Berlatsky noted these things because all his life he had noted things, like a sparrow picks at crumbs. You could miss a lot of chances by not using y… - Elleston Trevor

For forty-three years Berlatsky had made a point of keeping out of trouble and now there was this.

Maria fetched the letters, half-running. She was the most willing girl they had ever had, and within three months she'd be speaking good English, and a month later she would leave, as they all did, because her mother was sick in Tijuana: in other words, someone—often a close neighbour—had offered her even more money, a colour TV set and the whole of every Friday off as well as Sunday.

Charlie saw her eyes were wet and he didn't know what to say because he wasn't used to thinking about people the way they really were, especially women: he only saw them as people who were going to be dumb enough to buy his line of crap or who were going to slam the door in his face and leave him eating tacos-to-go that night instead of sitting down at a Macdonald's. The Judge had asked him if he had any friends and he couldn't think of any, and he'd never realised it before.