Get out of the way of the killeress." And she, worse than ever leper before, was in solitude in the midst of life. She lived anyhow, slept anywhere, and was never greeted by sign or voice.

The failed print job was respooled by the operating system.

[…] in the days and weeks that passed, in absentia—or perhaps from a distance—he’d gradually filled my life, our lives, with his afflictive presence.

His daughter was petted and spoiled.