“What took you so long? Waiting for Buddha?”

“Your death rides a fast camel.”

“What took you so long? Waiting for Buddha?”

“To Cono’s mind the three assailants were all three nearly motionless even as they skittered and dodged, firing, maneuvering for a kill. Cono felt exhilaration—the ecstatic awareness that his strange brain and body had ordained him for just such moments, by allowing him to enter a space outside of time.”

“Cono knew that all three of his tormentors would know the anthem by heart from their childhood years. They had sung it daily to belong to the elite of their country, wearing around their necks the red ties of the Communist Party Youth Brigade, which had formed their beings and all that they would be and would ever believe, even as communism became a ghost and the party a web of corruption.”

“The people need a strong leader. They feel insecure if they don’t know who to fear. Isn’t that why god was invented?”

“Hungry for what? Money? No. Power? Over people? That was like having power over clams.”

“A kite only flies if it’s tethered.”

“After all, the whole of humanity was anchored by inventions, contrivances, unrealities. Xiao Li lived on dreams, as most people do.”

“No person is just one person. Everyone is a crate of fruits, a crate of mixed fruits. The apple in there may have worms, a peach may be mildewed, a banana may be too green, a pear may be in perfect ripeness, and a melon may have the sweetest smell.”

“I believe in the goddess of mystery. And she’s always pregnant!”