [10-133-15] Suddenly he picked up the end of the bed, lifting it off the floor for a couple of feet, then let it drop. [22-23-14] Maybe it was to feel what it felt like. [19-1-5] That sonofabitch! [11-181-34] But then, the images came. [17-59-29] I found myself suddenly gripped in muscular spasm. [16-224-36] The weird thing was that Anna seemed to be getting off on it too. [5-98-15] I couldn’t even remember Anna’s face. [28-16-7]

0064 (Betty, the hit)

I thought it was Betty, I really did. [8-189-29] But Anna didn’t notice me at all. [5-150-7] I wondered if that was an omen, a bad vibe. [28-8-9] The first man started to say something, and then she heard a pop, like a bottle of champagne. [14-3-10] Fuck. [11-161-11] The tree beside me went putt. [18-49-21] You cunt, you creepy little cunt. [6-136-8]
Then it was there, slow and hot. [21-252-28] As the hurt came out a sense of peace took its place and started to fill my whole body. [16-225-12]

0095 (media coverage)

The following day he had four lines in the paper, I was the headline. [6-136-14] We spent the rest of the evening watching news bulletins and cracking open the bottles of champagne Bob and I had bought for the occasion. [16-313-1]
“Perseverance,” he said knowingly, and winked. [17-4-29]
Whoever had written the National Geographic article seemed to think so. [11-39-15] I don’t want to belabor knocking the press, but I can’t believe what is being said. [3-91-11]