“The plane has drifted into space. Overcome by fatigue, she fell asleep.”

“Vicky Carrillo, Carlos Carrillo, and their two kids had been living in their little rental house for five years when Gloria Donne bought the house next door, along with the field behind it, and started her organic tomato farm.”

“The tour guide Octavio has a half-inch brown rectangle of decay between his two front teeth.”

“My grandma Borka referred to one’s other half as an esh, or more precisely iesh, because people in the part of Bulgaria closer to Russia speak in that dialect, softly. Iesh means the second thing in a pair…”

“As soon as you see me, net me. Keep me in a cage and jab out my eyes with a pair of golden nail scissors.”

“I know I am better than the rats. The rats have no imagination.”

“Hand bleeding, he grabs the broken neck of the bottle then tipsily conducts glass shards, cat hair, and spaghetti bits to a pan.”

“The men filled the hall, reeking and filthy from their journey. Hard sets to their bristled jaws, fists clamped on sword hilts. Muscles bulging. Male power, male presumption.”