Xian’s shoyu ramen (I opt for the “spaghetti” noodle) gives Austin’s celebrity ramen-yas (see No. 9) a run for their money.

Alma, we quickly learn, is a hard-nosed pragmatist, even something of an academic crank, and she has no expectation of actually developing any real relationship with this handsome computer staying in her apartment for the better part of a month.

We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them. (Numbers 13:33, NIV)

Or maybe our dog had injured her, unless she was just depressed because we'd left her on a hillside to get gang-banged for six weeks.