“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.”

“The subject of the missing painting is unidentified, though many believe it to be a self-portrait. Although the painting was never recovered, it has been known for years that the painting survived the war and it is not believed lost, but stolen.”

“An 1898 photograph from McClellan Hall’s earliest days shows maples, forsythias, and a grove of apple trees flourishing on the quadrangle’s lush natural carpet.”

“A rich man wanted to be richer, so he sold stars. How to sell a star? What people desperately want, they choose to believe they can buy.”

“Tonight, I’m in my gazebo that sits on a spit of land, narrow as a writing brush, that juts into the pond. No typing on screens tonight. My wine cup of white celadon sits on its matching saucer.”

“‘We’re here to find a suitable mirror,’ we say to the salesman (Kensington fils from his nametag).”

“Leekin ends at the river. The first people, the Catawba Nation, harnessed it with granite weirs.”

“‘Silencio, everyone, listen,’ Señor Mejias said, looking across his living room filled with young men and women holding the materials to make shields, masks, and banners.”