dennis scharnberg

The categories are all we know. That is our knowledge.

Rollin Mungo, Selected Rants of Mr. Barraclough.

“I dropped my phone into the lake. I’ve lost it forever. There’s nothing left of me. I’m gone.”

Dennis Waverly, A Woman in Gray.

Such-and-such needs to be done.

Godfrey Tooke, Collected Aphorisms.

March 19, 2015. Never say “last.” I herewith add yet another—a final?— entry to my list of words to avoid using: our.

Reginald Boyington, Dear Dreadful Diary.

“So, you are trying to tell me—aren’t you?—that one might make a living off a magpie? A bird. I mean, if you trained him properly?”

Nicholas Bruhns, Otto, the Magpie.

“No one wants you to be uncomfortable, Frances. No, no. It’s comfort all the way! Please, won’t someone bring a pillow or two for Ms. Bagby?”

Adrian Caliban, The Magnificent Egglestons.

“Well I do like buttons, of course. For the most part. Especially those that gleam and dazzle. And plain ones that are flat and translucent. And old, Margaret. They must be old.”

Stacie Knotts, Crazy Days.

Notice that I’m not saying that they speak. Of course they don’t speak. Not exactly. Not as we think of speaking. No.

Nicholas Bruhns, Otto, the Magpie.

“The answer, Mary, is the word yes. It’s the awful word yes.”

Roberta Pym, The Complete Undoing of William Ambrose.

“For what it’s worth, Palmer, the number of recognizable three-word phrases in English is immense. And I have no idea what it all means, in case you are wondering.”

Roberta Pym, The Complete Undoing of William Ambrose.