Tolkien InMySleep

“Man is a sad mammal that combs its hair.”
― Cees Nooteboom, Rituals

“And kids, they're very instinctual, they're very primitive, in a lot of ways. And they can smell difference on you.”
― Eliza Clark, Penance

“But if his speed was a gift of God, his control was the curse of Satan, for Steve Dalkowsky was wilder than a northeast gale. His fastball would explode in the stands - a hundred feet off target - and knock batters out of the on-deck circle. Batboys cowered in the dugout. He gave up more bases on balls in a single season than anyone in the history of the California League, and once in Stockton threw six wild pitches in a row. In Aberdeen one night he struck out seventeen and walked sixteen.
"Hey, Dalkowsky, you pitchin' tonight?" a fan yelled after three warm-up pitches missed the screen behind home plate and splintered box seats. Dalkowsky mumbled yes and the fan shouted back, "Then I'm getting the hell out of here, and I'm taking my kids with me.”
― David Lamb, Stolen Season: A Journey Through America and Baseball's Minor Leagues

“You wouldn't want to be absolutely unique, would you. like a three-headed calf or something ?"

"Of course not." I would, she thought violently. I want to be absolutely unique.

"I'm sorry if I offended you," he said with a trace of a smile. "It's just that I knew a three-headed calf once. and all it ever wanted to be was ordinary.”
― Margaret Millar, Vanish in an Instant