0019 (Aronia, Pre-Raphaelites)

“Aronia.” [7-76-12]
I wasn’t afraid of being called names. [15-204-39]
“Don’t you like playing? [21-252-16] Everybody likes to screw an American, even a damaged one.” [31-98-2]
“No…” she said at last, experiencing a sense of melancholy she hadn’t felt in years. [17-57-39]
Hanna explored this child of violence with her eyes. [2-154-32] She had thought of them as children. [27-178-4] “Wait a minute. [11-244-14] She’s not part of your own body [26-57-25] – part of the transformation.” [28-6-2]
James was closer to Edith, in a way, than I was. [2-380-15] “You’re like the Pre-Raphaelites, with their towers, goblins and ghosts.” [5-32-23]
She was authentically offended, almost to the point of tears. [8-66-37]

0029 (fucking for a story)

“What are you going to do to her?” [26-65-5]
Alex pulled his T-shirt over her head, giving Nikki places to explore with her hands. [11-245-12] He slowly lowered himself back into the warm nest of covers, and closed his eyes. [17-1-23] Grinning, she grabbed her duffel and rifled through her “necessity” kit. [24-299-5] Quick as a cat she pounced, pushing him onto his back and straddling him. [21-252-7]
I wasn’t afraid of him beating me up. [15-204-39] “You’re like the Pre-Raphaelites,” I said, unable to contain my disgruntlement. [5-32-20]
“I don’t have to listen to your foul mouth.” she said. “This is a business arrangement and if you can’t conduct yourself in a gentlemanly manner…” [8-66-34]
Jake kissed her on the cheek but he missed the movement in her stomach as it rotated wildly. [25-198-26]
Shit. [13-42-9] This was going to be the last time she fucked for a story. [6-89-16] But when I walked past the bathroom, something made me stop; an inkling, a suspicion, a fuzzy glimpse of a small detail not-quite right. [28-3-2]

0016 (dream, Betty, Dave)

“What did you do to your hand?” [24-299-1]
“One time I had this dream that my hands got cut off , but I didn’t even know it till I sat down at the piano in church and couldn’t play.” [20-97-24]
I woke at ten, with sun in my eyes. [18-12-1] A big ugly square mirror in the corner of the bedroom gives a great view of my tattoo, which sits right above my butt; four familiar symbols and a centre of clasped hands. [29-24-19]
“Who are you?” [7-74-5]
“I’m James,” he replied sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes sleepily. “Cooper-Brown.” [31-164-13]
Betty stood by the window but looked at nothing outside, [8-27-17] grateful for the wheezing, straining air conditioner blowing chilled air over her bare skin. [11-48-3] God, she loved the colorful idioms: good to go, cowboy, go it alone. [21-46-23] Everything seemed meaningless. [25-125-11]
“I can’t say I’ve given it much thought.” [26-56-1]
And Dave? [5-170-7] His mind was alive to the importance of sound, even as he slept. [7-51-1] His lips were drawn back over his teeth. [6-89-23]

0024 (girl-slap)

It was hideous, fearsome, like a baying dog. [6-89-24] I don’t know what else I was supposed to be afraid of. [15-204-40]
He woke up, drowsy. [14-4-26] He blinked once, then struggled to sit up, leaning against the head of the bed as his eyes scanned the dark room. [17-1-3]
“Did Tierney beat you? [8-191-37] You were probably expecting a girl-slap,” Lynnette said shrewdly. [21-156-13]
“I’ll go find a shop and get some cleaning stuff, and some breakfast.” [29-25-4]
She watched him lace up his boots, noticed he favored the middle finger on his left hand. [24-298-22]
She studied her greenish hazel eyes and wondered, as she had before, whether the rose color of her beads went with her eyes. [11-48-20]

0091 (washing, mirror)

I splashed water on my face and looked in the stainless-steel mirror at the dark circles under my eyes. [20-98-4] I washed and shaved and dressed, made myself a quick breakfast of toast and instant coffee, and left the house to go find out who was rocking the boat. [18-12-4]
“He could be at Myrtle Beach with Floozy Q, [11-186-30] that fucking son of a bitch,” said Betty in a monotone. [8-248-12] “Any sign of trouble and you head back, or call me to come and get you.” [29-25-9]
“For sure…” interjected the cadaverous Jex, firmly as though speaking from experience, [5-195-2] “that’s if grandmothers do it for you.” [31-164-6]

0020 (television)

Mrs. Browning entered the cramped little office then with a silver platter laden with an insulated carafe of coffee, three cups and saucers, a little pincher of cream, and a choice of sweeteners – one of which was real sugar. [21-288-1] She was small and buxom, clad in a large apron. [31-118-26] “Got to get back to my own work,” she said, as usual. [18-13-6]
Carl and James, in one bed, fell asleep shortly afterward, while Steve stayed up until about 6 a.m. watching mindless late-night television, flipping the channels between drag-racing and other junk. [19-107-10] Television programs portrayed a messy, undisciplined world of dress, customs, and language that seemed both attractive and beyond contrived. [11-184-22] After destroying the language that had lent itself to such machinations, they rebuilt it, revealing what it could do when used simply and with imagination. [1-144-7] The media I have mentioned can only divert a man from such wisdom and enslave him to what Dugumbe calls the worst of all evils: confusion. [23-4-23]
I want something gaudily colored, yet self-destructively attracted to fire. [8-26-16] My favorite moment in the old Mary Tyler Moore Show is when Mary interviews for the job in the WJM Newsroom. [20-11-6] He wasn’t in the mood for a full battery of psychological tests to determine the cause of a simple recurring dream. [17-3-19]
It seemed as if she was trying to make herself less significant, less noticeable. [7-77-20] Preferably a machine of some kind. [5-32-6] She’d effortlessly changed from sex kitten to commando to metropolitan sophisticate. [24-128-17]
She was a loner, which suited him fine. [22-92-10] When she awoke he was in bed beside her. [6-89-18] A silent jukebox blipped pathetic blue lights in the corner. [12-116-13]

0141 (brown sugar)

“Did you really get yourself into this mess just for me…?” she asked, softly. [2-422-33]
I kissed Katya on the cheek, went into the kitchen, and poured myself a drink. [20-53-12] She’s the best-looking girl this town has ever produced, tall and slender, built like a fashion model, with long reddish-brown hair and level Lauren Bacall eyes. [18-13-1] Her period was very regular. [11-245-31]
At that moment someone put on ‘Brown Sugar’, and this seemed to represent something of clarion call. [5-127-25]
“Now take off your clothes.” [13-183-22]
The red heat crawled higher into her cheeks. [17-60-32] She was relentless about not doing this till requested: it was her quirk. [8-194-16]
“Now lay flat, arms stretched past your head.” [7-89-21]
“If you think of me as property, I’m lost.” [26-41-26]
I was doing my damnedest to think of some way to say it that wouldn’t sound like dialogue from a Grade B movie. [18-59-19] But even as I was thinking the thought, she gathered her wits back together and her face hardened. [12-173-14]
“You’re getting the floor wet,” she said, [21-312-13] staring down at the puddles that had formed by our feet. [28-106-11]

0142 (mop up water)

“I’ll mop the water up later.” [21-312-14] My cock was really getting stiff. [5-98-14] The room got all soft and blurry. [28-72-11]
“You have an erection,” she murmured, ever the survivor. [2-423-9] “Do you know what my secret and pet name for your penis is?” [26-42-8]
“Which one?” [30-98-18]
“Pepera“. [24-31-4] She stressed the word, like maybe I didn’t know what it meant. [20-97-19] “But I have this friend, well she’s this girl I met today and she wants to be a lap dancer.” [29-43-28]
“When I was massaging your back, I’ve – we’ve both felt the same thing. [17-59-39] What you intend to do if I let you go?” [7-75-4]
Jess looked up at me in surprise. [18-47-7] “Well, he never comes round to see me but – [8-223-16] I mean, what are you trying to say? [15-204-40] You came on like real prick, Sam.” [12-184-13]

0044 (motel)

Within seconds, her breath had slowed again and she was sound asleep. [24-298-1]
We stayed at this motel too long and the motel man got suspicious of us. [4-223-57]
“Steve, Steve.” [14-4-24]
“No hard feelings!” [26-41-17] The beard and moustache on his face were neatly clipped. [7-118-19] His head was soaked; he had water-combed it in the bathroom, and it was the kind of hair that turned green when wet. [8-67-23]
“I’m in a town called Mercer, far southwest part of the state.” [11-89-] The lights of the city had begun to shine, blink, wink and sparkle. [5-167-25]