"The Little Sister" Quotes

There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen.

From 30 feet away she looked like a lot of class. From 10 feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from 30 feet away.

I like smooth shiny girls, hardboiled and loaded with sin.

The room was too small, the house was too small, the town was too small, the people were too small. And the trouble was too big.

I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars.

She jerked away from me like a startled fawn might, if I had a startled fawn and it jerked away from me.

I had to get out of the sun before I fried like a mushroom.

I went to a pay phone and called my answering service. I had four calls, one of them from a woman who said she was the sister of a man I had once known in college. I didn't remember him. He must have been a good guy.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and lit a cigarette. I smoked and watched her. She didn't move at all. There was nothing I could do about it. Nothing. It made me feel pretty bad.

Her face fell apart like a bride's pie crust.