He had emerged from a tradition steeped in Galenic scholarship.

Mill Creek . . . still lacks a geographic heart. . . . There's no there there, no center to the city—unless you count the private Mill Creek Country Club or the grocery-store shopping centers.

They weighed every third truck in to check for overweight violations.

Their parents named them June and May because their birthdays occurred in those months. […] May was like the time of year in which she had been born, changeable, chilly and warm by turns, sullen yet able to know and show loveliness that couldn't last.