What he didn't know is that I know desperate too and crazy and what emptiness and alones and rage can do to you when you've got nothing but your own … - Dan Fante

What amused him most was another human's discomfort.

The problem that your type has is that you don't listen and you keep insisting on operating by your own rules. Only you push and shove and wiggle and spit and outsmart everybody. You're a lover of man and beast alike, as long as you're getting your way. With people like you, Bruno, pain is the only teacher. Failure. No one can tell you that you're about to put your hand in a buzz saw. But it's only when you, yourself, see fingertips flying past your eyes, and watch your arm being chopped into a bloody stump that you'll be able to stop. You hit all walls at full speed. That's what I mean by high maintenance.

Wilson smiled, knowing that not talking was one of her best features.