Driving back to the city, through the assaultively scenic and demographically uniform little towns, they were silent.

a potatoey texture

I told her […] that her dismission was intended for an indignity to me; that I was very sorry to be obliged to part with her, and hoped she would meet with as good a service.

She darkens up her eyebrows with it and then runs a tube of pink lipstick over her mouth. She immediately wipes it off with the palm of her hand. She should have black lipstick. A true ninja woman would wear black lipstick.