The parallel life his father had always sensed, shimmering just out of reach, riding a limitless cusp of possibility that never materialized.

I’d rather be here, with you, for the worst that could happen, than anywhere else, for the best.

Everything proceeded from an assumption of insufficiency.

She held up her hand and said, no photos. I don’t want to remember anything about this.

In her twenties she was pretty, by her thirties beautiful. And now, finally, she was as ugly as she’d always felt.

Your unexamined regard for your own training, professional standing, judgment, and notoriety leads me to question your intelligence.

The future hasn’t aged well.

These are the facts. These are the trees. You are the wind.

Life happened; he never knew what hit him.

There was an uneasiness between us. They always gave me booze for Christmas. It was the one thing they knew I liked.

That year’s mingled scent of burnt coffee, jet fuel, lavatory disinfectant. Dismal at the time, now you’d give anything to have it back.