“‘Katz, as he endured this bombardment, was feeling sad and remote. Walter and the girl seemed to have snapped under the pressure of thinking in too much detail about the fuckedness of the world. They’d been seized by a notion and talked each other into believing in it. Had blown a bubble that had then broken free of reality and carried them away. They didn’t seem to realize that they were dwelling in a world with a population of two.”

                     --Jonathan Franzen, Freedom, 2010

“A YOUNG NURSE WALKS FEVERISHLY THRU THE CITY’S STREETS AFTER HER SWING SHIFT DUTY…RESTLESS, LONELY…HOPING THAT EACH STEP MIGHT FURTHER DRUM FROM HER MIND THE MEMORY OF THE MAN SHE LOVED…AND LOST. A TEENAGE GIRL STUMBLES SLEEPILY HOME FROM A NEARBY PARTY. PERHAPS SHE AND HER MALE HOST RAIDED THE KITCHEN FOR A SIP OF SHERRY, OR A BOTTLE OF BEER. ANY OTHER NIGHT, THESE TWO YOUNG WOMEN WOULD HAVE QUIETLY PASSED EACH OTHER BY. BUT, TONIGHT IS NOT TO BE AN ORDINARY NIGHT…FOR EITHER OF THEM…!”

                     --Jean Thomas, NIGHT NURSE, Vol. 1, No. 2, 
            "Night of Tears...Night of Truth!," 1973