"When I lay down on the hostel bed, I remember the dog I saw once on the freeway to Paradise Valley. The dog was dead, its fur the color of old teeth, its body buttressed with gravel and dust..."
"He knows what the radiation’s done. He didn’t know for years; then he let himself suspect. And after that the job he had was still the best job he could get..."
"Gib holds his pee and doesn’t laugh when one kid stutters on the rug. He chews and tries to swallow mustard-flavored meat. Aiden calls him short. That is first grade..."