“
You certainly do heal fast. But you'll still have some impressive bruises, so if I were you I'd avoid your father for the rest of the night."
"I'll just tell him you abuse me," Helen said with a shrug. She jumped off the examining table.
"And I'll tell him you like it," he teased back.
”
”
Josephine Angelini (Starcrossed (Starcrossed, #1))
“
A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.
”
”
H.L. Mencken
“
I should go in alone," Valkyrie said, speaking loudly to be heard. "If we both go in, it'll look to official."
"So I'll just stay out here?" Skulduggery asked. "But what'll I do? There's no one to talk to. It's boring."
"You're standing on the roof of a train," Valkyrie pointed out. "If you find this boring, you really need your head examined. Just wait here. I'll do what has to be done and I'll be find out.
"Fine," he said, sounding grumpy. "Don't be long.
”
”
Derek Landy (Kingdom of the Wicked (Skulduggery Pleasant, #7))
“
Tobin," Mom said disapprovingly. She wasn't a particularly funny person. It suited her professionally - I mean, you don't want your cancer surgeon to walk into the examination room and be like, "Guy walks into a bar. Bartender says, 'What'll ya have?' And the guy says, 'Whaddya got?' And the bartender says, 'I don't know what I got, but I know what you got: Stage IV melanoma.
”
”
John Green (Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances)
“
Kid 1: *examining my gorgeous strawberry and blueberry pies*: Wow, Mom, your pies don’t look awful this time.
Me (Ilona): ...
~A little later~
Kid 2: *wandering into the kitchen*
Kid 1: Hey, you’ve got to see these pies. *opening the stove*
Kid 2: Wow. They are not ugly this time.
Kid 1: I know, right?
”
”
Ilona Andrews
“
Eric approached the octagonal nurses’ station, and a blonde nurse
looked up from her computer monitor, smiled, and pointed to
examining room D. Everybody recognized the hospital shrinks
from the bright red W on their lanyard IDs. The W stood for
Wright, the wing that contained the locked psych unit, but the
staff teased that W stood for Wackos. He’d heard all the jokes—
How do you tell the psychiatrists from the patients in the hospital?
The patients get better and leave. Eric told the best psychiatrist
jokes, though he never told the ones about psychiatrist’s kids. He
didn’t think those were funny. He lived those.
”
”
Lisa Scottoline (Every Fifteen Minutes)
“
I tell you, the old-fashioned doctor who treated all diseases has completely disappeared, now there are only specialists, and they advertise all the time in the newspapers. If your nose hurts, they send you to Paris: there's a European specialist there, he treats noses. You go to Paris, he examines your nose: I can treat only your right nostril, he says, I don't treat left nostrils, it's not my specialty, but after me, go to Vienna, there's a separate specialist there who will finish treating your left nostril.
”
”
Fyodor Dostoevsky (The Brothers Karamazov)
“
Please ta meetcha, kid. I'm Aahz."
"Oz?"
"No Relation."
"No relation to what?" I asked, but he was examining the room again.
”
”
Robert Lynn Asprin (Another Fine Myth (Myth Adventures, #1))
“
Excuse me,” she said, her voice tight. “But if I’d known there was going to be a firearms examination at the end of the kidnapping, by God, I would have studied for it!
”
”
Tara Janzen (Avenging Angel)
“
Funny, Tam thought, how different a thing could seem at a distance—how beautiful, despite the ugly truth. Was it worth it, she wondered, to look closer? To examine something, or someone, if doing so risked changing your perception of them forever after? She was young enough to think the answer was yes, but too young to know if she was right.
”
”
Nicholas Eames (Bloody Rose (The Band, #2))
“
An hour and seven minutes after walking up. I stood with Noelle outside the Trust's house and prepared to raise my first -- and hopefully only -- demon.
Three minutes after that I looked at my demon and burst into laughter.
"What?" the demon asked, turning its head 360 degrees to examine itself "What's so Funny?"
"Why is the Summoner laughing and crying at the same time? I don't see what's so funny. I'm a demon; where's my respect? Where's the fear and cowering before me?
”
”
Katie MacAlister (Sex and the Single Vampire (Dark Ones #2))
“
Breakfast time," he said eventually, casually — to prove, I'm sure, that he remembered all my human
frailties.
So I clutched my throat with both hands and stared at him with wide eyes. Shock crossed his face.
"Kidding!" I snickered. "And you said I couldn't act!"
He frowned in disgust. "That wasn't funny."
"It was very funny, and you know it." But I examined his gold eyes carefully, to make sure that I was
forgiven. Apparently, I was.
"Shall I rephrase?" he asked. "Breakfast time for the human.
”
”
Stephenie Meyer (Twilight (The Twilight Saga, #1))
“
I started studying law, but this I could stand just for one semester. I couldn't stand more. Then I studied languages and literature for two years. After two years I passed an examination with the result I have a teaching certificate for Latin and Hungarian for the lower classes of the gymnasium, for kids from 10 to 14. I never made use of this teaching certificate. And then I came to philosophy, physics, and mathematics. In fact, I came to mathematics indirectly. I was really more interested in physics and philosophy and thought about those. It is a little shortened but not quite wrong to say: I thought I am not good enough for physics and I am too good for philosophy. Mathematics is in between.
”
”
George Pólya
“
As she watched, he examined the can intently, read the ingredients, then returned it to the shelf and chose another, repeating his thorough study of it.
The contrast between his rough, tough-guy appearance and the domestic act he was performing did funny things to her head.
She had a sudden, breathtaking vision of a dark-haired little boy sitting in the seat of the cart, laughing up at Cian, grabbing at his swinging braids with chubby little fists, while his daddy inspected the ingredients on a jar of baby food. Her mind’s eye
picture of sexy, strong man with beautiful, helpless child made something soft and warm blossom behind her chest.
”
”
Karen Marie Moning (Spell of the Highlander (Highlander, #7))
“
Do we have a hand mirror?' I asked from the kitchen doorway.
'Never use one,' said Lester, examining the date on a carton of sour cream.
'Naturally, you're a male. What you see is what you've got,' I said resentfully.
'Huh?' said Lester.
”
”
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (The Grooming of Alice (Alice, #12))
“
She wasn't a particularly funny person. It suited her professionally - I mean, you don't want your cancer surgeon to walk into the examination room and be like, "Guy walks into a bar. Bartender says, 'What'll ya have?' And the guy says, 'Whaddaya got?' And the bartender says, 'I don't know what I got, but I know what you got: Stage IV melanoma.
”
”
John Green (Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances)
“
Everything was just going perfect, then exam comes...
”
”
Atlas Gondal
“
In examinations, the foolish ask questions the wise cannot answer. -Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)
”
”
M. Prefontaine (The Big Book of Quotes: Funny, Inspirational and Motivational Quotes on Life, Love and Much Else (Quotes For Every Occasion 1))
“
The most effective cross-examination of Linda Kasabian was surprisingly that of Ronald Hughes. Though this was his first trial, and he frequently made procedural mistakes, Hughes was familiar with the hippie subculture, having been a part of it. He knew about drugs, mysticism, karma, auras, vibrations, and when he questioned Linda about these things, he made her look just a little odd, just a wee bit zingy. He had her admitting that she believed in ESP, that there were times at Spahn when she actually felt she was a witch.
Q. "Do you feel that you are controlled by Mr. Manson's vibrations?"
A. "Possibly."
Q. "Did he put off a lot of vibes?"
A. "Sure, he's doing it right now."
Hughes "May the record reflect, Your Honor, that Mr. Manson is merely sitting here."
Kanarek "He doesn't seem to be vibrating.
”
”
Vincent Bugliosi (Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders)
“
Finally,’ I said. ‘Something we agree on.’ ‘I bet we agree on a lot.’ He plucked a mangled maple-nut donut out and sat back, examining it in the fluorescent light. ‘Such as?’ ‘All the important stuff,’ Gus said. ‘The chemical composition of Earth’s atmosphere, whether the world needs six Pirates of the Caribbean movies, that White Russians should only be drunk you’re already sure you’re going to vomit anyway.
”
”
Emily Henry (Beach Read)
“
People tend to spend so much time focusing on what they feel they can't do, rather examining the true potential of what they can.
”
”
Mark W. Boyer (Human Resources for the Heart, the Soul, and the FunnyBone)
“
She pulled at his shirt until it was off. "Damn." She sucked in a breath and ran her hands up his chiseled chest. "You live at the gym or something?"
"Physical health is extremely important." His eyes grew dark as he examined her matching panties that left little to his imagination.
"Fuck yeah, it is," Morgan agreed. She licked her lips as she counted his abs.
”
”
H.S. Howe (Willing to Wait (The Goldwen Saga #3))
“
She's probably just tired of seeing you miserable.Like we all are," I add. "I'm sure...I'm sure she's as crazy about you as ever."
"Hmm." He watches me put away my own shoes and empty the contents of my pockets. "What about you?" he asks, after a minute.
"What about me?"
St. Clair examines his watch. "Sideburns. You'll be seeing him next month."
He's reestablishing...what? The boundary line? That he's taken, and I'm spoken for? Except I'm not. Not really.
But I can't bear to say this now that he's mentioned Ellie. "Yeah,I can't wait to see him again. He's a funny guy, you'd like him.I'm gonna see his band play at Christmas. Toph's a great guy, you'd really like him. Oh. I already said that,didn't I? But you would. He's really...funny."
Shut up,Anna. Shut.Up.
St. Clair unbuckles and rebuckles and unbuckles his watchband.
"I'm beat," I say. And it's the truth. As always, our conversation has exhausted me. I crawl into bed and wonder what he'll do.Lie on my floor? Go back to his room? But he places his watch on my desk and climbs onto my bed. He slides up next to me. He's on top of the covers, and I'm underneath. We're still fully dressed,minus our shoes, and the whole situation is beyond awkward.
He hops up.I'm sure he's about to leave,and I don't know whether to be relieved or disappointed,but...he flips off my light.My room is pitch-black. He shuffles back toward my bed and smacks into it.
"Oof," he says.
"Hey,there's a bed there."
"Thanks for the warning."
"No problem."
"It's freezing in here.Do you have a fan on or something?"
"It's the wind.My window won't shut all the way.I have a towel stuffed under it, but it doesn't really help."
He pats his way around the bed and slides back in. "Ow," he says.
"Yes?"
"My belt.Would it be weird..."
I'm thankful he can't see my blush. "Of course not." And I listen to the slap of leather as he pulls it out of his belt loops.He lays it gently on my hardwood floor.
"Um," he says. "Would it be weird-"
"Yes."
"Oh,piss off.I'm not talking trousers. I only want under the blankets. That breeze is horrible." He slides underneath,and now we're lying side by side. In my narrow bed. Funny,but I never imagined my first sleepover with a guy being,well,a sleepover.
"All we need now are Sixteen Candles and a game of Truth or Dare."
He coughs. "Wh-what?"
"The movie,pervert.I was just thinking it's been a while since I've had a sleepover."
A pause. "Oh."
"..."
"..."
"St. Clair?"
"Yeah?"
"Your elbow is murdering my back."
"Bollocks.Sorry." He shifts,and then shifts again,and then again,until we're comfortable.One of his legs rests against mine.Despite the two layers of pants between us,I feel naked and vulnerable. He shifts again and now my entire leg, from calf to thigh, rests against his. I smell his hair. Mmm.
NO!
I swallow,and it's so loud.He coughs again. I'm trying not to squirm. After what feels like hours but is surely only minutes,his breath slows and his body relaxes.I finally begin to relax, too. I want to memorize his scent and the touch of his skin-one of his arms, now against mine-and the solidness os his body.No matter what happens,I'll remember this for the rest of my life.
I study his profile.His lips,his nose, his eyelashes.He's so beautiful.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss, #1))
“
In one of his puckish moods Saul talked the president of a university into letting him anonymously take an examination being administered to candidates for a doctorate in community organization. "Three of the questions were on the philosophy of and motivations of Saul Alinsky," writes Saul. "I answered two of them incorrectly.
”
”
Nicholas von Hoffman (Radical: A Portrait of Saul Alinsky)
“
eligible men when she entered a ballroom. Those were expressions that minutely examined her flaws, quantified her, as if she were a piece of silver to be doled out and hoarded. This smile had the curious effect of making her want to smile, too, though nothing funny had been said. It was as if she’d been wanting such a smile all week long.
”
”
Lydia Kang (Opium and Absinthe)
“
D? Ribbit never gave tests before, and now he’s throwing Ds around?”
Barnstorm laughs in his face. “It isn’t Ribbit’s fault you’re stupid.” He examines his own paper. The word INCOMPLETE is written across the top. “What?!” he complains.
“At least I got a grade,” Aldo tells him.
“I miss the old Ribbit,” Barnstorm complains.
“Yeah,” Aldo agrees. “This is way too much like education.
”
”
Gordon Korman (The Unteachables)
“
Their eyes, warm not only with human bond but with the shared enjoyment of the art objects he sold, their mutual tastes and satisfactions, remained fixed on him; they were thanking him for having things like these for them to see, pick up and examine, handle perhaps without even buying. Yes, he thought, they know what sort of store they are in; this is not tourist trash, not redwood plaques reading Muir Woods, Marin County, PSA, or funny signs or girly rings or postcards or views of the Bridge. The girl’s eyes especially, large, dark. How easily, Childan thought, I could fall in love with a girl like this. How tragic my life, then; as if it weren’t bad enough already. The stylish black hair, lacquered nails, pierced ears for the long dangling brass handmade earrings. “Your
”
”
Philip K. Dick (The Man in the High Castle)
“
He gives me one of his most awful smiles. 'I suppose she'll have to be searched.'
...
'My husband was murdered,' I say. 'And whether or not you believe me, I do mourn him. I will not make a spectacle of myself for the Court's amusement when his body is barely cold.'
Unfortunately, the High King's smile only grows. 'As you wish. Then I suppose I will have to examine you along in my chambers.
”
”
Holly Black (The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3))
“
Everyone's here except for St. Clair." Meredith cranes her neck around the cafeteria. "He's usually running late."
"Always," Josh corrects. "Always running late."
I clear my throat. "I think I met him last night. In the hallway."
"Good hair and an English accent?" Meredith asks.
"Um.Yeah.I guess." I try to keep my voice casual.
Josh smirks. "Everyone's in luuurve with St. Clair."
"Oh,shut up," Meredith says.
"I'm not." Rashmi looks at me for the first time, calculating whether or not I might fall in love with her own boyfriend.
He lets go of her hand and gives an exaggerated sigh. "Well,I am. I'm asking him to prom. This is our year, I just know it."
"This school has a prom?" I ask.
"God no," Rashmi says. "Yeah,Josh. You and St. Clair would look really cute in matching tuxes."
"Tails." The English accent makes Meredith and me jump in our seats. Hallway boy. Beautiful boy. His hair is damp from the rain. "I insist the tuxes have tails, or I'm giving your corsage to Steve Carver instead."
"St. Clair!" Josh springs from his seat, and they give each other the classic two-thumps-on-the-back guy hug.
"No kiss? I'm crushed,mate."
"Thought it might miff the ol' ball and chain. She doesn't know about us yet."
"Whatever," Rashi says,but she's smiling now. It's a good look for her. She should utilize the corners of her mouth more often.
Beautiful Hallway Boy (Am I supposed to call him Etienne or St. Clair?) drops his bag and slides into the remaining seat between Rashmi and me. "Anna." He's surprised to see me,and I'm startled,too. He remembers me.
"Nice umbrella.Could've used that this morning." He shakes a hand through his hair, and a drop lands on my bare arm. Words fail me. Unfortunately, my stomach speaks for itself. His eyes pop at the rumble,and I'm alarmed by how big and brown they are. As if he needed any further weapons against the female race.
Josh must be right. Every girl in school must be in love with him.
"Sounds terrible.You ought to feed that thing. Unless..." He pretends to examine me, then comes in close with a whisper. "Unless you're one of those girls who never eats. Can't tolerate that, I'm afraid. Have to give you a lifetime table ban."
I'm determined to speak rationally in his presence. "I'm not sure how to order."
"Easy," Josh says. "Stand in line. Tell them what you want.Accept delicious goodies. And then give them your meal card and two pints of blood."
"I heard they raised it to three pints this year," Rashmi says.
"Bone marrow," Beautiful Hallway Boy says. "Or your left earlobe."
"I meant the menu,thank you very much." I gesture to the chalkboard above one of the chefs. An exquisite cursive hand has written out the morning's menu in pink and yellow and white.In French. "Not exactly my first language."
"You don't speak French?" Meredith asks.
"I've taken Spanish for three years. It's not like I ever thought I'd be moving to Paris."
"It's okay," Meredith says quickly. "A lot of people here don't speak French."
"But most of them do," Josh adds.
"But most of them not very well." Rashmi looks pointedly at him.
"You'll learn the lanaguage of food first. The language of love." Josh rubs his belly like a shiny Buddha. "Oeuf. Egg. Pomme. Apple. Lapin. Rabbit."
"Not funny." Rashmi punches him in the arm. "No wonder Isis bites you. Jerk."
I glance at the chalkboard again. It's still in French. "And, um, until then?"
"Right." Beautiful Hallway Boy pushes back his chair. "Come along, then. I haven't eaten either." I can't help but notice several girls gaping at him as we wind our way through the crowd.
”
”
Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss, #1))
“
Things changed after that between me and Mark. I stopped being mortified that people might mistake me for one of his acolytes. I was his Boswell, don’t you know. I interviewed him about his childhood—his father was a psychiarist in Beverly Hills. I cataloged the contents of his van. I followed him around at work, sitting in while he examined patients. He had been a bit of a prodigy when we were in college. After his father developed a tumor, Mark, who was pre-med, started studying cancer with an intensity that convinced many of his friends that his goal was to find a cure in time to save his father. As it turned out, his father didn’t have cancer. But Mark kept on with his cancer studies. His interest was not in fact in oncology—in finding a cure—but in cancer education and prevention. By the time he entered medical school, he had created, with another student, a series of college courses on cancer and coauthored The Biology of Cancer Sourcebook, the text for a course that was eventually offered to tens of thousands of students. He cowrote a second book, Understanding Cancer, that became a bestselling university text, and he continued to lecture throughout the United States on cancer research, education, and prevention. “The funny thing is, I’m not really interested in cancer,” Mark told me. “I’m interested in people’s response to it. A lot of cancer patients and suvivors report that they never really lived till they got cancer, that it forced them to face things, to experience life more intensely. What you see in family practice is that families just can’t afford to be superficial with each other anymore once someone has cancer. Corny as it sounds, what I’m really interested in is the human spirit—in how people react to stress and adversity. I’m fascinated by the way people fight back, by how they keep fighting their way to the surface.” Mark clawed at the air with his arms. What he was miming was the struggle to reach the surface through the turbulence of a large wave.
”
”
William Finnegan (Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life)
“
These word games bothered and intrigued me. Appearing to be silly nonsense, on examination they were absolutely logical—yet they were still funny. The comedy doors opened wide, and Lewis Carroll’s clever fancies from the nineteenth century expanded my notion of what comedy could be. I began closing my show by announcing, “I’m not going home tonight; I’m going to Bananaland, a place where only two things are true, only two things: One, all chairs are green; and two, no chairs are green.” Not at Lewis Carroll’s level, but the line worked for my contemporaries, and I loved implying that the one thing I believed in was a contradiction. I also was enamored of the rhythmic poetry of e. e. cummings, and a tantalizing quote from one of his recorded lectures stayed in my head. When asked why he became a poet, he said, “Like the burlesque comedian, I am abnormally fond of that precision which creates movement.” The line, with its intriguing reference to comedy, was enigmatic, and it took me ten years to work out its meaning.
”
”
Steve Martin (Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life)
“
I’ll have tea,” Clary said, realizing how long it had been since she had eaten or drunk anything. She felt as if she’d been running on pure adrenaline since she woke up.
Jace succumbed.
“All right. As long as it isn’t Earl Grey,” he added, wrinkling his fine-boned nose. “I hate bergamot.”
Madame Dorothea cackled loudly and disappeared back through the bead curtain, leaving it swaying gently behind her.
Clary raised her eyebrows at Jace. "You hate bergamot?"
Jace had wandered over to the narrow bookshelf and was examining its contents. "You have a problem with that?"
"You may be the only guy my age I've ever met who knows what bergamot is, much less that it's in Earl Grey tea."
"Yes, well," Jace said, with a supercilious look, "I'm not like other guys. Besides," he added, flipping a book off the shelf, "at the Institute we have to take classes in basic medicinal uses for plants. It's required."
"I figured all your classes were stuff like Slaughter 101 and Beheading for Beginners.”
Jace flipped a page. "Very funny, Fray.
”
”
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
“
Do Wolves usually chew on mint?"
"No. Why?" Before coming to see Meg, he'd gone into the bathroom at HGR to use some mouthwash. He'd also examined both sets of teeth to make sure there weren't any bits of human flesh stuck between them from carrying the backbone.
Did he smell minty from the mouthwash–or was the scent wafting in from the front room?
Meg confirmed that suspicion when she glanced at the Private doorway before leaning toward him and whispering, "When Nathan came back to the office, he smelled like he'd rolled in mint."
he told the watch Wolf.
”
”
Anne Bishop (Etched in Bone (The Others, #5))
“
If, on the way back from the Passage des Patriarches to my apartment near Saint-Germain-des-Prés, I had thought of examining myself like a transparent foreign body, I should have discovered one of the laws which governs the behavior of "featherless bipeds unequipped to conceive the number pi"—Father Sogol's definition of the species to which he, you, and I belong. This law might be termed: inner resonance to influences nearest at hand. The guides on Mount Analogue, who explained it to me later, called it simply the chameleon law. Father Sogol had really convinced me, and while he was talking to me, I was prepared to follow him in his crazy expedition. But as I neared home, where I could again find all my old habits, I imagined my colleagues at the office, the writers I knew, and my best friends listening to an account of the conversation I had just had. I could imagine their sarcasm, their skepticism, and their pity. I began to suspect myself of naiveté and credulity, so much so that when I tried to tell my wife about meeting Father Sogol, I caught myself using expressions like "a funny old fellow," "an unfrocked monk," "a slightly daffy inventor," "a crazy idea.
”
”
René Daumal (Mount Analogue)
“
We need a test!" I jump up out of the chair and pat my body down. "Where's my wallet?"
"In your pocket," she replies dryly.
"I'll be back!" I race out of the house and drive the short distance between Dom's estate and the nearest village. After I find a drug store and buy one of each kind of pregnancy test they have, I race back to my hopefully pregnant wife.
"That was fast," she murmurs with a grin. She was still sitting in the lounge chair, sipping her coffee.
"Should you be drinking coffee?" I ask.
"Let's not get crazy," she responds. I need coffee.
"I got one of each kind," I announce and opened the bag, sending small white and blue boxes scattering.
"Uh, Caleb, we only need one."
"What if we can't figure them out?" I ask and pick one up to examine it. "All of the instructions are in Italian."
She laughs hysterically and then stands, wiping her eyes.
"It's not funny."
"Yes, it is. Pregnancy tests are pretty universal, Caleb. You pee on it and a line either appears or it doesn't." She rubs my arm sweetly and kisses my shoulder before plucking the box out of my fingers. "I'll be back."
"I'm coming with you." I begin to follow her but she turns quickly with her hands out to stop me.
"Oh no, you aren't. You are not going to watch me pee on this stick."
I scowled down at her and cross my arms over my chest. "I've helped you bathe and dress and every other damn thing when you were hurt. I can handle watching you pee."
"Absolutely not." She shakes her head but then leans in and kisses my chin. "But thank you for helping me when I was hurt."
She turns and runs for the bathroom and it feels like an eternity before she comes back out, white stick in her hand.
"Well?" I ask.
"It takes about three minutes, babe." She sits in the lounge chair and stares out over the vineyard.
”
”
Kristen Proby (Safe with Me (With Me in Seattle, #5))
“
shot through and through. Cocked rifles swept the bush with nervous apprehension. But there was no rustle, no movement; nothing but the humid oppressive silence. “Bushmen he no stop,” Binu Charley called out, the sound of his voice startling more than one of them. “Allee same damn funny business. That fella Koogoo no look ’m eye belong him. He no savvee little bit.” Koogoo’s arms had crumpled under him, and he lay quivering where he had fallen. Even as Binu Charley came to the front the stricken black’s breath passed from him, and with a final convulsive stir he lay still. “Right through the heart,” Sheldon said, straightening up from the stooping examination. “It must have been a trap of some sort.” He noticed Joan’s white, tense face, and the wide eyes with which she stared at the wreck of what had been a man the minute before. “I recruited that boy myself,” she said in a whisper. “He came down out of the bush at Poonga-Poonga and right on board the Martha and offered himself. And I was proud. He was my very first recruit—” “My word! Look ’m that fella,” Binu Charley interrupted, brushing aside the leafy wall of the run-way and exposing a bow so massive that no one bushman could have bent it. The Binu man traced out the mechanics of the trap, and exposed the hidden fibre in the tangled undergrowth that at contact with Koogoo’s foot had released the taut bow. They were deep in the primeval forest. A dim twilight prevailed, for no random shaft of sunlight broke through the thick roof of leaves and creepers overhead. The Tahitians were plainly awed by the silence and gloom and mystery of the place and happening, but they showed themselves doggedly unafraid, and were for pushing on. The Poonga-Poonga men, on the contrary, were not awed. They were bushmen themselves, and they were used to this silent warfare, though the devices were different from those employed by them in their own bush. Most awed of all were Joan and Sheldon, but, being whites, they were
”
”
Jack London (Adventure)
“
Az, this one's for you.'
The shadowsinger's brows lifted, but his scarred hand extended to take the present.
Elain turned from where she'd been spreaking to Nesta. 'Oh, that's from me.'
Azriel's face didn't so much as shift at the words. Not even a smile as he opened the present and revealed-
'I had Madja make it for me,' Elain explained. Azriel's brows narrowed at the mention of the family's preferred healer. 'It's a powder to mix in with any drink.'
Silence.
Elain bit her lip and then smiled sheepishly. 'It's for the headaches everyone always gives you. Since you rub your temples so often.'
Silence again.
Then Azriel tipped his head back and laughed.
I'd never heard such a sound, deep and joyous. Cassian and Rhys joined him, the former grabbing the bottle from Azriel's hand and examining it. 'Brilliant, 'Cassian said.
Elain smiled again, ducking her head.
Azriel mastered himself enough to say, 'Thank you.' I'd never seen his hazel eyes so bright, the hues of green amid the brown and grey like veins of emerald. 'This will be invaluable.'
'Prick, ' Cassian said, but laughed again.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.5))
“
His first interruption came immediately after she explained that she’d examined Mr. Wilson while he was still in bed. “In his nightclothes?” the duke gasped. Although he did not turn pink at the notion, his discomfort was plain and Bea had to squelch the laughter that rose in her throat. It was so impossibly funny that she, a spinster of advancing years, was less prudish than a duke who must have had several if not dozens of mistresses. “Yes, in his nightclothes. It didn’t strike me as prudent to have the butler dress him in his afternoon attire and arrange him in the sitting room. For one thing, it would have been ghoulish to see a dead man with the affect of an alive one. Furthermore, it would have ruined any opportunity for me to gather useful information from the scene itself. But that is just my opinion and you should of course feel free to attire and arrange the next corpse you examine in whatever way is least offensive to your sensibilities.” She’d meant to make him feel ridiculous for his scruples, but he merely thanked her for the suggestion and promised he would indeed keep it in mind should the situation arise.
”
”
Lynn Messina (An Infamous Betrayal (Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries, #3))
“
Jude never loved Locke.” My face feels hot, but my shame
is an excellent cover to hide behind. “She loved someone else.
He’s the one she’d want dead.”
I am pleased to see Cardan flinch. “Enough,” he says before
I can go on. “I have heard all I care to on this subject—”
“No!” Nicasia interrupts, causing everyone under the hill to
stir a little. It is immense presumption to interrupt the High
King. Even for a princess. Especially for an ambassador. A
moment after she speaks, she seems to realize it, but she goes
on anyway. “Taryn could have a charm on her, something that
makes her resistant to glamours.”
Cardan gives Nicasia a scathing look. He does not like her
undermining his authority. And yet, after a moment, his anger
gives way to something else. He gives me one of his most
awful smiles. “I suppose she’ll have to be searched.”
Nicasia’s mouth curves to match his. It feels like being back
at lessons on the palace grounds, conspired against by the
children of the Gentry.
I recall the more recent humiliation of being crowned the
Queen of Mirth, stripped in front of revelers. If they take my
gown now, they will see the bandages on my arms, the fresh
slashes on my skin for which I have no good explanation.
They will guess I am not Taryn.
I can’t let that happen. I summon all the dignity I can
muster, trying to imitate my stepmother, Oriana, and the way
she projects authority. “My husband was murdered,” I say.
“And whether or not you believe me, I do mourn him. I will
not make a spectacle of myself for the Court’s amusement
when his body is barely cold.”
Unfortunately, the High King’s smile only grows. “As you
wish. Then I suppose I will have to examine you alone in my
chambers.
”
”
Holly Black (The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3))
“
So okay. C-section in the morning? Why not?
Chris still hadn’t shown up when I felt the examining room. Nor had he answered my call asking him what was up.
I got in my car to drive to the hospital, then did what a lot of women do in that situation: I called my mom.
“Hey, honey, are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes.” I burst into tears. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how close to panicking I really was.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I…don’t know where Chris is. I have to go to the hospital to have the baby-“
“It’ll be OK,” she said quickly. “I’m going to the airport. I’ll be there.”
I didn’t even get to explain the full situation.
Then Chris called. “Where are you?” I asked. I was somewhere between relieved and angry-or maybe I was both angry and relieved.
“I just had some stuff happen,” he said. “I’m okay. I’ll tell you when I see you.”
“I need you now,” I said, telling him about the baby.
If you’ve read American Sniper, you know what had happened to him: he passed out during what should have been a very routine procedure to remove a cyst in his neck. It was a freak thing that led to what we think was a temporary seizure.
Some “thing.” But being a SEAL and being Chris, he completely minimized it. In fact, I didn’t know what had happened until later. All I knew was that he met me at the hospital and was by my side when I needed him.
There is a bit of a funny story attached to the incident. A friend of Chris’s happened to be with him when he passed out.
“Stand back,” his friend told the corpsman.
“What? Why?” the corpsman asked.
“Because when he comes to, he’s going to come up swinging.”
“No.”
The corpsman leaned down. Just then, Chris came to and, as his friend had warned, started swinging. Fortunately, the corpsman jerked out of the way just in time.
”
”
Taya Kyle (American Wife: Love, War, Faith, and Renewal)
“
While writing the article that reported these findings, Amos and I discovered that we enjoyed working together. Amos was always very funny, and in his presence I became funny as well, so we spent hours of solid work in continuous amusement. The pleasure we found in working together made us exceptionally patient; it is much easier to strive for perfection when you are never bored. Perhaps most important, we checked our critical weapons at the door. Both Amos and I were critical and argumentative, he even more than I, but during the years of our collaboration neither of us ever rejected out of hand anything the other said. Indeed, one of the great joys I found in the collaboration was that Amos frequently saw the point of my vague ideas much more clearly than I did. Amos was the more logical thinker, with an orientation to theory and an unfailing sense of direction. I was more intuitive and rooted in the psychology of perception, from which we borrowed many ideas. We were sufficiently similar to understand each other easily, and sufficiently different to surprise each other. We developed a routine in which we spent much of our working days together, often on long walks. For the next fourteen years our collaboration was the focus of our lives, and the work we did together during those years was the best either of us ever did. We quickly adopted a practice that we maintained for many years. Our research was a conversation, in which we invented questions and jointly examined our intuitive answers. Each question was a small experiment, and we carried out many experiments in a single day. We were not seriously looking for the correct answer to the statistical questions we posed. Our aim was to identify and analyze the intuitive answer, the first one that came to mind, the one we were tempted to make even when we knew it to be wrong. We believed—correctly, as it happened—that any intuition that the two of us shared would be shared by many other people as well, and that it would be easy to demonstrate its effects on judgments.
”
”
Daniel Kahneman (Thinking, Fast and Slow)
“
My fingers grazed his. Warm and sturdy- patient, as if waiting to see what else I might do. Maybe it was the wind, but I stroked a finger down his.
And as I turned to him more fully, something blinding and tinkling slammed into my face.
I reeled back, crying out as I bent over, shielding my face against the light that I could still see against my shut eyes.
Rhys let out a startled laugh.
A laugh.
And when I realised that my eyes hadn't been singed out of their sockets, I whirled on him. 'I could have been blinded!' I hissed, shoving him. He took a look at my face and burst out laughing again. Real laughter, open and delighted and lovely.
I wiped at my face, and when I pulled my hands down, I gasped. Pale green light- like drops of paint- glowed in flecks on my hand.
Splattered star-spirit. I didn't know if I should be horrified or amused. Or disgusted.
When I went to rub it off, Rhys caught my hand. 'Don't,' he said, still laughing. 'It looks like your freckles are glowing.'
My nostrils flared, and I went to shove him again, not caring if my new strength knocked him off the balcony. He could summon wings; he could deal with it.
He sidestepped me, veering toward the balcony rail, but not fast enough to avoid the careening star that collided with the side of his face.
He leaped back with a curse. I laughed, the sound rasping out of me. Not a chuckle or snort, but a cackling laugh.
And I laughed again, and again, as he lowered his hands from his eyes.
The entire left side of his face had been hit.
Like heavenly war paint, that's what it looked like. I could see why he didn't want me to wipe mine away.
Rhys was examining his hands, covered in the dust, and I stepped toward him, peering at the way it glowed and glittered.
He went still as death as I took one of his hands in my own and traced a star shape on the top of his palm, playing with the glimmer and shadows, until it looked like one of the stars that had hit us.
His fingers tightened on mine, and I looked up. He was smiling at me. And looked so un-High-Lord-like with the glowing dust on the side of his face that I grinned back.
I hadn't even realised what I'd done until his own smile faded,, and his mouth partly slightly.
'Smile again,' he whispered.
I hadn't smiled for him. Ever. Or laughed. Under the Mountain, I had never grinned, never chuckled. And afterward...
And this male before me... my friend...
For all that he had done, I had never given him either. Even when I had just... I had just painted something. On him. For him.
I'd- painted again.
So I smiled at him, broad and without restraint.
'You're exquisite,' he breathed.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2))
“
If your god, and following him, you see infidels, then, both dumb-heads must be examined. Maybe somebody else is playing the fiddle.
”
”
Fakeer Ishavardas
“
Do I look like I’ve been crying?”
The question seems almost funny to me. Her tears vanished almost as quickly as they came, and now her face is fair again, her eyes dry, her hair smooth. Like nothing ever happened--like she didn’t just spend three minutes overwhelmed by terror. She’s stronger than I was.
“Hmm.” I lean in closer, making a joke of examining her, but then it’s not a joke, and I’m just close, and we’re sharing a breath.
“No, Tris,” I say. “You look…” I try a Dauntless expression. “Tough as nails.”
She smiles a little. So do I.
”
”
Veronica Roth (Four: A Divergent Story Collection (Divergent, #0.1-0.4))
“
Humor
Humor is a great social lubricator—it can make interacting go more smoothly. If you are good at telling jokes, try a few. Telling jokes is risky, however; do not tell ethnic, racist, or off-color jokes. And as always, pay careful attention to interactive chemistry. One high school student who attended my program reported that, although he tried to become part of a popular social group at his new school, playing on the football team and joining several clubs, he was not invited to socialize with the other kids off the field. He had become known for telling joke after joke, in vain hopes of being accepted. When we examined things more carefully, it became clear that his style of telling jokes—sometimes irrelevant, sometimes just plain corny—was not appealing to the peer group he was associating with. Quite simply, the chemistry was off.
If you wish to inject humor and levity into an interaction, it’s better to tell funny stories. If the funny stories are about yourself, great: People enjoy mildly self-deprecating humor. You can also find amusing true stories in the newspaper.
”
”
Jonathan Berent (Beyond Shyness: How to Conquer Social Anxieties)
“
A detective pulled me aside yesterday for a private word. He looks at me with my two black eyes and says, 'Just tell me the name of the guy who did it and I'll take care of him.' I laughed and said, 'Osama Bin Laden. Good luck with that.' He didn't think it was funny.
”
”
Judy Melinek (Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner)
“
If you don’t believe that space is infinite, have your head examined.
”
”
Kerry G. Carruth
“
Rhysand examined the wound, a smile appearing on his sensuous lips. 'Oh, that's wonderfully gruesome.' I swore at him, and he chuckled. 'Such words from a lady.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1))
“
The dog is on the scent of something now, head sunk between his shoulder blades, nose skimming a quarter inch above the asphalt. Oscar examines me as we walk. He’s much looser than he was with the kids or at the signing table. He’s looking at me with mirth, as if I’m already saying something funny, as if we have a history of little jokes between us.
”
”
Lily King (Writers & Lovers)
“
Someone got laid last night. Dude! About time," Rodney said as Kane walked through the restaurant, officially three hours late. He had to give Rodney credit, his hands never stopped working the glasses into the ceiling rack of the bar. His eyes did narrow, examining Kane's face as he got closer. "You drank, too? A fuck and alcohol. Whoa, man! Give me five!" "You don't know that," Kane said, shoving his sunglasses up on his face, ignoring the outstretched hand. He'd only worn them in a lame attempt to hide his bloodshot eyes. Of course, a bartender could pick up on someone with a hangover—it was usually his handiwork that created the situation. "I absolutely do know. You're late, wearing sunglasses, squinting, and walking funny. Let me see your eyes," Rodney said, rounding the corner to get a better look.
”
”
Kindle Alexander (Always (Always & Forever #1))
“
Furi walked across Syn’s living room carpet for what felt like the millionth time while he waited for him to come back. How dare he order me to leave? Like I’m a damn kid. Furi decided right then and there that he was going to have a talk with Syn. Furi wouldn’t be his kept man or his bitch.
Furi stopped mid-stride when he heard the door open and close behind Syn. All the anger and hostility he’d felt while alone in Syn’s place just disappeared when the ruggedly handsome man yanked his dark coat off and threw it on the couch, approaching Furi with a hungry look.
“Did he hurt you?” Syn’s voice was gravelly. He put both hands on either side of Furi’s neck and lifted it gently, eyeing the slight redness there.
“I’m fine. Despite the fact you keep having to rescue me, I’m not a weakling. I can defend myself,” Furi said with venom, pulling away from Syn’s examination.
“Right. That Mr. Miyagi crash course at the Y.” Syn stifled a laugh, but Furi thought it was anything but funny and he let Syn know it.
“Don’t fucking mock me.” Furi stormed past him down the hall. Syn’s footsteps sounded behind him. He’d just caught up with him when he opened the bathroom door.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Syn said in a whisper. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t mocking you, I was teasing you.”
Furi frowned and Syn shook his head. “Let me clarify. Joking after an intensely stressful situation helps to calm me. I need to come down from the high of an adrenaline rush, that’s all that was.
”
”
A.E. Via
“
I still can’t believe you kissed him.”
“Speaking of,” Lucy says coyly, “on a scale of one to ten…?”
I just stare at her, mouth agape. “What, you want me to rate him?”
“Uh, yeah,” Lucy answers, smiling wickedly. “Don’t leave us hanging.”
“Fine.” I let out my breath in a huff. “He was a perfectly competent kisser.”
“Perfectly competent? Yeah, I don’t think so. C’mon, you gotta dish, girlfriend.”
I fold my arms across my chest. “Don’t you think I’m in enough trouble as it is?”
Her response is a pointed stare.
“Okay, fine. He was a good kisser. Really good. A seven, maybe an eight. There, are you satisfied?”
Her lips twitch with a smile. “I figured he would be.”
Morgan mimes sticking her finger down her throat and gagging.
“Your mama’s going to be brokenhearted, you know,” Lucy says, reaching for my abandoned plate and pulling it toward her. She picks up a half-eaten éclair and examines it, then sets it back down. “Hasn’t she already picked out a china pattern for you and Ryder?”
“Ha-ha, very funny.” But truth be told, she probably has.
”
”
Kristi Cook (Magnolia (Magnolia Branch, #1))
“
The wound was a curiosity in a small way and various doctors examined it with much clicking of tongues and 'Que suerte! Que suerte!
”
”
George Orwell (Homage to Catalonia)
“
So, who won the fight?' Cassian asked the next morning as she sat on her rock and watched him go through his exercises.
He hadn't asked at breakfast about the black eye and cut chin or how stiffly she'd moved. Neither had Mor upon her arrival. That the bruising and cuts remained at all told Nesta how bad the fall had been, but as High Fae, with her improved healing, they were already on the mend.
...
'What fight?' She examined her mangled nails. Even with the... whatever it was she'd flung out to catch herself, her nails had cracked. She didn't let herself name what had come from within her, didn't let herself acknowledge it. By dawn, it had been strangled into submission.
'The one between you and the stairs.'
Nesta cut him a glare. 'I don't know what you're talking about.'
Cassian began moving once more, drawing his sword and running through a series of movements that all seemed designed to hack a person in two. 'You know: three in the morning, you leave your room to get shit-faced drunk in town, and you're in such a rush to conquer the steps that you fall down a good thirty of them before you can stop yourself.'
Had he seen the step? The handprint?
She demanded. 'How do you know that?'
He shrugged.
'Are you watching me?' Before he could answer, she spat. 'You were watching and didn't come to help?'
Cassian shrugged again. 'You stopped falling. If you'd kept at it, someone would have eventually come to catch you before you hit the bottom.'
She hissed at him.
He only grinned and beckoned with a hand. 'Want to join me?'
'I should push you down those stairs.'
...
'Well?' he demanded, an edge creeping into his voice. 'If you've got those glorious bruises, you might as well claim it came from training and not a pathetic tumble.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4))
“
Before we get started, I need to warn you that this book is going to talk about suicide, including detailing suicidal methods. It’s going to detail experience of sexual assault. It’s also going to talk about addiction, including references to cocaine and alcohol abuse. It’s going to examine self-harm and depression. It’s going to be honest about some of the darkest things it’s possible to feel. It’s also going to (try to) be funny. I
”
”
Joe Tracini (Ten Things I Hate About Me)
“
In 1984, I had another conversation that had underscored this point to me. Herb Okun, the deputy US ambassador to the UN, had come to his post after serving as US ambassador to communist East Germany. “What’s it like there, Herb?” I had asked him. “Oh, nothing much,” Herb answered. “They live in dilapidated housing, drive funny little Trabants, drink vodka all day while watching eight hours of West German television.” “What!” I asked in disbelief. “What did you just say?” “They watch eight hours of West German television every day and then drink themselves to sleep,” he repeated. “You mean to tell me that watching eight hours a day of West German television doesn’t have any effect on them?” I asked incredulously. “None that I can see,” Okun answered. “Herb,” I said, “that can’t be. It’s just a question of time until the cracks will appear.” The conversation made me recall an engineering course I took at MIT. We loaded a small model bridge with steadily increasing loads and photographed the process. The bridge held fine, until it suddenly collapsed. Yet upon closer examination of the film we could see tiny cracks propagating in the structure well before the fall.
”
”
Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi: My Story)
“
I was standing by the car when two police officers showed up in the alley, very interested in me and the BMW in an alley where car traffic was not allowed at all, sitting there with a Belgian plate tag in the middle of the coffeeshop district, with me, the Hungarian guy, leaning to it smoking a cigarette, obviously waiting for something to happen. They began to examine my IDs and started searching the car. They were looking for drugs, apparently. I had been dealing with them for a few minutes when Adam showed up at the end of the alley. I was the only one looking that way, seeing Adam walking to turn into the alley; the two officers were too busy to notice what I had witnessed. The moment Adam looked up and noticed the officers around me, the moment he was about to turn right towards us into the alley, he made a 180-degree turn, the way a bad kid would do when playing hide and seek. Catching his steps the way Mr. Bean or Benny Hill would do—I could almost hear the music too—was both very funny and very concerning. He was too stupid to be a criminal; he was such a lame criminal that he didn't even think of walking past the alley's entrance like nothing happened instead of turning around and acting so suspiciously and obviously being in the wrong. I began to wonder how the coffeeshop business would work out with this guy if he was suddenly on cocaine all the time before we even opened the club? How would not he get me in trouble when there would be kilograms of marijuana and tons of cash flying around? How could I ever quit this job even if we could manage to run the place and get rich over the next 2-3 years? How would I ever get rid of this embarrassing, childish, dangerously silly criminal guy?
By some miracle, in the car—which was used by these junkies and was usually full of smoking accessories—the cops didn't find a cigarette paper either, although they were very, very thorough. Belgian BMW wagon with a Hungarian guy, in an alley in the area full of marijuana clubs. They were sure they had me now, that they would be rewarded for such a catch. But there was nothing in the car.
I was able to show them Rachel's Belgian registration and everything, explaining that she was my girlfriend who was in Belgium at that time and we were both working for a company selling smoking accessories; I gave them my business card. I apologized for parking there and even driving into that alley with the car.
They fined me regardless. Before we started dealing with the marijuana behalf my name, we were collecting fines attributed to Adam on my name. Talk about being cheap. Apparently, he had started growing a lot of marijuana without my knowledge in a place he did not want me to find out about.
As I was driving back to Urgell, we were both very silent. I was calm but he was anxious and I could almost hear the gears spinning in his mind. Perhaps at the same moment, we both realized that if I got arrested for any reason and ended up in jail, Adam could keep the 33% profit of the coffeeshop which I had signed up for and which belonged to me.
‘Thinking quickly. Acting quicker.’
Never quick enough. The sneaker.
Adam was usually very slow,
whether he was high or low.
”
”
Tomas Adam Nyapi (BARCELONA MARIJUANA MAFIA)
“
Sir, this bad luck never leaves me, some people are just unlucky?
What happened?
I sowed the seed, watered & fertilized it on time, but what I reap is some wild fruit?
OK, so what's the problem?
I was expecting a Mango?
Did you examine the seed at the time of sowing?
No, I was reasonably confident of the seed, I observed someone using the similar seed.
Hence, you were so confident that you didn’t bother to cross check.
But had I checked, that person would have assumed me as an amateur?
It’s funny, you are not an expert, but you want to pretend as one, checking about a seed would have shown you a sincere person, remember, when we ask for help from someone it makes them responsible for us, but when they see us doing things wrong & still not asking, they take us as over-confident & arrogant, and everyone laughs at the failure of over-confident or arrogant people.
”
”
Shahenshah Hafeez Khan
“
Sometimes I can even read you as well as you read me. You have no idea what you’re doing half the time. You have no idea who you are.”
Perhaps not, Shea, but I know you are my lifemate. I could not harm you now. His face remained granite, his eyes dark and ice cold. She was right. He was dangerous. He knew it in his soul. His mind was not to be trusted. Her presence kept him tranquil, calm, but his mind was a maze of dark, deadly trails. He had no idea I he would be able to distinguish reality from nightmare if their delicately balanced world tilted in any way. His black eyes went a glittering obsidian, and he looked away from her, ashamed. He should allow her to leave, give her her freedom, but he could not. She was his only sanity his only path to the surface from the hellish nightmare he lived in. I have sworn to protect you, Shea. I can only promise it is in my heart to do so.
Shea stepped away from the bed, suddenly close to tears. He was in a treacherous labyrinth; he walked a fine line between sanity and a world she did not want to try to comprehend. “I will protect you, Jacques. You have my solemn word, I won’t let you down. I’ll see you through this until you’re right again.”
And then? His black gaze slid lazily over her. Do you intend to leave me, Shea? You save me, and then you think to desert me? There was a kind of dark humor in his voice, a secret amusement that stirred something in her she hadn’t known existed. Something that went beyond fear. Terror.
Her chin tilted a little belligerently. “What does that mean? Of course I won’t desert you. I’ll stay with you and see you through this. We’ll find your family.”
It was too late. Even if she attempted to put distance between them, she could not break their bond. His blood ran in her veins; his mind was familiar with the path to hers. Their souls called to one another. Hearts were following, and it was only matter of time before he possessed her body. Running would not save either of them. Jacques knew it with a certainty with which he knew few other things. But imparting the knowledge to her would frighten her more. His heart twisted, a funny somersault. His Shea feared death far less than she feared personal commitment. She really had no idea they were already bound together. She would need him, need him close, need him touching her in her mind, in her body.
I feel your need to perform the human functions you seem to enjoy. Go bathe. I am in no hurry to have you examine my wounds.
”
”
Christine Feehan (Dark Desire (Dark, #2))
“
She tossed. Turned. Tried to count sheep; in her head, she began examining and vaccinating them, which wasn’t helpful when trying to fall back asleep.
”
”
Nancy Naigle (Christmas In Evergreen)
“
I thought you said you wre bringing a dead body in for examination. Didn't you think to check he actually was dead first?'
Gwen knew he was being sarcastic, but the tone still stung.
'Be fair, Jack,' said Owen from the doorway.'Y'know the guy had done a lot to make himself look dead: lain in a bog for forty years, decayed himself, let the worms in, shrivelled up a bit, stopped breathing, no circulation, all major organs dried up and inactive. Could've fooled anyone.
”
”
Trevor Baxendale (Something in the Water (Torchwood, #4))