The dialect of the first child, born in 1978 in a government hospital, was already omitted in her birth certificate. However, the dialect of the next three children born in private hospitals was registered as Khek (Hakka).

A sharkling is more easily disposed of, for his teeth will set him free, though the hook be attached to the stoutest gimp, and as he fights madly he is pretty certain in a few moments to have severed the gut.

He did not know which was more painful to witness: Hempel's unmanly cringing, or the air of fatuous satisfaction that succeeded it.

The medium considered herself a conduit for messages from the spirit world.