Status Updates From How It Works Out: A Novel

An elderly woman smiled and I could see behind her teeth, into her throat, down her oesophagus, right inside the pouch of her stomach, where love was brewing like a dark green potion.

I looked at the thumb slice under the vanity light : red, microscopic prints like looped licorice, unique in all the world to Allison. I popped it into my mouth. It had a delicate flavour, a firmness that gave me pleasure to chew on, and after I swallowed it I felt giddy and light, like I’d been pumped full of helium.