Tony and Susan

grins sassily at him. Susan Morrow has a prudish stre

remember Helen lecturing Laura and me

‘Let that be a lesson to you.’
‘What?’
‘The lesson is, everybody in this room knows what you done, so it don’t make the slightest bit of fuckin difference who implicates who. I don’t give a shit what you tell me.’
Nobody said anything.
‘I know. That’s all I need. Got that?’

Time for you to think a little. You need time to make big decisions. When your whole goddamn life hangs in the balance.

months had passed, and life cruelly demanded to be lived

She observes herself. She sees words. She talks to herself all the time. Does this make her a writer?

The new regime rewrites history to protect itself

Be frank, he said, and she tried to be, to explain what irritated her. That was a mistake. You don’t have to be that frank, he said.

Another painful interruption like divorce, required by the discrepancy between the laws of reading and the laws of life. You can’t read all night, not if you have responsibilities

Life goes on, he would say. I can’t grind my teeth all the time.