A Home at the End of the World

People who went to a lot of movies were usually able to see the irony in a wider variety of situations.

We become the stories we tell about ourselves

This is what you do. You make a future for yourself out of the raw material at hand.

“I want to paint Rebecca’s room,” he says. “It’s too dingy in there. What if we picked up some paint tomorrow, after work? Something gaudy that she’ll be nuts about, like bright pink. Nobody told me a baby would have such bad taste.”

The guy I’ve always thought of as my best friend

Bobby negotiated the world’s surprises with a deliberateness that was almost somnolent. Clare and I had decided privately that if the house caught fire, one of us would take responsibility for helping him decide which window to jump out of.

It can incubate for at least five years

“In a manner of speaking.”
“No. Literally

I didn’t eat the lunch they served on the plane. At a certain point in my flying career I realized I could just refuse the tray when they brought it. I still feel reckless doing it, though. Like I’m throwing away money

“Watch yourself, now. Don’t get patronizing.”
“I’m not being patronizing. When did you get so thin-skinned?”
“Oh, don’t mind me,” I said. “Nerves, I guess.