Home > Work > Expecting Someone Taller
1 " The next morning, Malcolm thought long and hard before waking up, for he had come to recognise over the past quarter of a century that rather less can go wrong if you are asleep. "
― Tom Holt , Expecting Someone Taller
2 " Malcolm turned round quite slowly. He had had a bad day, but not so bad that he could face talking badgers - talking dead badgers - with equanimity. "
3 " I’m perfectly cheerful, thank you,’ said Flosshilde coldly. "
4 " Having finally come to the end of this narrative, Malcolm was left with two abiding impressions: first, that Fafner the dragon, instead of keeping his money under the mattress like everyone else, had kept his mattress under the money; second, that humanity generally gets the Gods it deserves. "
5 " Suddenly, she was not pretty at all; she looked like a thousand-year-old teenager who wanted something she knew she couldn’t have. "
6 " Pile up that gold around my head. I must take it with me to pay the ferryman.’‘I thought it was just a coin on the eyes or something.’‘Inflation. Also, I’ll take up rather a lot of room on the boat. "
7 " But something told Malcolm that plumbing made gurgling noises, not stealthy creeping noises. "
8 " Niceness, he realised, was not enough, and Love was only part of the rest. You had to have laughter, too. Laughter would make everything come out right in the end, or if it didn’t nobody would notice. "
9 " Such confusion was, however, his normal state of mind. Without it, he would feel rather lost.Confusion is the only possible result of a lifetime of being asked unanswerable questions by one’s parents and relatives, such as ‘What are we going to do with you?’ or ‘Why can’t you be more like your sister?’ To judge by the frequency with which he encountered it, the latter problem was the truly significant one, to which not even the tremendous intellectual resources of his family had been able to find an answer. "
10 " As usual when asked to think of something, Malcolm’s mind went completely blank. "
11 " You don’t go around saying “Am I happy?” all the time, unless you’re human, of course. "
12 " If you’re mortal, all they can do to you is kill you. "
13 " Books, the estate agent had told him, provide excellent insulation, and since the heating bills would be very considerable in any event, he might as well leave them there even if he had no intention of ever reading them. "
14 " The fact that he hated and feared his new environment was largely beside the point, for he had been taught long ago that what he thought and felt about any given subject was without question the least important thing in the world. "
15 " Its kitchens were enormous and capable of being put to any use except the convenient preparation of food. "
16 " For some reason or other, Loge had a horrible feeling that by We, Wotan meant him. "
17 " But the world continued to thrive and prosper, with only the epidemic of love and romance spoiling an otherwise perfect situation. "
18 " The logical flaws and inconsistencies that riddled the tale, far from making him doubt its veracity finally convinced him that it might indeed be true; for life is like that. "
19 " All good things must come to an end,' said Flosshilde, 'and I don't suppose he'll ever be interested in me even if he does get rid of her. Which is funny, really,' she said bitterly. 'After all, he's nothing special and I am, Heaven knows. But there you are. "
20 " His role (if he had one, which he sometimes doubted) was to provide a comparison with his elder sister Bridget. "
