For some moments after silence had come like a poultice to heal the blows of sound, all that occupied his mind was the thought of what pests the gentler sex were when they got hold of a telephone. The instrument seemed to go to their heads like a drug. Connie Keeble, for instance. Nice sensible woman when you talked to her face to face, never tried to collar the conversation and all that, but the moment she got on the telephone, it was gab, gab, gab, and all about nothing.

Every now and then, I’d meet a guy and think that we were getting along great, and suddenly I’d stop hearing from him. Not only did he stop calling, but if I happened to bump into him sometime later he always acted like I had the plague. I didn’t understand it. I still don’t. And it bothered me. It hurt me. With time, it got harder and harder to keep blaming the guys, and I eventually came to the conclusion that there was something wrong with me. That maybe I was simply meant to live my life alone.

Над масата, на която дрънчеше телефаксът, висеше огледало. В него тя видя една жена, нито млада, нито стара. Нито майка, нито дъщеря. Бяха прави да й спестят истината. Не беше достатъчно напреднала, за да получи сигнала, да го разчете. Бе прекарала цялата си кариера в усилие да осъществи контакт с най-отдалечените и чужди странници, докато в собствения си живот едва ли бе осъществила контакт с когото и да било. С ярост бе отхвърляла митовете на другите за сътворението, сляпа пред лъжата за нейното собствено. Беше проучвала вселената през целия си живот, а бе пропуснала най-ясното послание: за малки същества като нас огромното пространство е поносимо само чрез обичта.

My people didn’t use mysterious powers to track you; we used deduction. Much more reliable.

I just saved your fucking life, Mom...It's like, if you — people of a certain age — would make some effort to just stay in touch with sort of basic, modern-day events, then your kids wouldn't have to take these drastic measures.

I used to feel that women were here for one reason. Sex was simply another kind of exercise, another body function. I was convinced a girl and I couldn't communicate on equal footing because she wouldn't understand what I was doing. I didn't have time to take one girl out regularly and go through a normal high-school romance with all its phone calls and notes and squabbles. That took too much time. I needed to be in the gym. For me it was a simple matter of picking them up at the lake, and then never seeing them again.

I have this disease late at night sometimes, involving alcohol and the telephone. I get drunk, and I drive my wife away with a breath like mustard gas and roses. And then, speaking gravely and elegantly into the telephone, I ask the telephone operators to connect me with this friend or that one, from whom I have not heard in years.