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41 " More was expected of her, her usual engagement replete with queries and analysis and a kind of domestication of the topic so that it became like a furry pet with a life of its own, all of which he had come to depend on. The way a cat depends on your petting when it puts. The purring forces you to keep petting. Even after you’re tired. Even after you want to move on. Veblen has been detained countless hours in neighborhood walks, not sure when to break away, by purring cats. "
― Elizabeth Mckenzie , The Portable Veblen
42 " That's good, to be in the habit of saying sure. "
43 " You can't wreck anything. You only make things great. "
44 " My family.” “No! You never mentioned that.” She had noticed an endearing pattern: whenever Paul felt guilty or in need of affection, he’d tell a painful story about his past. "
45 " It was roaring, sweeping, aching, bending, a torrent carrying her away. "
46 " She nodded with earnest sympathy. How many times had she borne witness to her naked mother, running to the bedroom after a shower with a towel pressed to her front? But repeated viewings of her mother’s unclad emotions had been way worse, and had led Veblen to fear depressives. Back then she’d run for cover outside, where she would help frightened grasshoppers escape into the ravine, in danger of her mother’s shears. (When she was in a bad mood, and even when she was in a good mood, Melanie liked to hunt them down and cut them cleanly in half, which made Veblen scream.) She’d pretend she was part of the resistance during World War II, helping grasshopper comrades escape across the border. "
47 " Was this the stuff married life would be made of, two people making way for the confounding spectacle of the other, bewildered and slightly afraid? "
48 " The sharing of simple meals and discussing the day's events, of waking up together with plans for the future, things that feel practically bacchanalian when you're used to being on your own. "
49 " Was it arrogant to think a squirrel was following you around? "
50 " See? You're using the stoic glacier method." "Remind me, what's the stoic glacier method?" "It's the slow process of shaping someone's behavior by force of one's own personal stoicism. "
51 " The bed of a tortured soul is always in shambles by morning. "
52 " All right. This might sound like a dumb question, but—what stage of life are you in? Are you young, middle-aged? I know you’re not old.” She checked him out, standing at the back of the cage, spinning an acorn. He was inarguably solid. She said, “I know already. You’re in your prime.” • • • PRIMES CAME in all sizes, and despite popular belief, could come around and around, like trees through the seasons. "
53 " She had an internal clock set to her mother’s hunger for news, but sometimes it felt good to ignore it. "
54 " These embedded differences were enough to wreck everything, but what eager young couple would ever believe it? "