"The thing to do with embarrassment," he told the young American couple who seemed determined to engage him… — Robert S. Stone

"A little cinder in the wind, Pablo - that's what you are."

"Everybody's worth something," Pablo said. "I mean - everybody's life got some meaning to it. You know - there's a reason for people."

"No kidding? A reason for you? What is it?"

"I don't know," Pablo confessed. "I ain't found out yet. But I know there is one."

"Are we friends today?" she asked him.

"There's a level, Justin, on which we're always friends. Then there's a level on which we can't be."

With the thought came the recollection of a poem he had once heard read, about a mouse so frightened it went to the cat for love.