“Everyone laughs except Bix, who’s at his computer, and you feel like a funny guy for maybe half a second, until it occurs to you that they probably only laughed because they could see you trying to be funny, and they’re afraid you’ll jump out the window onto East Seventh Street if you fail, even at something so small.”

                     --Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad, 2010

“YOUR NAME IS BEVERLY GABLE, AND YOU ARE RETURNING HOME AFTER AN EVENING OF BABY-SITTING. FOR THREE AND ONE-HALF HOURS YOU WATCHED THE FLICKERING IMAGES PLAYING ON A TELEVISION SET, OBLIVIOUS TO THE DESPERATE CRIES OF THE CHILD IN THE OTHER ROOM…CRIES WHICH SUBSIDED ONCE YOUNG PETER HANCOCK THE THIRD GREW TIRED WAITING FOR YOU AND FELL ASLEEP. WHEN MR. AND MRS. HANCOCK RETURNED HOME FROM THEIR PARTY AND PAID YOU FOR YOUR SERVICES, THEY ASKED IF YOU WISHED A RIDE TO YOUR HOME. YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THEIR OFFER. BECAUSE, IF YOU HAD, YOU WOULD NOT HAVE TO DIE TONIGHT.”

                     --Marv Wolfman, TOM OF DRACULA, Vol. 1, No. 29, 
                        "'Vengeance is Mine,' Sayeth the Vampire!" 1975